Jan. 24-30, 2021

Weather | 1/24, 30°, 38° | 1/25, snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, 0.27" moisture, 28°, 29° | 1/26, 21°, 26° | 1/27, 2" snow, 0.11" moisture, 18°, 26° | 1/28, 2°, 28° | 1/29, 15°, 39° | 1/30, 0.63" rain, 29°, 36° |

• Sunday, 1/24: Katie Leaves
  
  • I took Katie to the Quincy Airport around 11:30 a.m. Her airplane, with a full load of passengers, left about 20 minutes late. She got a room close to the airport in St. Louis. She said Bill showed up with a pizza, toasted ravioli, and some beer, and they watched the AFC championship football game between the Bills and the Chiefs, and then a hockey game. She was going to be getting up too early for breakfast, so she ordered something for breakfast and shared a molten lava cake with her brother. Bill told her that he was never going to eat, again. Her flight to Gulfport leaves St. Louis at 7 a.m., with a stopover in Charlotte, NC.
    
  • I did some shopping in Quincy at 4 stores. It was quiet, probably due to people glued to football games on TVs.
    
  • Mary did some housecleaning and put the bed away in the upstairs north bedroom.
    
  • I brought home hotdogs and rye bread, so we had our January weinie roast by cooking hotdogs in the woodstove with the door open.
    
  • We watched 4 episodes of Downton Abbey's third season.
    
    
• Monday, 1/25: Snow, Ice, Sleet, Rain
  
  • We saw all forms of precipitation throughout the day. No snow piled up, yet it snowed big flakes for a few minutes. It sleeted. It rained. There was freezing rain. By nighttime, the ground was white, but it was only a quarter inch deep. Tree branches are ice covered and clatter in the wind.
  • Katie made it to Gulfport, MS, in the afternoon. She left St. Louis at 7 a.m., and she left Charlotte, NC at 11:55 a.m.
  • Mary crocheted for a bit. I looked up autumn olive wine recipes.
  • We watched 2 episodes and extras of Downton Abbey's third season.
    
    
• Tuesday, 1/26: Slick Roads & We're Staying Home
  
  • WGEM and KHQA in Quincy report of a multiple-vehicle pile up on Highway 61 a mile north of Canton. HERE and HERE are the reports. Roads are slick. We're snug next to the woodstove and staying home.
  • Mary made flour tortillas, then chimichangas for our midday meal. She also read.
  • I updated our checkbook, and wrote down an autumn olive recipe in my wine journal. I plan on making a 4-gallon batch on Thursday.
  • We find that the new radar imagery on the National Weather Service's website usually doesn't work, so I found a better online weather site called Ventusky.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/27: Significant Snow, for Here
  
  • We had a serious snow for us, which amounted to about 2 inches. Sun started shining about 2 p.m. and it was a clear night. We took the dogs on a walk to the NE of our property. Mary took a photo in our yard of the ice on the weeping willow tree (see below). Ice on tree branches was really amazing at night with a nearly full moon shining through them.
  • Mary made 2 quiche pies and we ate one of them.
  • We turned the heater on in the chicken coop, since the prediction is for a low temperature of 9° tonight.
  • We watched 5 episodes of Downton Abbey's 4th season.

  

  Ice on the weeping willow tree.
  

• Thursday, 1/28: Pumpkin Wine
  
  • I racked the full and partial gallon jugs of pumpkin wine into one gallon jug with an airlock on it. There was an exceptionally large amount of lees in both jugs. The specific gravity was at 0.996 in the full jug and 0.994 in the partial jug, so alcohol content was 12.73% in full jug and 12.99% in the partial jug, which is higher than I like to get it. We tasted some of the wine. The alcohol overpowered the overall taste. Hopefully, that taste settles down with age. I need to start at a lower amount of sugar and specific gravity. These recipes are calling for too much sugar.
    
  • We decided to perform only one winemaking activity per day. It takes too much time sterilizing equipment to hog the kitchen throughout the day and evening when trying to work on more than one wine at a time. 
    
  • Snow that was on the ground revealed deer tracks left all over the yard. We also saw several coyote scratches down the lane. These areas received major sniffing attention from the dogs.
  • One of the amaryllis plants has a bud showing.
    
  • In the evening, we reviewed several choices of countertop laminates that we could order from Home Depot, online.
    
    
• Friday, 1/29: Autumn Olive Wine
  
  • I made waffles for breakfast.
    
  • I made a 4-gallon batch of autumn olive wine, today. The recipe calls for 16-20 pounds of fruit. The night before, Mary hauled out 18 quart bags of autumn olives from the freezer equaling 16.45 pounds. It took me a good part of the day squeezing each bag of thawed autumn olives to squish these tiny fruits. Then I dumped them into a nylon mesh bag in the 6-gallon plastic fermentation bucket. Between each squeezing session, I had to warm my hands under running hot water, sanitize them, then heat my hands over the woodstove. Even though the berries were removed last night from the freezer, they were still very cold. Mary helped me pour 2 gallons of boiling water over the mesh bag of berries and squeezed juice. The smell reminded me of high bush cranberries in Alaska. I added 7, instead of the 8 pounds of sugar called for in the recipe. Seven pounds of sugar brought the specific gravity to 1.085. After adding 4 crushed Campden tablets and 5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient, I tied a flour sack towel on the bucket's top and put it to bed in the pantry.
  • Mary made a pumpkin cake before I started on my winemaking. It had a "more-ish" taste when we tried a piece after supper, so we had another piece later in the evening.
    
  • Mary dusted all shelves and derusted the top shelf of the rolling book cart. It was quite a chore.
    
  • She also washed 2 loads laundry, dried some of the items outside and what didn't dry on the line, dried inside over the woodstove.
    
  • We watched 2 episodes of Downton Abbey's 4th season.
    
    
• Saturday, 1/30: Rainy Day
  
  • It rained almost all day, for the most rain we've seen in 2021. 
  • I added pectic enzyme to the autumn olive wine. What's remarkable is autumn olive berries are dark red, yet the wine must is clear. I developed a yeast culture throughout the day by adding 2 ounces of must heated to 95-97° to the yeast in a glass quart jar about every 1-2 hours. I started around noon and by 10 p.m. the yeast was bubbling nicely (see photo below). I pitched the activated yeast into the brew bucket just after 10. The specific gravity rose slightly to 1.087. My other wine in production, the pumpkin wine, looks good, even though it resembles a dark beer (see photo below).
  • Mary cross stitched, because she couldn't get into the kitchen due to Mr. Yeasty Man.
  • It was Game Night Saturday, so we played pachisi. Mary won handily, three games to one. It was fun. We enjoyed a half a bottle of 2019 pear wine and a piece of pumpkin cake.

Yeast culture for autumn olive wine.

Pumpkin wine after 2nd racking.

Jan. 17-23, 2021

Weather | 1/17, 24°, 33° | 1/18, 20°, 37° | 1/19, 17°, 47° | 1/20, 13°, 47° | 1/21, 26°, 51° | 1/22, 15°, 27° | 1/23, 9°, 37° |

• Sunday, 1/17: Firewood Cutting
  
  • Mary and I got a wagon load of firewood from a downed red oak tree in the woods just north of the machine shed. It's actually a tree that grew 3 trunks and all 3 fell over. I completely sawed up 1 of the 3 until I saw a poison ivy vine on the lower part of the tree trunk, then stopped. I started on the 2nd trunk, but stopped after I thought I had a wagon load, and helped Mary load the firewood.
  • We did some online grape research. The Norton grape is a variety brought by German settlers to Missouri in the 1800s from Virginia that flourished for over a century in this state. It's the Missouri state grape. Most grape plants sell for $12-$16. Mary found that Missouri State, at their Mountain Grove, MO campus, has what they call the Clean Grapevine Program, where you can buy dormant cuttings of Norton and other grape varieties for $4, each. It might be an inexpensive way to get a grapevine started. Mary found several books we own that have recommendations on how to effectively grow grapes.
  • Mary helped Katie remove several pieces of stitches that are emerging and irritating skin around them. Katie ran 3 miles up and down our quarter-mile lane.
    
  • We watched another Downton Abbey episode, which concludes the second season.
    
    
• Monday, 1/18: Stars Appear
  
  • We finally saw stars in the sky after dark. After several cloudy days and nights, a clear sky is welcome.
  • Mary made another batch of flour tortillas. She made a turkey/rice dish for our main meal.
    
  • I split about 2/3 of the logs we brought in yesterday, but they were all small, so I'll get more split firewood from the trunk sections that are left to split.
  • We watched the 2007 movie, Stardust, requested by Katie.
  • I didn't see the airlock of the fullest gallon jug of pumpkin wine burping, so I tried fixing it. Pressure kept pushing the rubber stopper out of the jug's opening. I solved the problem by using a smaller stopper kept in place with a vitamin pill container's lid that I drilled a hole in, which the airlock's stem goes through. That should keep oxygen out, which is needed for fermentation completion.
    
    
• Tuesday, 1/19: Firewood Day
  
  • Mary and I split the rest of the firewood in the machine shed. It was all big and knotty. Then, we moved it to correct locations. Dry wood went to the woodshed. Wet wood was stacked in a crisscross fashion on the north side of the machine shed.
  • We cooked up a batch of smoked scrambled eggs over an outdoor fire after dark. The wind was blowing hard out of the NW, so I had to drop the cast iron frying pan to almost on top of the little fire.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/20: More Firewood
  
  • I chainsawed up the rest of the 3 trunks that fell in the woods north of the machine shed. I left behind some trunk parts that had poison ivy growing on them. Then, I packed the firewood logs up the hill to the north edge of the woods, where we'll pick them up in a couple of days.
  • Mary made kindling from old dry branches in the machine shed, then gathered more branches that have fallen off trees in the yard for future kindling. She put the new branches in the machine shed to dry.
  • In the morning, we listened to the inauguration of Biden and Harris. 
    
  • I installed the new cigarette lighter plug I got yesterday in the mail on the portable air pump that I carry in the Cadillac. This one is built very well. It's manufactured in Everette, WA, for marine purposes. The pump works great.
    
    
• Thursday, 1/21: To St. Louis
  • Katie and I drove to the Mercy Burn Center in St. Louis. We left home at 7:30 a.m. It is her last visit. After several photographs were taken, Katie was given a clean bill of health. The doctor gave her approval to go to any military duty, immediately. He recommended that she can start work mid-February on light duty, and said that she should be at 100% for work by March 1st. He gave her a pamphlet for a daily patch and nightly ointment that she should administer for a year to completely remove all traces of scaring. He also gave her a prescription for 2 custom-built compression shirts. They cost over $900. She called Kandace, her case worker nurse, to get approval for the compression shirts and to give her details of this doctor's visit. Katie also called her UIC project manager. Katie wants to go to Mississippi to sell off a bunch of her belongings in preparation of moving to Alaska.
  • Katie and I shopped for a few things in St. Louis. The place we were to go for Katie's compression shirts was a waste of time. They wouldn't do anything until Workman's Comp approved of it, then an appointment would be made, then the shirts made, in what would be several weeks back and forth to St. Louis. Katie will be long gone before any of this can happen. She's going to check with the people at the Harborview Burn Center in Seattle to see if compression shirts are really necessary.
  • We met up with Bill at a Japanese restaurant near where he works. Katie and I split the dinner ticket for taking him to dinner. We all had a good visit. Katie and I got back home around 9:30 p.m.
    
  • Back home, Mary did house cleaning, and a load of towels.
    
    
• Friday, 1/22: Katie is Moving On
  
  • Katie lined up plane tickets to Mississippi. She flies out of Quincy on Sunday at 1:17 p.m., then flies out of St. Louis at 7 a.m. on Monday to Gulfport, MS. It gives her time to catch up on Air Force National Guard drills and get belongings in order for moving at a future date. She does her telemedicine follow-up appointment with Seattle's Harborview Burn Center remotely from Mississippi on the morning of Feb. 9th. Katie checked paperwork from Seattle and in it she found that they recommend wearing compression shirts once burn wounds heal. She's going to look into getting some in Mississippi.
  • After waffles for breakfast, I spotted a big red-tailed hawk flying toward the chicken coop. Mary and I ran outside. All chickens were inside the coop, so Mary closed the chicken door to the coop, so they could stay safe inside. She let them out, later. It was a big female hawk.
    
  • Mary and I picked up the firewood I cut on Wednesday and moved it to the machine shed. We drove the tractor and trailer to further north in the north woods and chainsawed up another wagon load of firewood, then unloaded that into the machine shed.
  • After chores and baths, we ate nachos and watched 3 episodes and a special feature of Downton Abbey's third year.
  • Below are photos taken of Katie during her visit yesterday to the Mercy Burn Center in St. Louis...a vast improvement from photos right after the accident, when she was at the Harborview Burn Center in Seattle.

Katie's face from front, Mercy photo.

Katie's face from side, Mercy photo.

Katie's neck, Mercy photo.

Katie's hands, Mercy photo.

Katie's underarm, Mercy photo.

Katie's thigh, Mercy photo.

• Saturday, 1/23: Firewood Splitting/Stacking
  
  • Mary and I split and stacked all of the firewood that we brought in yesterday. Splitting took us 1.5 hours. It boosted our supply by quite a lot.
    
  • Mary moved hay onto the coop's floor for the chickens.
  • Some seeds we ordered from Fedco arrived in the mail, minus 2 packets of seed that Fedco didn't have in stock. I looked up those varieties (a type of carrot that grows well here and a summer squash) and ordered them from Victory Seeds, in Molalla, Oregon.
  • It was Game Night Saturday, so we played Michigan Rummy, which was Katie's choice. She won. I was second and Mary took third. We shared 2 bottles of pear wine. We laughed so hard at times our stomachs hurt.

Jan. 10-16, 2021

Weather | 1/10, 20°, 27° | 1/11, 29°, 39° | 1/12, 26°, 46° | 1/13, 30°, 47° | 1/14, 37°, 39° | 1/15, 1/2" snow, 0.06" moisture, 27°, 33° | 1/16, 28°, 33° |

• Sunday, 1/10: More Clouds
  
  • So far, January is cloudy for us. Today was another overcast day.
  • Mary baked 4 loaves of bread.
  • Mary put the 2 amaryllis bulbs into new soil and larger pots to start them for the season. They look healthy. 
    
  • I worked up a batch of Lalvin D47 wine yeast by adding 2 ounces of pumpkin must heated to 97° every half hour, and then every hour, to activated yeast over a several-hour period. By 7:30 p.m. it was bubbling nicely, so I poured it into the brew bucket.
  • Katie walked just over 1.5 miles on our lane. She said her new shoes are nice and fit well, which is rare, since her feet are very narrow. All of her burn scares are healing nicely.
  • I split about 1/3 of the wood in the machine shed.
  • We watched the 2009 movie Leap Year, a request by Katie.
    
    
• Monday, 1/11: Splitting Firewood
  
  • Mary and I split the rest of the firewood logs that were in the machine shed. We were at it for 2 hours. We created 3 stacks of dry wood and 1 stack of wet wood at the west side of the machine shed that we'll soon move.
  • Today was our first sunny day of 2021.
  • FedEx delivered a package to Katie...a first in them actually getting something to our house.
    
  • Mary made spaghetti for our main meal.
  • The pumpkin wine is bubbling nicely (see below video) and the specific gravity dropped from 1.093 to 1.087, so the yeast is working. It tastes good. Mary says it tastes like dessert in a glass.
    
    

• Tuesday, 1/12: Firewood Shuffle
  
  • Mary and I moved firewood. First, I moved the dry firewood in the woodshed to the west wall. Then, Mary shoveled and swept up bits of wood, bark, and a mouse nest. I put down persimmon sticks, and we stacked new dry wood into the north end of the woodshed. That stack is back to waist high. I also moved firewood in the machine shed that was once wet, but now dry, into the woodshed. Next, we stacked wet wood in a crisscross stack along the machine shed's north wall to dry. We used wheelbarrows, instead of the tractor, so we wouldn't dig up the soggy lawn. This all took about 3-4 hours.
    
  • Mary did 2 loads of laundry.
  • We had hot venison sandwiches for our main meal. Mary cut into the first of the red bull onions and they were crisp and nice, like they just came out of the garden.
  • I checked the pumpkin wine. It's fermenting vigorously with a specific gravity of 1.068. Katie took a tiny taste and really liked it. 
  • I ordered a new cigarette lighter plug for the portable air pump I keep in the Cadillac. The one I bought at Walmart didn't work once I soldered it into place. Online research revealed that I probably need to reverse the wire connections, but I also realized that the faulty old plug was a 10 amp plug, whereas the newer one is a 5 amp plug and therefore too weak. I ordered a stouter marine 10 amp plug from an Ohio marine supply company that's almost 6 times the cost of the Walmart one, but better built and safer.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/13: Bag Worm Elimination
  
  • Mary picked bag worms off 2 cedar trees next to the lane. Last summer, they almost killed one cedar tree and multiplied profusely to a point I was seeing them on my little apple  rootstock trees. We have a long ways to go to eliminating them out of all trees in or near our yard.
  • Mary washed sheets and furniture covers. 
    
  • The pumpkin wine's specific gravity was at 1.055 at noon and 1.050 around 7 p.m. I'm sure I'll be racking it tomorrow.
  • I changed the Cadillac's oil and oil filter and topped up all fluids.
  • UPS delivered a package to Katie and she gave her mother a new Kindle, since Mary's current one has a weak battery. Instead of changing a battery in a Kindle, you just buy a new Kindle. Now, Mary has a spare when her current Kindle dies.
  • We watched 3 Downton Abbey episodes.
    
    
• Thursday, 1/14: A Wine Day
  • Homemade wine is moved (racked) from a flour sack-covered brew bucket to an airlock-equipped glass container when the specific gravity is between 1.040 to 1.020. As yeast eats up sugar in the mixture, the specific gravity goes down. At noon, the pumpkin wine's specific gravity was 1.028, so I racked the wine. A pumpkin contains more juice than I anticipated, so I got an extra quarter gallon of wine requiring me to use two one-gallon glass jugs (see photo below). Fermentation is very robust (see video below). We tasted the fines leftover after racking the wine. It tastes like Mary's pumpkin cake.
    
  • A type of bandage applied by the Mercy Burn Center in St. Louis came completely off Katie's skin donor site on her thigh. This is a good sign that it's healing. She's looking better with all of her burns and healing nicely.
  • Mary made chicken noodle soup and a cherry crisp dessert. She said with increasing cloud cover, it seemed like a chicken noodle soup day.
  • We watched 3 more Downton Abbey episodes.
  • It started snowing right before we went to bed.

  

  Pumpkin wine after racking from brew bucket.
  

  
  

• Friday, 1/15: Another Wine Day
  
  • I racked the garlic wine into a new glass gallon jug. It was perfectly clear, so I bottled the wine (see photo below). For the first time, ever, I tested the wine's acid content using both pH litmus paper and my new titration kit. The pH papers measure all acid in the wine, whereas the titration test measures the strength of the acid that can be tasted in the wine, or how tart the wine tastes. The garlic wine has a pH level of 4 (low acid for wine), but a titration level of 0.95% (high acid). The pH strips are very old, so the titration test kit, which is brand new, is more accurate. The test meant no acid addition was necessary. I filled and corked 4 bottles and put a partial bottle in the refrigerator. We tasted the leftovers after racking the wine. It really makes you feel like you should be eating pizza or shrimp. It tastes good.
  • Katie did some weight exercising. Plato and Amber aren't used to someone using weights to exercise and they both got all worked up until Amber was woofing. 
  • Mary did some cross stitching.
  • Mary got a book that we ordered Dec. 1st. We suspect the book seller never initially sent it and realized the mistake once we asked for a refund.
  • Mary read a couple books while Katie and I watched 2 episodes of Downton Abbey.
  • It snowed ever so slightly all day.

  

  2021 garlic wine.
  

• Saturday, 1/16: More Gray Skies
  
  • We had 3 sunny days this month. Today was another gray and cloudy day.
  • Mary made flour tortillas and we had what she calls eggrettos for our main meal. 
  • I texted with Mom. A couple days ago, a fire started near the Lindsay, MT area and gusts to 70 mph meant several acres burned. I looked it up and found this link.
    
  • I went through old files on a big zip drive I have and threw several away...a lot of it was writing we did when we were freelance writing between 2009-2017. It was far from Pulitzer Prize material...more like pullet surprise writing.
  • Katie did her weight exercises, again. Our dogs can't seem to get used to it.
  • We watched a northern harrier hawk fly overhead in the strong NW winds, today.
    
  • We played Yahtzee on Saturday Game Night. Katie had amazing luck. She won, I was second, and Mary was third.
  • We watched a Downton Abbey episode that caught Katie up to where we were a couple weeks ago.
    

Jan. 3-9, 2021

Weather | 1/3, 20°, 29° | 1/4, 25°, 31° | 1/5, 19°, 39° | 1/6, 30°, 39° | 1/7, 25°, 33° | 1/8, 27°, 31° | 1/9, 23°, 27° |

• Sunday, 1/3: Quiet Day
  
  • We saw fog almost all day.
  • Mary figured savings for the month and paid bills.
  • I started the 17th novel of the Captain Jack Aubrey/Stephen Maturin series, which is called "The Commodore."
    
  • Katie visited downtown Chicago and saw the metallic bean at Millennium Park.
  • We watched 2 episodes of Downton Abbey.
    
    
• Monday, 1/4: Fog Flusters Flight
  
  • Katie called to verify her flight this morning to discover that even though she was told on Friday she'd have to wait until Monday to fly to Quincy, she was actually booked to fly yesterday. They got her on the flight leaving at 9:33 a.m., today, but when she rushed to the airport, she learned it was delayed to leave at 10:30. Departure time was changed to 11:29, then noon, then the airline was trying to fly everyone to St. Louis, then delayed 2 more hours, then 2 more hours, then cancelled at 4:30 p.m. This was all because of dense fog in Quincy. Katie asked to transfer to a flight tomorrow and at first they couldn't do that because the airline accidentally cancelled her ticket. That was fixed and she was booked on a 9:33 a.m. departure tomorrow. She then contacted her case worker nurse, who booked a hotel room for Katie, then went to the hotel. It was a tough day for Katie, physically. Some of her wounds were bleeding tonight. She contacted her case worker, again, who gave her advice.
  • Meanwhile, I drove to Quincy. Blacktop roads were ice-free, as I suspected prior to going. I shopped in some stores, then wasted time in Farm & Home, and Menards while texting off and on with Katie to find out updates. I drove home once Katie told me her flight was cancelled.
  • Mary cleaned house.
    
  • I labeled my 2020 pear wine and set the bottles on their sides.
    
    
• Tuesday, 1/5: Katie Arrives!
  
  • The day started with clear, sunny skies. Katie texted that she boarded the plane in Chicago. I drove to Quincy and partway there, she texted that the plane was about to depart at 10 a.m. I spotted the text after arriving at Quincy's Baldwin Field. After 30 minutes waiting, her plane landed. All of the passengers were on a first name basis from waiting around in O'Hare all day, yesterday. One guy handed me Katie's tote while saying, "Here is your daughter's luggage." We left the airport at 12:30 p.m.
    
  • We went to Dick's Sporting Goods, so Katie could get a better pair of shoes and some sunglasses. After a meal at Subway, she got some Lee jeans at Farm and Home, then 2 pairs of sweat pants, a sweater, and other things at Walmart. Finally, she got wash clothes at Sam's Club. We got home around 4:45 p.m.
  • After unloading Katie's stuff, I helped Mary set up the bed in the upstairs north bedroom for Kate. We ate chimchangas and talked for a few hours. Katie turned in early, saying that she planned on sleeping until her body says, "That's enough, now."
  • Mary and I both think Katie looks good, especially compared to early photos of her from Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. She'll get through this fine after some rest, relaxation, and follow-up visits to the Mercy Burn Center in St. Louis.
    
  • At home today, Mary did some cleaning, cross stitching, and all of the evening chores.
  • Ice melted everywhere today. When I was crossing the Mississippi River on the Memorial Bridge, ice chunks were cascading from the structure onto the driving surface. Mary said ice was raining out of the weeping willow tree this morning. Cedar trees with tops bowed down to the ground were tall, straight, and normal this evening. Mary was finally able to get a measurement out of the rain gauge that was frozen the past several days. We got 0.61 inches of moisture that came down as freezing rain on New Year's Day.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/6: Day of Rest
  
  • Katie took it easy. She's looking forward to tomorrow's visit at the Mercy Burn Center in St. Louis.
  • Mary did Katie's laundry, drying it on a line over the woodstove in the living room.
  • Mary made venison stew and biscuits. It was really good.
  • I balanced our checkbook for the month, and generally bummed out for the day.
    
    
• Thursday, 1/7: First Appointment for Katie at Mercy
  
  • I drove Katie to the Mercy Burn Center in St. Louis. All of her stitches were removed. The sponge on the skin donor site on her thigh was removed and that area cleaned up. She was relieved to get her thigh fixed, since it was leaking fluids and smelling rank. It wasn't healing, but it wasn't infected. They put new material on her thigh and gave her instructions for taking care of her thigh. They changed her pain medications to a less severe type and dosage. She also visited a physical therapist, who said her range of motion was greater than usual for Katie's condition. Consequently, it was her first and last appointment with that physical therapist. YAHOO! Katie returns in 2 weeks, hopefully, for her final visit to the Mercy Burn Center. We stopped at a Sam's Club in Chesterfield (a St. Louis suburb) to fill our her prescriptions. The Mercy doctor recommended Katie use a compression shirt, which will help the healing process of her armpit and chest area. So, we stopped at a Dick's Sporting Goods store and bought one. While driving back home, Katie called her project manager to give an update. She was happy and surprised with Katie's progress. A UIC warehouse employee called Katie on sending her stuff that was left behind in Nuiqsut, but Katie got that guy to instead drop it off at her apartment in Anchorage. Katie and I left for St. Louis at 8:30 a.m. and got back home at 7:15 p.m.
    
  • At home, Mary did some house cleaning, and was a general bum, she says.
  • We watched the first 3 episodes of Downton Abbey, to get Katie caught up to where Mary and I are on this soap opera.
    
    
• Friday, 1/8: On the Road, Again
  
  • Snow is pretty much melted, but we continue to have day after day of clouds.
  • Katie spent quite a bit of today sleeping, which is good. She needs sleep.
  • Around noon, the CEO of UIC, the company Katie works for, called her to let her know he's thinking of her. He said he was happy to hear that she's recovering quickly.
  • At 3:30 p.m., Katie's doctor's office from St. Louis' Mercy Burn Center called to inform her that after reviewing yesterday's visit, they decided to put her on an antibiotic drug, in case there was an infection in the donor skin graft site on her thigh. They phoned the prescription into Sam's Club in Quincy. So, at 4 p.m., I drove Katie to Quincy.
  • While en route, Katie called Kandace, Katie's case worker nurse, who was happy to hear the doctor prescribed an antibiotic, since some infections can go undetected and it was a possibility that Katie's skin graft donor site became infected in the past few days.
    
  • We stopped at Walgreens to get gauze and bandages for Katie and to pick up a package sent via FedEx from Williams Brewing for me. It contains a brew bucket and 100 wine corks. We got celery at Aldi, Katie's prescription at Sam's Club, and a couple items at Walmart.
  • Mary made flour tortillas while Katie and I were in Quincy. We had scrambled eggs wrapped in tortillas (Mary calls them eggritos), with our choice of condiments inside. Mary's piccalilli tasted great in these wraps. We're now in the eggs, since our new pullets are laying daily.
    
  • We watched 3 more Downton Abbey episodes.
  • Jeff Breakfield, a Homer High School classmate, forwarded me a clipping from the Homer newspaper from when I won the ARCO scholarship in 1975 (see below). He said he was going through old newspapers and spotted it.

  

  From the Homer newspaper in 1975.
  

• Saturday, 1/9: Pumpkin Wine
  
  • I split a pumpkin in half, took out the seeds, and baked it in the oven. After it cooled, Mary peeled out 5 pounds of cooked pumpkin meat. I combined it with chopped raisins, and 3 cinnamon sticks into a mesh bag and added 13 cups of water, 2 pounds of sugar to get the specific gravity to 1.093, 4.5 teaspoons of acid blend to get the pH to around 4, and a crushed Campden tablet. About 10-11 hours later, I added a half teaspoon of pectic enzyme. The must is dark amber in color. It ought to be an interesting wine.
  • Katie took a walk and did some weight exercising as part of regaining and maintaining her flexibility. 
  • Mary did some house cleaning.
  • Mary checked the status of our stored and homegrown onions, garlic, and potatoes. She threw away a little under half of cat litter bucket of items, which means it's all holding in storage very well. We have lots of good onions and garlic. Our potato supply is dwindling.
  • Mary did all of the chores, while I cleaned up winemaking items and washed dishes.
  • We played Michigan Rummy, which was Katie's choice for Game Night Saturday. We played for an amazing 6 hours, into the wee morning hours. Katie won. Mary was a close second. I came in last. There were times that we laughed so hard, our stomachs hurt. It was really a lot of fun. It was after 3 a.m., when I added pectic enzyme to the wine and got to bed at 4 a.m. We've turned into night owl zombies.