Dec. 13-19, 2020

Weather | 12/13, 27°, 35° | 12/14, 13°, 30° | 12/15, 15°, 27° | 12/16, 20°, 31° | 12/17, 15°, 37° | 2/18, 21°, 45° | 12/19, 30°, 33° |

• Sunday, 12/13: Burn Day/Meteor Shower
  
  • I burned built-up paper and cardboard box trash, since conditions were perfect...wet ground and slight NW breeze.
  • Mary made minestrone soup from scratch for the very first time (see below photo). It was exceptionally good. 
  • I grated an apple and applied it to the inside of my brew bucket. After leaving it for about an hour, I took the apple goo out with a spatula, then washed the bucket in dish soap and water. It seemed like the garlic smell was gone. According to a Cook's Illustrated article, the enzyme, polyphenol oxidase, which causes browning in apples and potatoes, oxidizes the thiols and thiocyanates that give garlic such a strong odor, thereby eliminating the smell. Unfortunately, that bucket had such a strong garlic odor from garlic wine sitting in it fermenting for a week, that after sitting overnight, it has a slight smell on Monday (12/14) morning. So, maybe I try a grated potato, next.
  • We were anticipating viewing the peak of the Geminid Meteor Shower after dark, but persistent clouds lingered, so we watched another Downton Abbey episode. When we walked the dogs around 1 am, it was clear. So, we took the dogs in, bundled up, and watched quite a show of meteors falling all over the night sky. Some showed off long streaks. I pulled the tailgate down on the pickup, grabbed a sleeping bag, and watched while laying down in the pickup bed. It was easy on the neck, but I couldn't see all of the sky. The meteors came in spurts. You might see nothing for 5 minutes, then you'd see 5-8 meteors, one after the other. Coldness finally put us back inside at 2 am. It was kind of a late night, but worth it.

  

  Mary's homemade minestrone soup.
  

• Monday, 12/14: Firewood Collection Day
  • I cut up an oak tree that fell into Rose Butt Field a couple years ago and loaded the wood into the wagon (see photo below). Prior to going, I had to pour gas into the tractor, then mix up a new batch of 50:1 gas/oil fuel for the 2-cycle chainsaw engine. The plastic 2-gallon gas container I mix the oil and gas into slightly collapsed, due to cool temperatures, so it wouldn't take the full 2 gallons of gas. I set it in the sun to try to get the can to expand. It didn't work, so I "expanded" the plastic by blowing air into the end of the gas nozzle with a hand tire pump, and that worked, allowing me to completely fill the container with gas. It slowed me down in driving the tractor to the downed tree, so by the time I returned home with my firewood load, the sun was setting.
  • Mary's lower back gave her pain, so she spent the day on the couch with a heat pad, while working on a cross stitch Christmas ornament.
  • While I was turning the dial below the glass fuel bowl on the 8N Ford tractor to start it and head back home, a great blue heron flew just above the tree tops over my head, then dropped down into Wood Duck Pond. They are really huge birds when they fly by that close.
  • I shredded 2 potatoes and wiped the potato goo throughout the inside of my brew bucket, then set it, with the top sealed on it, to do it's thing for 24 hours. I hope this takes the final garlic scent out of the bucket. 
    
  • We read online news in the evening. Quite an interesting combination...the U.S. went over 300,000 COVID deaths, William Barr resigned as U.S. Attorney General, and the electoral college confirmed Joe Biden's presidential win.
  • We texted with Katie, Bill, and Mom. Katie's supervisor leaves for Christmas vacation tomorrow, then a bulk of her co-workers leave on Friday. Bill arrives for Christmas break on Christmas Eve morning. Mom is making Christmas cookies and sending Christmas cards.
    

  

  Load of firewood. The end of the tree I'm working
  on is in the background just above the wagon load.
  

• Tuesday, 12/15: Accident with Katie
  
  • Katie's supervisor phoned us at 4:33 pm to inform us that she was in an accident. While running a grinder, a spark ignited her shirt. Her hands, face, and neck received burns. She was bandaged up and they were waiting at the Nuiqsut Clinic for a jet to land to take her to Anchorage for further medical help. Rob, her supervisor, said he will keep us informed. Unfortunately, as of 11:30 am on 12/16/20, we haven't heard a word, nor can I connect with Katie's or Rob's telephone numbers. My next step will be to contact her employer's Anchorage offices, which I will do at noon, 9 am Alaska time, then start calling Anchorage hospitals.
  • Mary baked bread and worked on cross stitch ornaments.
  • I split most of the firewood I cut yesterday, and put it in dry and wet stacks.
  • We watched a movie and 2 Downton Abby episodes. 
  • We stayed up to just before 2 am, in case there was a call from Alaska, but there was no call.
    
    
• Wednesday, 12/16: Katie is in Seattle
  
  • I called Katie's employer at noon, 9 a.m. Alaska time, and was transferred to Rob's telephone number. I left a voicemail. Then, the CEO of Katie's employer and Michelle McCoy, the HSET (Health, Safety and Environmental Technology) manager at UIC (Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation), conference-called me to tell me Katie is at Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. While I was on that call, Rob left me a voicemail. At about 2:30 and again at 5, we talked to Katie. Here are details:
    
    • Katie was given drugs to make her unconscious at about 4 p.m. at the Nuiqsut Clinic, prior to her flight to Anchorage. She was told she'd wake up in Anchorage's Providence Hospital. 
    • She arrived at Providence at 11 p.m. and was stabilized, then airlifted to Seattle at 4 a.m., arriving after 9 a.m.
    • Harborview is part of the University of Washington's School of Medicine.
      
    • They started to give Katie a series of doses to revive her in Seattle. She awoke at the first start of those series, something that normally takes several attempts. She surprised them.
    • Katie is being told burns take 3 days to really indicate their severity. She probably has second-degree burns, but the chest burn is the worst.
    • They also told her that her burns aren't bad enough to require skin grafts.
      
    • Katie told me the thumb and palm of her right hand is burned, 3 smallest finger tips of left hand, palm and wrist are burned, along with her neck to bottom of her ear, her lips, her nose tip, with the worst burns on her right armpit and chest.
    • She was wearing a Carhartt T-shirt with a non-flammable shirt under that. She was grinding off a metal stud with an angle grinder. Her T-shirt showed sparks. She beat on them to try to put them out, but they got worse. She tried to tear the shirt off as the whole thing caught on fire. It didn't tear. The outside shirt and the non-flammable shirt under it were on fire. She removed them over her head.
    • She's talking to us, her brother, and her grandmother. She told Bill that she's hungry tonight. The fact she's talking to all of us is a good thing. She's also in the best hands for her medical situation, as Michelle told me on the phone.
      
  • Mary sawed up several sticks for firewood kindling. 
  • I stacked split firewood into the woodshed, then split the rest of the logs I cut up on Monday.
  • A sliver of the moon was just below Saturn and Jupiter, which are 2 planets that will merge as one image on Dec. 21st. The last time they did that at a time when earthlings could see it was 800 years ago.
    
    
• Thursday, 12/17: Katie is Progressing
  
  • Katie had the following developments today:
    
    •  Katie started the day tired, from a night on her back in a stiff bed, and with a headache she had throughout the night.
      
    • She had the catheter removed.
    • She walked all over the hallways. At one point while walking, someone in a room tried to get her attention, then saw that she was bandaged up and said, "Oh, you're not a nurse."
      
    • She had dressings changed around 11 a.m. and dead tissue removed where possible. The main concern is a white spot in her right armpit area that looks the worse of all.
    • She was moved from the burn center's ICU unit to 2 floors down to a double-occupancy room, but she's the only one in the room right now. It has a door and it will be a lot quieter than the ICU upstairs, where she heard nurses going into all rooms checking on patients every hour throughout the night.
    • She was offered oxy(something) last night to help her sleep, but she refused it. She didn't sleep very well, but didn't take anymore hardcore drugs. She's only taking Tylenol for pain right now.
    • At the Nuiqsut Clinic, she received 2 doses of morphine and 2 doses of fentanyl. She was knocked out and had intubation done to her in Nuiqsut, because they were concerned that throat swelling might constrict her airway. She traveled from Nuiqsut to Seattle in that state, for about 19-20 hours.
      
    • Katie was asked who could help her in Anchorage or Nuiqsut on changing dressings, etc., when she's released from Harborview in Seattle. She has a caseworker nurse assigned to her who reports to Michelle, with UIC, in Anchorage.
    • We told Katie that if and when she can fly out of Seattle, she can come here to our home during her convalescence, if that's possible.
    • Nurses are telling Katie to remember if this happens again, to stop, drop, and roll. She explains that wasn't an option this time, since she was several feet in the air on a manlift. Then, they say, "Oh, I'm sorry."
    • Tomorrow, when dressings are changed and she's examined by doctors, she'll get a better assessment on how long she stays in Seattle. No operation for her means a shorter stay. If they have to operate on her armpit for a skin graft, she will be there longer.
    • Katie's meals are exceptional (see photo below). This meal included pan-seared salmon with orange sauce, cabbage slaw, sauteed green beans, a Mediterranean salad, a brownie, tea, and an Ensure drink.
      
  • We texted and phoned Katie several times today.
  • Mary cracked hazelnuts (see photo below). They're about the size of a pea, so this is a long-term project with minimal, yet tasty, gains.
  • I stacked the dry firewood I split yesterday from the trailer into the woodshed and restacked wet firewood to the drying location in the machine shed.
  • Mary made a shopping list. I'll be shopping in Quincy tomorrow.

Katie's meal at Harborview Burn Center.

Cracking hazelnuts. Remote is for Christmas music.

• Friday, 12/18: Partial Assessment for Katie
  
  • Here's what Katie found out, today:
    
    • The burn on Katie's armpit looks like it's a higher second-degree burn, or almost a third-degree burn. She might have to have surgery for that part of her body, but a final call will come from doctors on Monday.
    • She's doing physical therapy to exercise the skin, so that there is no problem with it as it heals from the burns.
      
    • Katie talked with Michelle from UIC, her employer. Michelle told Katie to take as much time as she needs to get well at Harborview in Seattle. UIC is working to set up workman's comp for her while she's not working. Michelle also told Katie that UIC is okay with Katie going wherever she decides to recuperate. If Katie wants it, UIC can give her light-duty work to do in Anchorage, or at the Nuiqsut job site, although it might not be a good idea to work in Nuiqsut immediately, due to a chance of getting an infection. UIC is reviewing future procedures, namely to create a phone tree, so that future injured workers don't get lost while in transit to health faculties, which is what happened to Katie.
    • Katie will be partially sedated, soon, for nurses to work at taking dead skin off her face.
      
    • Katie's roommate was crying and yelling anytime nurses were in the room, otherwise she was passed out, snoring.
    • Katie received her first shower today. She said it felt really good.
      
  • Prior to leaving to drive to Quincy, the Cadillac battery was dead...so many electronic gizmos on it that if you leave it for more than 2 weeks without starting it, the battery drains out of electricity. On this stupid car, the battery is under the rear seat. I charged the battery, then left home to go shopping.
  • While eating lunch in Quincy, I texted Mary that Quincy wasn't experiencing a pandemic. Instead, it's an antdemic, with human ants scurrying around in cars. Parking lots were packed and in stores, glacial-moving shoppers blocked all aisles. I was lucky to get out of there without whacking some old fart (probably my age) who wouldn't move. I got home after dark.
  • We ate nachos and watched the 2006 movie, The Holiday.
    
    
• Saturday, 12/19: Nick & Holly's Birthday
  
  • Holly and Nick were born under the Christmas tree 11 years ago on this day. Mary brought Rosemary in from the machine shed, because she was freaking out with the bodies to 2 dead deer hanging inside the shed. Mary snatched her, stuffed her in a carrier, brought her inside, and a month later, she had kittens under the tree. She promptly moved them to the laundry room. Rosemary, Holly, and Nick are still with us. Rosemary is still a feral cat, but safe and warm inside our house. Pet her and she runs off, but she often acts like a kitten, jumping over imaginary pixies as she runs down the hallways. Holly is skinny these days, but eats like a horse. Nick loves Mary, rumbling with a loud, babbling brook purr several times a day. Nick is Mary's shadow.
    
  • I was a complete and thorough bum all day.
  • Mary made speculaas cookies. The latest Clabber Girl baking powder we bought at Sam's Club is really poor. Some of the cookies actually shrank when baked. I looked online for the brand we used to be able to buy at Sam's Club...Argo. We might have to order it online, but it's even missing via online sources.
  • The latest from Katie:
    
    • A roommate was moved out and a new roomy moved in with the same characteristics, namely crying and yelling when nurses are in the room, then snoring whenever they're gone. Her lights were on until 3 a.m., and she's gassy. Nice!
      
    • Monica, Katie's boss in charge of multiple projects for UIC, talked with Katie, praising her for how cool and collective she was through the accident and happy to be able to talk to her.
    • Katie said Rob, her jobsite boss, was enroute on a plane to Deadhorse, when the accident occurred. Katie lowered herself down on the manlift. She got a couple sub-contractors to drive her to her apartment, so she could get her wallet, then had them drive her to the clinic, where everyone was gone for a lunch break. She had them drive her to the fire station, then the firemen drove Katie back to the clinic while rousting out the nurses from lunch. Rob promptly flew right back to Nuiqsut after landing in Deadhorse. North Slope medics prepared Katie for an airlift to Anchorage. They're the ones who sedated Katie, prior to the flight.
    • Katie was in more pain, due to the burns healing. She is getting several applications of Aquaphor, a healing ointment.
    • She received a Christmas quilt, donated by a women's LDS relief group (see photos below).
    • A nurse assigned to Katie at Harborview started planning for when Katie leaves there, starting to set up plans for future medical assistance. If she comes here, the nearest burn center is Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. If she goes to Anchorage, it would be telemedicine contacts with Harborview. She might be able to do telemedicine to Mercy if she ends up here.
      
  • We played Yahtzee for our Saturday night game night. I won. We both got double Yahtzees on the final game. It was really fun.
  • Had a 'possum just outside the door for the second night in a row when we let the dogs out. This time, Plato ran up to it and wagged his tail, as if to say, "Hi, friend. You're a funny looking cat." We called the dogs and they responsibly came to us. The 'possum rambled off to under our old Suburban.
    

Katie's new quilt.

The quilt's tag. Very nice folks.