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.