Jan. 30-Feb. 5, 2022

Weather | 1/30, 16°, 28° | 1/31, 18°, 46° | 2/1, 4" snow, 0.19" rain, 40°, 47° | 2/2, 12" total accumulation of snow, 0.80" moisture, 10°, 19° | 2/3, 7°, 20° | 2/4, 0°, 27° | 2/5, -3°, 29° |

• Sunday, 1/30: Firewood & Football
  
  • Mary and I went to the west edge of the SW woods and cut a wagon load of firewood. I downed 3 mid-size dead trees and cut up a few pieces that were already down. The standing dead trees make excellent firewood, because they're already dry and ready to burn. There are tons of game trails all over that area.
  • We listened to the Kansas City Chiefs/Cincinnati Bengals AFC championship game. We rooted for the Chiefs, who played a good first half and a rotten second half. The Bengals won 27-24, with a sudden death overtime field goal. They play the LA Rams in the Super Bowl.
  • Mom texted that she and her friend, Hank, (see photo, below) went to the Circle (MT) Chamber dinner. She reported that the food was great and the speaker, a comedian from Texas, was really funny.
  • We watched the 2001 movie, The Fellowship of the Ring. It was the first time viewing it on our larger TV, with the fancy speaker.
  • We had a bottle of 2020 pear wine. This one was tainted with cork must taste. I looked it up and it happens to about 2-7 percent of all wine. A fix is to pour the wine in a bowl that has a sheet of plastic wrap in it. The 2,4,6-Trichloroanisole (TCA), which comes with some corks if bleach gets into them, puts a moldy smell into the wine. It's harmless, but overpowers the fruity smell of the wine. The compounds of the plastic wrap draw out the TCA. I have mixed crushed Campden tablets or StarSan (both used to sanitize things, such as corks) with tap water. The tab water contains some bleach compounds, so that might contribute to corks tainted with TCA. I need to use distilled water in the future.

  

  Mom and her friend, Hank.
  

• Monday, 1/31: More Firewood
  
  • We went back to the SW woods and cut up dead trees into firewood, completely overfilling the trailer behind the 8N Ford tractor. It involved one large cherry tree and several medium-sized hickory trees.
  • The cherry tree was hollow near the top, so when I dropped it, the tree broke in half and the top flipped back towards me as I jumped out of the way. One must be super vigilant while downing a tree.
  • Mary found a mouse next to where the cherry tree broke in half. He had a winter home within the tree. He was in shock. Mary put him next to the base of another tree. He moved some, but seemed befuddled. When we finished hauling firewood to the trailer, she found a fallen dead tree trunk with a hole under the rotten wood. Mary moved the mouse to just outside the hole and as she was putting dried leaves over the hole, she saw the mouse dash into the hole.
    
  • After driving that wagon load of firewood back to the house, we unloaded it, with smaller pieces going into the woodshed and large pieces stacked next to the splitter. We wanted to split it, too, but darkness beat us to that job.
    
  • Mary also did a load of laundry and moved new hay to the chicken coop.
    
    
• Tuesday, 2/1: Splitting Firewood & Quick Shopping Trip
  
  • We split all of the firewood stacked next to the splitter. We spent 1.5 hours splitting wood, yielding a good sized pile of dry wood, and a smaller stack of wet wood.
    
  • Since a winter storm is predicted to start by evening, I drove to Quincy and bought a few things we needed. The storm prediction had some people mobbing stores. In Walmart, the shelves that were most bare were the potato chip and cookie areas. I guess the Quincy fatsos got their food for hunkering down during a snow storm. Aldi had several bare shelves. By the time I left Quincy, a heavy rain accompanied by a strong north wind was hitting the pickup's windshield.
    
  • Meanwhile, Mary moved and stacked all of the firewood we split earlier in the day. The stack in the woodshed went from ankle high to chest high. This cherry and hickory wood combination makes for high heat and long lasting firewood. Mary put two crisscross stacks of wood on the north inside of the machine shed to dry.
  • Rain started to fall at home by 12:30 p.m. The first snow started falling at 4 p.m. (see video, below), while we finished evening chores. It snowed all night and there was 4" on the ground by midnight.
  • We watched the 2002 Lord of the Rings movie, The Two Towers.
  The first snowflakes were an inch in diameter.
  
  
  
• Wednesday, 2/2: Snow & Wind
  
  • Snow fell all night and there was 9" on the ground by at 9 a.m. It continues to fall at noon (see video, below), although with less vigor.
    
  • Bill texted that his employer canceled work for the day before he had to call in. He saw several people at his apartment complex clean off their cars, leave, then return home 10 minutes later. The St. Louis area experienced more freezing rain than our neck of the woods.
    
  • Most schools in our area are closed, today. At noon, a 15 mph north wind is blowing.
  • Snow stopped at 1 p.m. and the sun came out, briefly. All together, we got a foot of snow.
  • Mary shoveled a path through the snow NW of the house to the chicken coop, with spurs shoveled to the woodshed and the west end of the machine shed. I shoveled a path eastward to the compost bins and where we dump wood ashes, just east of the south edge of the far garden.
  • I put on my down parka we bought years ago in Roseau, MN, and walked to the mailbox. No mail was delivered. The dairy folks a mile west of us plowed to where their employees live (2 mobile homes across the gravel from us), but I doubt the gravel road is plowed going east. With a strong north wind blowing all day, I imagine part of that gravel road is blown shut with deep drifting snow. We're good, though, with enough food for humans, pets, and chickens, to last for more than a month.
  • Mary and I pretty much hibernated for the day, reading books and magazines.
  • It's ground hog's day, today. Some big, dumb rodent in PA says we have 6 more weeks of winter. Here, all ground hogs are sensibly hibernating under a foot of snow, so we don't adhere to that idiot hog in PA. Predictions are for temperatures in the 40s next week, so patoowee to the ground hog in the east!
    
  By noon, snow is about a foot deep.
  
  
  
• Thursday, 2/3: Clouds & Pumpkin Meat
  
  • Clouds covered the skies until right before sunset.
  • Bill texted that he stayed home for a second day. He helped 2 people get out of the middle of the road in his apartment parking lot, because they were spinning tires and creating ice.
    
  • Mary sewed, did some cross stitch, and made a macaroni casserole.
  • Mary dug out frozen bags of pumpkin put away this year. I weighed them until I had 32 pounds, 6 ounces of pumpkin meat, which I'll use to make 6.5-gallons of pumpkin wine. I set it out to thaw.
    
  • I shoveled snow that blew into the path I shoveled yesterday to the east, after north winds prevailed all day. It's fine, granular snow, so it shovels up as large, heavy igloo blocks.
    
  • Mary and I watched the 2003 Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King.
  • Temperatures outside might be in the single digits, or teens, but in our living room, with cherry and hickory firewood burning, it's a lot hotter (see photo, below).

  

  Cool outside, but 96 in the living room with a hot woodstove.
  

• Friday, 2/4: Shoveling, Pumpkin Wine, & News from Kids
  
  • I made breakfast waffles.
  • The bags of pumpkin were frozen bricks, so Mary set them next to the woodstove in the living room. I didn't start using them until 16 hours after we took them out of the freezer.
  • Mary shoveled snow at the end of the lane and next to the mailbox, making it easier for the mailman and garbage pickup folks to get to our mailbox and turn around in our lane.
  • I started a 6.5-gallon batch of pumpkin wine, after writing up the recipe, based on last year's 1-gallon creation. I chopped nearly 4 pounds of dark raisins. Wow...what a sticky job. Below is a photo of initial ingredients. Then, I alternately filled the largest nylon mesh bag with pumpkin meat, raisins, and 24 cinnamon sticks. I poured 2.5 gallons of spring water in the bucket and realized that with 32.5 pounds of pumpkin meat, raisins, and cinnamon, I didn't have enough room in the 8.5-gallon brew bucket for 6.5 gallons of must. There 3 gallons of must in the bucket. I'll have to split this batch up into 2 brewing buckets, then combine the 2 buckets of must, once I move it into a glass carboy. I added 6.5 teaspoons of yeast nutrient, 6 crushed Campden tablets, then 5 tablespoons of acid blend to move the pH from 7.5 to 3.8. Pumpkin is basic and wine needs acid for longevity. More acid will need to be added later. I didn't add sugar, in order to let sugars from cooked pumpkin and chopped raisins to soak into the must. After covering the brew bucket with a flour sack towel, I set the bucket in the pantry to soak overnight.
  • Katie texted me in the morning, asking me what I wanted for my birthday. I didn't answer, because I don't know, so she called in the evening. We decided a gift card would be easiest for Katie. I'll decide from where, tomorrow. Her employer's bid for the Bethel school came in second. She's helping work up several other bids, one which she might go to as a supervisor. She's contemplating certain training certifications related to her job. Her dogs and cats are liking their new living situation. She takes the dogs on regular treks on Russian Jack trails. She bought a couple pieces of furniture.
    
  • Bill worked, today. He said it was insane, with missing employees and a two-day ship-out backlog.

  

  Pumpkin wine items: 4 lbs raisins, 32.5 lbs pumpkin, 24 cinnamon sticks.
  

• Saturday, 2/5: Pumpkin Wine
  
  • Morning temps were below zero, but a south wind and clear skies warmed us up, nicely. Snow that started out a foot deep is now less than half that depth. A couple times, the sump pump came on in the basement, further pointing to melting snow.
    
  • Mary did some house cleaning.
  • I worked on pumpkin wine, which became an all day and all night project. First, I drained liquid out of the pumpkin-filled nylon mesh bag. When I put it in a 5-gallon bucket, it was wide enough to provide a temporary seal along the bucket's inside, and as it slid down into the bucket, air and liquid sprayed upward onto my face and on the floor. Nice tasting mess! 
  • I put another nylon mesh bag in a 7-gallon brew bucket, then used a ladle to scoop pumpkin/raisin/cinnamon goop from the first bag and into a measuring cup to weigh it. Then, I dumped each measuring cup full of goop into the second mesh bag. Once I had 16-17 pounds in each bag, I tied both bags shut. 
  • I added 1.5 gallons of spring water to 3.5 gallons of pumpkin must, then 10 pounds of sugar to bring specific gravity from 1.023 to 1.090. Using last year's measurements, it should have taken 13 pounds of sugar. This year's pumpkins are higher in sugar content. I added another half a gallon of water to bring the total liquid level to 6.5 gallons. I accidentally added 2 tablespoons of yeast nutrient, then added 11 tablespoons to the 5 tablespoons of acid blend I put in yesterday for a total of 16 to bring the pH to 3.5. This is extremely basic pumpkin meat. I added 3.25 teaspoons of pectic enzyme, then transferred juice until 3.25 gallons were in each brew bucket. After adding a bag of pumpkin meat to each bucket, I covered each with a towel and set them in the pantry. 
  • Then, I started a batch of Lalvin D-47 yeast, adding 2 ounces of juice heated to 98° to the quart Mason jar of yeast every hour, or so. I pitched the yeast into the 2 brew buckets 10 hours later. I started the yeast at 5:30 p.m. and pitched it at 3:30 a.m.
  • Since I was supposed to wait 12 hours before adding yeast, after putting pectic enzyme in the wine, we decided to watch a bunch of Downton Abbey. We watched 5 episodes of Downton Abbey's Season 1.
    

Jan. 23-29, 2022

Weather | 1/23, 19°, 22° | 1/24, 31°, 38° | 1/25, -3°, 15° | 1/26, -6°, 22° | 1/27, 23°, 36° | 1/28, 6°, 22° | 1/29, 9°, 39° |

• Sunday, 1/23: No Maple Wine, No Topper, A Chiefs' Win
  
  • For a few days, I've looked up how to collect maple tree sap for making wine with it. Then, I read someone's assessment for this wine. It has no maple taste, just the taste of the additives put in with it. Boiling it down amplifies the taste and I don't want to spend days boiling down tree sap, so I won't be making that wine.
  • I spent a bulk of the day searching for pickup truck shells. Years ago, I remember reading how vehicle manufacturers changed pickup beds so they weren't square and now I own one. It's 100" long and 70" wide in the front, but 67" wide in the back. I need a topper that fits Chevy/GMC pickups between the years of 1999 and 2006 with long beds. It greatly reduces my prospects of finding one. Needless to say, I didn't find one.
  • We listened to the Kansas City Chiefs/Buffalo Bills NFL playoff game. The lead changed 3 times in the last 2 minutes. The Chiefs tied the game with 4 seconds left. Then, they won it in sudden death overtime with a touchdown. We rooted for the Chiefs. One of the radio announcers was extremely biased towards the Bills. He didn't have much to say when the Chiefs won.
    
    
• Monday, 1/24: Shopping
  
  • Mary did a load of laundry, hung it outside to air, then brought it back inside to completely dry.
  • She also baked another pumpkin and put 2 more gallon bags of pumpkin meat in the freezer.
    
  • I shopped in Quincy. We want to get a topper for the bed of the pickup in order to better store groceries in a locked area while on shopping trips, so I looked for clamps to secure a pickup shell. An auto parts guy directed me to a business called Cross-Country Trailer, where I learned there are 3 different types of clamps and new toppers include their own clamps, so I asked the seller of a used shell on Facebook Marketplace if his came with clamps. It does, so I arranged to see his topper tomorrow. It's near Troy, MO, which is about 100 miles south of us.
    
  • Mary said there were over 100 robins in the yard near sunset. It's the most robins she's seen at one time.
  • I ordered 4 pairs of leather gloves from Galeton. We've purchased gloves from them in the past and they're much better than any gloves available in nearby stores. The problem is their shipping is high. I sent a message complaining about their shipping rate of $28 and was offered shipping for $7.95. I took their lower offer, naturally.
    
    
• Tuesday, 1/25: 200-Mile Drive for Nothing
  
  • Mary made 2 quiche pies. She also did some cleaning, and a little bit of cross stitch.
  • Mary is suffering from lower back pain. She found that sitting in a more upright chair, while putting a hard tennis ball opposite of the pain, helped relieve the pain. She spent most of the day resting her back in this fashion.
    
  • I drove to Troy. The camper shell I went to look at turned out to be one that fits a short bed pickup. In my initial conversation, I failed to ask the most important question, "Does it fit an 8-foot truck bed?" I went on into Troy, which was only 6 more miles south of where that topper was located, to buy some zippered quart and sandwich bags that I didn't find yesterday in Quincy. So, I essentially drove 200 miles, round trip, for a couple boxes of bags. I left at 10 a.m. and got back home at 4:30 p.m. It was a waste of time, gas, and money. I won't make that mistake, again.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/26: New-To-Us Pickup Topper
  • Mary dusted books, did some cross stitching, and did the evening chores.
  • I contacted JC Auto & Truck Parts, a big auto salvage business in Monroe City, MO, to see if they had a pickup topper that fits our truck. They had a maroon one that came off a 2005 GMC Sierra 1500, just one year newer than our pickup. The photo looked good. It didn't come with clamps.
  • I drove to Cross Country Trailers in Quincy, IL, and bought 6 used aluminum topper clamps for $5, each. Then, I drove 35 miles to JC's in Monroe City. The fiberglass topper with a gel coat looked great. I bought it for $200. They loaded it up on a forklift, moved it to behind my pickup, then 5 guys lifted it onto the pickup bed. I attached the clamps and tightened them. The topper looks nice (in better shape than the pickup) on the truck bed (see photos, below). I then drove 38 miles north, to home.
  • Katie texted that her 2 dogs went to a doggy daycare for the first time in Anchorage, today. DeSoto made friends with a dog named Cooper, played all day with that dog, and spent the evening sleeping. They are in this daycare each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
  • We drank a celebratory autumn olive wine, which I made almost a year ago, on Jan. 29, 2021. It's very nice and smooth with a light amber color.
  • I finished reading The Dark is Rising, a good book.

  

  Inside of fiberglass topper, showing aluminum clamps.
  

Maroon pickup topper on our truck.

This truck cap has 2 handles with locks.

• Thursday, 1/27: Dealing with Pickup Shell
  
  • After researching online about a seal to use between the pickup bed and the shell, I decided to get EPDM sponge rubber weatherstripping from AutoZone. It's more expensive than the PVC foam tape at Home Depot or Menards, but will do a better job of sealing out rain and dust. Whatever was on the shell's bottom edge is old, squished, and in pieces.
  • I readjusted the shell a little bit back on the pickup bed, so that the back gate of the shell shuts correctly. I used double-sided carpet tape to stick 1-inch pieces of wood to the edge of the clamp that butts up against the pickup bed metal framing, enabling the clamps to sit squarely on the bed's edge. I discovered a light on the inside, above the back opening. The latch of the driver's side topper handle is rusting and will need replacing. I will also need to run wiring to the tail light at the top of the topper.
  • The manufacturer of this pickup shell is Jason Truck Caps. They are based in Kansas City and they make strong, fiberglass shells and tonneau covers for pickups.
    
  • We watched the last two episodes of the HBO miniseries John Adams.
    
    
• Friday, 1/28: Coyote Encounter
  
  • It was rather cool, today, with a brisk north wind blowing that switched to calm at sundown.
    
  • I made waffles for breakfast.
  • I vacuumed flies out of house windows.
  • I figured ingredients needed for 5- and 6.5-gallon batches of pumpkin wine.
    
  • Mary dusted books in the sunroom.
    
  • After evening chores, I took the dogs on a walk to the swim pond. At the north edge of the north lawn, Amber peered inquisitively into the woods for a very long time. As we walked east on the Swim Pond trail, Amber had hair up on her back and her ears laid back. Then, Plato stopped dead on the trail and wouldn't move. I walked to the pond. It's covered with a thick coat of ice that cracked, like a gun shot, as I drew near. I walked back home. As I got to where Plato stopped, a coyote appeared just beyond him in the trail. Both dogs started to go after it, but I told them to stay with me, and they obeyed my request very nicely. The coyote, which was very dark gray in color and about the same size as Plato, just trotted ahead, stopped every so often, and turned to look at us. As we got to the north yard, it ventured west of the trail, to the edge of the woods. Plato hung back, so that I had to coax him to come up to me. The coyote was keenly interested in Amber. As she trotted on the trail to the house, the coyote came out towards me to look at Amber. I stayed put, in case I had to help Amber, and kept calling to Plato to come to me. Eventually, he did. As Plato approached, the coyote slipped into the woods. I think it's the same coyote I filmed last summer. It's not afraid of me or the dogs. I think I'll refrain from walking dogs at dusk.
    
    
• Saturday, 1/29: Large Buck & Chainsaw Sharpening
  
  • While leaving the chicken coop this morning, we saw a big buck deer walk across the west end of the west field. It was too far away to count points, but it had a huge rack. This buck was brown, not gray, like some old bucks eventually become with age.
  • I cleaned one of the two chainsaw chains with carb cleaner and a wire brush, then sharpened it. These chains are two years old and by sharpening them with a file, they aren't wearing down as fast as when I sharpened with a grinder. I also sharpened a chain for the small chainsaw. It's time to get back to cutting up firewood, since our supply is dwindling.
  • I took Plato and Amber to the east edge of the woods south of the house and found several old, dead trees to cut up for firewood. The dogs loved the walk. Snow is melted enough in the south field that I'm sure I can drive the tractor over it without slipping, making that location a good place to collect firewood. Other spots contain too much ice and snow for the tractor, unless I add tire chains, which I'd rather not do, since putting them on the tractor takes a lot of time.
    
  • Mary dusted books. She also made flour tortillas.
    

Jan. 16-22, 2022

Weather | 1/16, 2°, 27° | 1/17, 21°, 33° | 1/18, 25°, 47° | 1/19, 5° in evening, 35° at 12:30 a.m. | 1/20, -6°, 10° | 1/21, -10°, 18° | 1/22, 18°, 37° |

• Sunday, 1/16: Katie & Pets Fly New Orleans to Anchorage
  
  • The first thing I did upon waking was to open the bedroom curtains. A tiny bit of fog meant ice crystals were floating in the air and glistening in the shaft of sunlight penetrating the fog. What a beautiful sight!
  • Our dogs love the snow. They both run around like kids through the white stuff.
  • Yesterday was the end of the last deer season, this being archery. Deer foot prints in the snow, along our lane, indicate the deer population is thriving on our property.
    
  • We watched cedar waxwings and bluebirds fluttering just off the edge of the grain bin roof while drinking water dripping off the icicles hanging on the roof edge. It's quite a sight. You don't realize how yellow the breast is of a cedar waxwing until you see one in front of pure white snow.
  • Mary made a chicken dinner, complete with potatoes covered with shallots and acorn squash.
  • We should change the name of the machine shed to the drying shed. Firewood I split on Dec. 22nd that was heavy with moisture is now dry after sitting in a criss-cross stack for over 3 weeks. All of the east end of that building is open, as is about a quarter of the south side (wide enough to drive a combine in out of the weather when Herman, Mary's uncle, built it in the 1980s). Winter winds are usually out of the east and south, which is perfect for drying firewood sitting in the machine shed. Hanging garlic from the rafters in the summer has a similar drying effect.
    
  • Katie texted around 5 p.m. that she and her pets were loaded and about to leave New Orleans. We learned this morning (1/17) that maneuvering through the different floors of the New Orleans airport with 4 crates, 4 pets, luggage, all while carrying DeSoto, a Catahoula Leopard Dog who is afraid of crossing hard-covered floors, was an extreme chore. Katie's plane was late getting into Seattle, but she said Alaska Airlines was extremely professional and assured her that her second plane wouldn't leave until her pets were transferred from the New Orleans to Seattle airplane. All landed in Anchorage with the only mishap being urine-soaked puppy pads in DeSoto's crate. Surprise! They're sleeping after that trip (see photo, below).
    
  • We read through the evening while I checked every so often on the Kansas City Chiefs/Pittsburgh Steelers wildcard play-off game. The Chiefs won 42-21. Good!

  

  Dora, one of Katie's cats, sleeping on top of Prancer, one
   of her dogs, after flying from New Orleans to Anchorage.
  

• Monday, 1/17: Pizza, Movie, & Wine
  
  • Mary made 2 pizzas. We ate one for our midday meal and the other in the evening.
    
  • Our monthly cellular bill increased in December, so I checked online. We're on a plan where if we stay under 3 GB of data on each phone, we are credited up to $20. Mary usually makes it and I usually don't. The plan for the router maxes out at 20 GB. We always hit the router's maximum about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way into the month. At that point, I use my phone as a hotspot to gain access to the internet. Since I already use the phone's hotspot capability, I did a chat with U.S. Cellular to see if we can cut out the router and save money. We can and we did that and updated our cellular plans to include 30 GB per month of hotspot access on each of our 2 phones. In December, we used 30.89 GB on 2 phones and a router, so we should be fine with 60 GB between the 2 cell phone plans. By eliminating the router, our monthly wireless bill drops by $35.
  • Katie got ball joints replaced on her Jeep, today.
    
  • We watched the 2018 movie, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a DVD Katie gave Mary for Christmas. We also viewed the extras. Several actors in Downton Abbey are in this movie. Tom Courtney, who plays the Guernsey postmaster in this movie also played Pasha/Strelnikoff in the 1965 movie, Dr. Zhivago. Mary and I liked it so much, we watched it twice. 
  • We split a bottle of jalapeño wine through the movie. The wine is mellower after aging since it was bottled on 11/26/21. This wine possesses a deep gold color.
  • After the movie, on a whim, I looked up vizsla cross dogs up for adoption. We don't need more pets, but it's fun to look at them.
    
    
• Tuesday, 1/18: A New Soup, Burning Old Boxes
  
  • Warm temperatures melted some of the snow we received last week. Mary finally freed the rain gauge and found that the last snow amounted to 0.62 inch of moisture.
    
  • Mary did some house cleaning. She made a new, very yummy, venison vegetable soup. It includes sliced up pieces of venison meat, Merlot wine, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper, beef bouillon, water, tomato paste, Amish egg noodles, frozen mixed veggies, carrots, celery, and onion. It is very, very good.
    
  • I burned paper and cardboard items for 3 hours. The last time I burned was April 16 of last year, so there was quite a stack of cardboard boxes in the machine shed. At one point, while lifting off more boxes, a bedraggled bunny ran out from under those boxes, stopped behind the tractor trailer, looked back at me as if to say, "What's up, Doc?"
    
  • I called Mom and talked with her for over an hour. Since Jan. 2nd, she's been battling a bad flu bug that's going around the community. Patty, Mom's boss, who runs the Circle (MT) Senior Center, is retiring at the end of January, so the center is having a retirement party for her. Mom will continue to drive the senior van, because she likes that job. Mom's friend, Hank, is coming down from Glasgow, MT, for the Circle Chamber's annual dinner, which this year features a comedian.
  • All cell phones in Missouri were alerted about a vehicle to watch out for in Gotham City, MO. It was a mistake and was only supposed to be an inter-department test to the highway patrol. Because of the mention of "Gotham City," it became a big joke about the Joker in Batman. It even made the news on WGEM in Quincy.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/19: Cold & Windy
  • The high for the day was just after midnight, with temperatures dropping throughout most of the day. There was only a little upturn in the early afternoon. Strong NW winds made it feel exceptionally cold.
  • On our morning dog walk, we watched 2 bald eagles zip by, heading north, into the wind.
    
  • Mary cooked the largest pumpkin we raised last year. We guess it was around 20 pounds. She had to cook it in quarters. A half section of that pumpkin wouldn't fit on a regular cookie sheet. Four full gallon bags of pumpkin meat were frozen from that one pumpkin.
  • Mary popped up 5 pots of popcorn and stored them away for future snack food.
    
  • I read a huge Medicare handbook that arrived in yesterday's mail. 
  • I reviewed our 401K and the notices that came with the change Mid-Rivers took from moving it from Wells Fargo to Principal. It's taken a recent nosedive since Jan. 1st, but we've been through that in the past. The best approach is to leave it alone.
    
  • I investigated potential doctors around the area in an effort to select a family doctor. I'll probably go with the one who visits Lewistown, who's with the Quincy Medical Group. Once Medicare kicks in for me, I want to initiate some medical checkups.
    
  • Katie texted that she was invited to an app, indicating that a year's worth of monthly rent involves $75 less per month than her current rent. She talked to the new landlord of her apartment to make sure the $75 per month rent reduction was true, and said it's genuine. She added, "Sounds like nothing is going to change, and the pets are good." Her dogs enjoy the Russian Jack trail system (see video, below).
    
  • Bill texted, "Had some more people out for COVID reasons. My headcount has gone from 12 to 2 in about a week." His boss tested positive for COVID and Bill was in contact with him. Bill is without symptoms, so he continues to work.
  Prancer & DeSoto on Russian Jack trails.
  

• Thursday, 1/20: Cold Temps & Racking Garlic Wine
  
  • Temperatures were very cold for here...subzero and single digits. We're burning up the red oak I split a few weeks ago. It burns nice and hot, like coal, but without the coal smell.
  • Two eastern bluebirds sat on a mulberry bush outside our south living room window this morning and picked emerging flies off the upstairs south window.
  • Mom called to give me a medical update.
    
  • Mary made a turkey rice meal, dusted books and rearrange them, did some sketching practice, and some cross stitching.
  • I called the Missouri State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for Medicare help. I want to know if I qualify for state help in paying for Part D Medicare. They will call back.
  • I gave the garlic wine its third racking, getting rid of a bunch of fines. The specific gravity is 0.996, giving it a 13.6% alcohol content. After adding 11 ounces of spring water to top off the 5-gallon carboy, and adding a sanitized airlock, I set it back in the pantry for another month of aging. I ought to be bottling it on Feb. 20th.
    
  • An interesting article in the Feb./March issue of Fine Homebuilding gives details about how to construct plywood slab-on-grade flooring. I asked "Mike, the Pole Barn Guru," at Hanson Pole Buildings, about this concept. He email back that it was a good idea and it could be built into a pole-style building. You build up gravel layers, add foam insulation boards, and a plastic vapor barrier, similar to concrete slab construction, but instead of concrete, 2 layers of tongue-and-groove 3/4-inch plywood goes down. It's cheaper than using concrete, kinder on your knees, yet keeps out bugs and vermin that get into a crawl space. I like the idea.
    
    
• Friday, 1/21: Waffles, Stew, & Passwords
  
  • I made waffles for breakfast.
  • While in the kitchen, I saw the wings of a big bird in the distance to the NE, through our east kitchen window. It was a barred owl sitting on a fence post. While Mary and I were both watching it, the owl lifted off, took two wing flaps and pounced on something in the snow and grass, then returned to the top of the post. Barred owls have huge wings.
  • Mary dusted books and made venison stew and biscuits for our main meal.
  • I've been keeping passwords in an Apple Pages (their equivalent to Microsoft Word) file stored in iCloud. I investigated how safe that is. It's not safe. I found a free database called KeePass, pronounced kē-pass, not kēp-ass. I downloaded it, put all my passwords into it, then deleted the password list off iCloud. We have tons of passwords. This project took all day.
    
  • What started out as a very cold morning, at -10°, ended up warmer, at 18°. We stayed inside for most of the day.
  • When I went down our quarter-mile driveway for the mail, two great horned owls were hooting while some coyotes howled. Mary guessed the owls were a mated pair. They should already have a nest and eggs. Both owls hooted the same call, except one call was always a higher pitch than the other call.
    
    
• Saturday, 1/22: Critter-Chewed Buick
  
  • Mary dusted books in the upstairs north bedroom. She also did some crocheting on a new blanket.
    
  • I put a new serpentine belt on the Buick Park Avenue's engine. Critters chewed the old belt into 2 pieces a couple years ago. After connecting the battery, I started it. The engine ran roughly with a major miss and didn't improve as I let it run. I also noticed the brake pedal went to the floor, even though the brake fluid reservoir was full. I turned off the engine, took off the plastic engine cover and found 2 spark plug wires severed in half, along with other wiring chewed completely off. Much of the insulation on the firewall and the hood is chewed off. Inch-long hair is throughout the chewed insulation that contains brown tips. I smell squirrels. I've got a lot more work than I thought in getting the Buick back in operation. I set 4 mouse traps on the floor of the Buick, since I also saw mouse chewings inside the car. Wildlife really loves munching on the Buick. It has a long history of animal chewings. I once had part of the donut spare tire chewed off while it sat in the trunk of that car.
    
  • During evening chores, Mary watched a small falcon hovering above the field, SE of the house. It was absolutely parked in the air. Consulting bird books, she identified it as an Amercian kestrel.
  • We watched 3 episodes the 2008 HBO series, John Adams, a Christmas gift from Bill to Mary.
    

Jan. 9-15, 2022

Weather | 1/9, 13°, 21° | 1/10, 15°, 23° | 1/11, 9°, 49° | 1/12, 31°, 49° | 1/13, 0.01" rain, 31°, 48° | 1/14, 27°, 37° | 1/15, 3" snow, or 0.62" moisture, 20°, 23° |

• Sunday, 1/9: Auto Stuff, Cooking, & House Planning
  
  • A strong NW wind blew in the morning, but by sunset, the outside air was calm.
    
  • I brought the tire pressures up on the pickup and the Buick. Everything, including the spare tire of the pickup, was low. The driver's side front Buick tire was flat. It's been over a year since we've moved the Buick. With the Cadillac gone, it's time to get the Buick back on the road. I also took steel wool to a bit of rust on the pickup's jack, and put it and the jack handle away behind the seat. A suitcase tool kit and the air pump went behind the pickup seat, too. It's amazing how much room exists, there.
    
  • Mary made an apple pie, flour tortillas, and venison fajitas for our main meal. For some unknown reason, Mary wanted off her feet in the evening.
  • I went into floorplanner.com, a program I used 10 years ago to work up a house plan, deleted that old stuff, and added the house plan I taped together from graph paper last month.
  • Mary and I both read a bunch in the evening.
  • Mocha nailed 2 mice...one in the late evening, and another after we went to bed. At 2 a.m., after a trip to the bathroom and while checking the thermometer, there was Mocha with a light gray mouse in her mouth. She's an effective mouse killer.
  • Katie made it back to Gulfport from her Air National Guard drill in Florida. She has veterinarian appointments for her 2 dogs and 2 cats during the next couple of days, in preparation for flying them north next weekend.
    
    
• Monday, 1/10: Mask Fix & Pickup Oil Change
  
  • Mary did a load of laundry and dried it on racks inside.
  • Mary took old elastic out of my mask and sewed in new elastic, adjusted it so the mask fits snugly to my face.
  • I changed oil and the oil filter on the pickup. King Kong put the oil drain plug in when oil was last changed at some oil changing joint in Quincy before we bought the truck. I tried adding a pipe to my socket wrench, but the ground prevented me from turning the wrench. I moved the pickup to a location whereby adding blocks under the front tires elevated the front of the truck, yet kept it level, to give the wrench with a cheater bar enough room to turn off the oil drain plug. Once I got the drain plug off, the oil change went fine. The engine sounds better while running, after the oil change. There are only 91,557 miles on this vehicle.
  • Mary did housecleaning.
  • I cleaned up 4 wine bottles and a beer bottle, which contained mold inside the bottle. I added an OxyClean solution to these bottles on 12/29/21. They rinsed out perfectly clean after a 12-day soak. I also removed labels and cleaned 10 wine bottles that soaked in soda water since 12/18/21. I tossed the brown-colored soda water. After adding used corks to keep dust out, I put dried wine bottles into my wine closet. I have over 50 clean wine bottles ready for filling and dozens more to clean.
  • While reading in the evening, Mary and I enjoyed a bottle of 2020 pear wine. It really has a good, strong pear flavor and it's very smooth after over a year of aging.
    
    
• Tuesday, 1/11: Spitting Firewood
  
  • Temperatures raised above freezing and the snow and ice laying on the ground and our roof is thawing.
  • Mary and I split firewood logs that were left next to the splitter, making 2 nice piles. A larger pile is dry wood, with a smaller one that's slightly wet wood.
    
  • Mary did a load of laundry and dried it outside on the line.
    
  • I tried finding a receipt for 5W30 oil I bought. I couldn't find it.
  • Katie called. Her procedure is still on at Harborview Burn Center in Seattle. Her veterinarian tested positive for COVID, so she had to scramble to find another vet to get health certificates, etc., for her pets, which she accomplished. She flies out for Quincy in the morning, via Charlotte, NC, and St. Louis. I pick her up at 2:03 p.m. at the Quincy Airport, if all goes well.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/12: Katie's Procedure is Canceled, She Flies Back to Gulfport
  
  • Katie left Gulfport around 7 a.m. There were plane problems in Charlotte, NC, so she was ushered off one plane and onto another. While in the air to St. Louis and just before I left for Quincy, a voicemail was left on Mary's phone that Katie's procedure was canceled, due to a COVID surge, and the woman at Harborview in Seattle couldn't get in touch with Katie (probably because Kate was in the air at the time). We forwarded the voicemail to Katie via a text. 
  • I went ahead and drove to Quincy, in case Katie eventually flew there. As I walked into Walmart, Katie texted the news I already knew...that her appointment in Seattle was canceled. I asked if she could catch a flight back to Gulfport. Her answer was, "I still need to get off of this plane and find out."
  • Back home, Mary was talking to Katie on the phone. Mary suggested Katie try to fly from St. Louis to Gulfport, and not come north to Quincy, because our weather forecast calls for 3-7 inches of snow Friday afternoon and night. Chances are high that Cape Air might not fly in or out of Quincy in a couple days. Katie was put in line for surgery in the future at Harborview. She told Mary to heck with that. She'll just stay itchy instead of the nonsense of flying around the country in one day. Katie secured a flight from St. Louis back to Gulfport via a layover in Atlanta. She is due to get into Gulfport at midnight. Katie said she gets reimbursed for the COVID test she had to take, plus her return flight to Gulfport. Katie texted me, "Luckily, I just ate a free hot dog at the St. Louis USO to make up for some of the costs. Or, you could view it as one of the most expensive hot dogs, ever."
  • I got a few items in Quincy and returned home. And, home, I'll stay, without worrying about getting COVID after a trip to Seattle and back.
  • Mary washed 2 loads of clothes and dried them on the line outside.
  • Robins and cardinals are thick in our yard, today. Mary said she's never seen so my yellow-rumped warblers. One hopped onto the outside edge of the east-facing bedroom window and looked in with a fly hanging out of the edge of its beak.
    
  • We ate nachos and rewatched 3 episodes of Keeping Up Appearances that I slept through last time.
    
    
• Thursday, 1/13: Warmth Before Expected Snow
  
  • The temperature rose to just below 50 today, so almost all snow and ice melted. The U.S. Weather Service predicts we'll get 5-9 inches of snow Friday night.
    
  • Due to a NW breeze and warm conditions, Mary did 3 loads of laundry. It all dried halfway outside. We brought the laundry inside to finish drying on racks and over the woodstove.
    
  • I cleaned under the work bench in the machine shed in preparations of putting strawberry plants in that location until spring. It's an area neglected since before we moved here in 2009, so the detritus is deep. The definition on Wikipedia..."Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material," describes pretty well what I removed. I only cleaned about 6 feet, with several more feet to shovel and sweep.
    
  • Katie texted that she slept in until 10 a.m., a rare event for her, since she's an early riser. She had a long day, yesterday.
    
    
• Friday, 1/14: Strawberry Prep, Cinnamon Rolls, Snow
  
  • Fog filled the air to start the day. Mist started falling mid-afternoon. By nightfall, rain fell. Around 8 p.m., rain turned to wet, heavy snow that thoroughly covered everything by the following morning (see photos, below).
    
  • We heard the telltale sounds of coyote hunters through the morning fog...dogs baying, a group of coyotes howling south of us, followed by gun shots to the east.
  • While doing morning chores, we heard several crows mobbing a young red-tailed hawk that was making a call in the woods east of the house.
    
  • Mary moved 2 wheelbarrow loads of hay into the chicken coop.
  • I helped Mary move firewood that was left just inside of the west entrance to the machine shed. Water from future snow melting was sure to run under that wood, so I helped Mary stack wetter wood in a criss-cross pattern on the north side, inside the machine shed. Mary stacked dry wood into the woodshed.
  • I shoveled and swept the rest of the area under machine shed bench. One item under there was an old electric fencer that looked similar to what I remember as the electric fencer unit to keep dairy steers in the barnyard, when we lived in Carlyle, Minn., in 1965.
  • I broke the 4 plastic tubs containing strawberry plants loose from the frozen ground in the far garden and moved them to under the machine shed bench. Then I filled the area above the potting soil in the tubs with grass we had stored in a plastic barrel in the machine shed. Finally, I covered all tubs with a piece of 1/2-inch hardware cloth and weighed it down with several bricks. This should keep rabbits away from the strawberry plant crowns.
    
  • The 4-gallon buckets containing strawberry plants in the near garden are too deep into the ground, so I couldn't break them loose from the frozen soil. Consequently, I simply added a layer of grass clippings to the top of all 36 buckets, thereby emptying the blue plastic barrel of grass. A covering of freezing rain, followed by snow, will give these plants a natural blanket of insulation. Our chicken wire fence keeps rabbits from this area.
    
  • Mary made fridge dough, then cinnamon rolls,  for evening pleasure. She also did some cross stitching.
  • I cut the 21-foot long by 2-inch diameter pipe in half with a hacksaw. This pipe once held the TV antenna for Mary's Uncle Herman. It's been laying outside the machine shed since the roofing job and I wanted to get it put away before the next snow. The 2 newly cut pieces were stowed away inside the machine shed.
  • I hooked up the small DVD player that Bill gave Mary for Christmas, which plays all region DVDs, not just North American disks. Then, we enjoyed 2 pots, each, of China Yunnan loose leaf tea and freshly baked cinnamon rolls while watching 4 episodes of BBC's The Great War and The Shaping of the 21st Century. In Great Britain, where this set of DVDs came from, it was called 1914-1918.
  • Bill texted us. He said his employer started weekly testing of non-vaccinated employees and he is missing half of the people in his department.
  • On the last dog walk, we crunched through heavy, wet snow that covered our black winter coats with big, white, melting snowflakes.

Snow scene out our east storm door. The near garden
is left of big cedar trees. Virginia Creeper twigs in foreground.

Snow fills in chain link fence at the chicken yard.

• Saturday, 1/15: Winter Wonderland
  
  • Evidence of winter is stuck to east sides of everything this morning. Wet snow and an east wind put a wall of white onto trees, bushes, and buildings. Winter white is pretty when you sit back and look at it, instead of trying to drive through it.
    
  • Mary made flour tortillas, followed by chimichangas.
  • I took the shop vacuum and a small brush to the back of the fridge that was full of dusty dog and cat fuzz. After removing the back cardboard vent, I cleaned in and around the fan.
    
  • Mary made a second batch of cinnamon rolls from half of the fridge dough that she whipped up yesterday. We enjoyed freshly baked cinnamon rolls, 2 pots, each, of China Keemun loose leaf tea, and watched the last 4 episodes of The Great War and The Shaping of the 21st Century.
  • Karen mentioned that they didn't have snow, yet, in NE Georgia, where she and Lynn live, but they should see something overnight.
  • Katie sent photos of her pets' crates that she's preparing for their flight from New Orleans to Anchorage, tomorrow. They depart on an Alaska Airlines flight at 4:48 p.m. There's an hour layover in Seattle. They get into Anchorage around midnight. The entire way north, Katie's pets are in heated cargo hold of a 747 airplane. She rented a vehicle today to drive from Gulfport, MS, to New Orleans, LA, tomorrow, with her pets.
  • On the last dog walk, Plato roared down the driveway a little ways, barked, then wagged his tail. It probably was a deer, since that's all we saw for tracks in the snow the next morning.
    

Jan. 2-8, 2022

Weather | 1/2, -2°, 11° | 1/3, 2°, 30° | 1/4, 21°, 39° | 1/5, 8°, 17° | 1/6, 1°, 9° | 1/7, -3°, 18° | 1/8, 15°, 36° |

• Sunday, 1/2: Driving Home, NO, to Clear Lake, Iowa
  
  • We woke up in Minneapolis around 8 a.m. The temperature outside was -17. By 9:45, we headed south. At noon, we pulled into Clear Lake, Iowa and fueled up. Upon starting the Cadillac, a growing groan from the front of the engine when it first started turned into a severe engine miss and a weird smell from the exhaust. I put in a can of STP gasline water remover...nothing changed. I bought 2 cans of Heet, poured them in...still nothing. I got information from the guy inside the gas station on local motels and mechanics. Unfortunatly, no mechanic was at work the day after New Year's Day.
    
  • We limped the car through the parking lot of a Chevrolet dealer, then limped to an AmericInn hotel. I called Wells Fargo, asking about the credit card, which is still on its way in the mail to our home. I was told I could access it through a Wells Fargo app, load it into Apple Pay, and use it from my cell phone. But, upon checking in, AmericInn doesn't accept Apple Pay, so Bill used his credit card. We checked in just before 3 p.m., after several calls to Mary. The temperature was 1 at that time.
  • Plans are to limp the car back to the Chevy dealer when they open at 8 in the morning and see what's wrong with the engine.
  • At home, Mary did a bunch of housecleaning and developed a list of floss she needs to do cross stitch projects.
    
    
• Monday, 1/3: Dead Caddy Engine...Towed It Home
  
  • I woke at 4 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. Bill and I ate the hotel's continental breakfast, packed our stuff, started the Cadillac with a badly missing engine at 8 a.m., and drove a couple blocks to the Prichards Lake Chevrolet dealership in Clear Lake.
  • The mechanic took our car in immediately. They diagnosed it for just over an hour. It has a broken timing chain/gear and in their hands, it jumped a few more teeth on the gear and won't start at all. The bill was $130. We used Bill's credit card, since nobody in northern Iowa is set up to take Apple Pay. I called a Clear Lake, Iowa U-Haul dealership, which is at a truck wash business. I was told there isn't a car-hauling trailer anywhere in northern Iowa, but he had trucks. We were within walking distance of that business, so Bill and I walked to it.
  • This dealership was really hokey. The guy who rented us a 10-foot truck really didn't know what he was doing. He said there were no U-Haul dealers in Quincy, IL. There are several. We rented the truck, which is really a GMC van with a box on the back, at 11 a.m.. Again, we used Bill's credit card. We drove to an Ace Hardware store in Clear Lake. That guy said their other store, in Mason City, was a U-Haul dealer. I called that store and their U-Haul employee went home, earlier, for a family emergency, and I needed to call the U-Haul 800 number.
  • I rented a car dolly, via my phone call, from a tire company in Manly, Iowa. Bill and I drove the U-Haul van there, which was 9 miles north on I-35, then 7 miles east. Bill's credit card was used, again. With the dolly hooked on the van, at 12:30 p.m., we drove back to the Chevy dealer in Clear Lake. About 6-8 dealership employees helped push the Cadillac out of the garage and onto the dolly. I asked how much of a job it was to replace a timing gear and chain on this engine. A mechanic said he did it once on a Northstar engine and the first step is to remove both the engine and the transmission. The head bolts are 10 inches long and there's not enough room to work on it while the engine is in the car. Furthermore, these all-aluminum engines are known to blow head gaskets, so it's really better to just replace the engine, which at GM prices, runs over $8,000. Bill and I did a couple laps around their new car lot to make sure everything towed correctly (see photo, below).
  • Bill and I first filled the van with gas, then drove to a McDonalds and grabbed something to eat. While eating, we called Mary. We decided to junk out the Cadillac and be rid of its problems. We decided that Mary would call B&W Truck in West Quincy, MO, to check on how to move the title over to them, when we haven't switched it back to us after the bank relinquished the lien on the car. We left Clear Lake after talking to Mary. It was 3:15 p.m.
  • Bill and I stopped after 20 miles and 50 miles down the road, a suggestion by the mechanic at the dealership, to check the tightness of the straps holding the front tires of the Cadillac on the car dolly and only tightened them at the first stop. The straps were tight at the second stop, so we drove steady, making good time.
  • Mary texted us that the woman at B&W told her just to bring in all of the paperwork and it will be fine to turn over the car title to them. Whew...that saves us from the cost of switching over the title. 
  • We decided to park the U-Haul and the Cadillac at the Fastlane truck stop and have Mary drive Bill's car there to pick us up. But, Mary couldn't get Bill's car to move, due to a lack of traction with 2 inches of snow/ice on grass. So, Bill and I parked the van/towed car at the intersection of the gravel road and State Highway J, then walked a mile west, to our house. Bill and I stepped through the door around 9 p.m. Mary had shoveled down the lane a short distance.
  • Bill ate a spaghetti meal. I backed the pickup up on the east lawn to get in front of Bill's car and got stuck. I loaded 5 concrete blocks into the pickup's bed. Bill and Mary pushed and I loaded Bill's pants with snow and grass and got ahead of Bill's car. Then, Mary pushed Bill's car with Bill in it and got his vehicle rolling. Bill and I drove back to the U-Haul rig and unloaded his belongings out of it. Bill left for his place around 11 p.m. He texted that he got home at 12:58 a.m.

  

  Cadillac loaded on car dolly behind the U-Haul van in Clear Lake, Iowa.
  

• Tuesday, 1/4: Cadillac is Gone
  • I drove the pickup to the van/Cadillac around 10 a.m. and pulled everything out of the Caddy, including floor mats and license plates. In Missouri, you keep license plates and transfer them from one vehicle to the next.
  • At 11:15 a.m., we tried moving the van/towed car, but an empty rental van with highway tires equaled no traction. A highway snow plow stopped and added a bit of sand in front of the van, which was very nice. After digging out snow, and a lot of cussing, I backed the van up on tractor tire chains laid out behind the van's rear tires, got the van moving forward, but spun out, again, while turning. The draw bar on the dolly was at an extreme angle, so I jacked it up with the pickup's jack, and unhooked it from the van. We dug more snow, this time on gravel, and I eased the van out on asphalt, then carefully backed it onto the gravel road's turnout onto the Highway J. Next, I drove home and got the draw bar with our 2-inch ball for the pickup and a better jack. After returning to the end of the gravel, I backed the pickup up to hook up the car dolly. The wimpy jack on the car dolly's draw bar started tipping, so I got the better jack under it, hooked the car dolly onto the pickup, then carefully backed the Cadillac up the gravel road. We unhooked the pickup, backed the van and hooked up the dolly. At 3:15 p.m., we headed off to West Quincy, with Mary behind me in the pickup.
  • The narrower highways were horrible, with deep slush and ice. Mary said while following me, she saw me slide right at one point. It was as scary for me as it was for her to see it. We proceeded slowly and once we were on Highway 6 at Ewing, roads were clear and dry.
  • I signed the title over at B&W, the salvage yard. They removed the car with a big front-end loader, lifting it up with long forks. Goodbye, Caddy. We got $315 for it.
  • I dropped off the rental van/car dolly at Haymaker's, a gas station in West Quincy. We were charged $15 more for extra mileage and they didn't refund anything for getting it in early. I was told to call U-Haul to see if I can get a refund. 
  • Mary and I got home in the pickup around 5 p.m., with enough daylight to get evening chores done.
  • Mom texted, wondering about our trip status. I texted back a brief synopsis.
    
  • I made a batch of waffles and we watched 3 episodes of Keeping Up Appearances, although I slept through them all. For some unknown reason, I'm very, very tired.
    
    
• Wednesday, 1/5: R&R Day
  • Mary figured out how much money to put in our various savings accounts and paid bills.
  • I sat around a lot and stayed indoors, since it was nasty outside with a strong NW wind.
  • Our new credit cards came in today's mail. It's too bad I didn't have them prior to the recent trip north.
  • Once receiving the cards, I immediately ordered a package of 10 KN95 respirator masks.
    
  • I chatted online with a U-Haul representative. We didn't receive a refund for getting the rental units in early, like Bill and I were promised when we got the rental van. U-Haul figures the price and turn-in date based on the estimated mileage. They don't refund for turning the rental in early. I asked that they explain their policy to the U-Haul rental place in Clear Lake, Iowa, since they're lying to customers at that location.
  • Bill, Mary and I all agreed on an amount to reimburse Bill for the use of his credit card on the trip. I'm sending Bill a check in tomorrow's mail.
  • Mary made a large amount of venison General Tso. She asked me when the garlic wine is ready, because she said it's better than store-bought cooking sherry. I'll be bottling the garlic wine on my birthday, Feb. 20th.
  • We drank 2 pots, each, of loose leaf China Keemun tea and watched 2 episodes of a 2008 HBO mini-series called John Adams, a Christmas gift from Bill. The show is very good. We also watched the extras, one of which keyed in on David McCollough, the author of the book that this mini-series is based upon. McCullough received a Pulitzer prize for this book, and his biography on Harry Truman. I've already read McCullough's Truman book. Now, I'll need to read John Adams. Naturally, we have the book, since Mary makes sure we have an abundance of books in our home. No library card needed in this household! I fell in love with David McCullough's writing shack. I told Mary that I need to build one just like his.
    
    
• Thursday, 1/6: Indoors Day
  
  • This is Day 2 of a strong NW wind, so it's also Day 2 of a day inside.
  • Mary made a chicken midday meal with sweet potatoes and a green bean casserole.
    
  • I balanced the checkbook after sending Bill a check for his credit card charges on the trip.
  • I put a bunch of items away from the trip.
  • I shifted the car insurance from the Cadillac to our 2000 Buick Park Avenue. When it warms, I'll work to get the Buick ready for an inspection and update the plates on it.
    
  • Our garden seeds came in from Fedco in today's mail.
    
  • I asked Mom about Montana temperatures. She had -29° at her house, this morning. It warmed up to -1°. She said yesterday was even colder and with a wind. She added that her house stays warm and cozy. She's stayed home all week, due to a dry, raspy throat, but it's getting better.
  • I noticed that the snow cover between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, Iowa is between 7-12 inches, which means it's significantly higher than when Bill and I drove through the area just a couple days ago. Bill texted, "Beat the bullet on that, gheez."
    
  • Katie called. She did CPR and first aid training at work and gets Jan. 17th off. That means she has a day off after she gets back to Anchorage, flying her 2 dogs and 2 cats north from Gulfport, MS. She flies out of Anchorage for Gulfport tonight with a 10:25 p.m. departure. She gets into Gulfport at 3:52 p.m., tomorrow (1/7).
  • Mary and I did a bunch of reading.
    
    
• Friday, 1/7: Pear Wine Labeled
  
  • I'm finally feeling somewhat rested, after returning from the north 3 days ago.
  • Mary made 2 quiche pies. We ate one.
    
  • I cleaned up the tractor tire chains, jacks, and jack handles out of the back end of the pickup. They had a half inch of ice stuck to their bottoms, so I set the newest jack just inside the door on our entry room floor to thaw.
    
  • I read 4 more chapters of the book that Bill played over the speaker while we drove to and from Minneapolis. It's Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper. We only got to the end of chapter 8 with the audio book.
  • An online check showed several N95 masks available at Home Depot. For 2 days, my online order for KN95 masks was in a replenishing mode. I canceled the order. The masks at Home Depot are made by 3M and have several positive reviews.
    
  • I labeled the 31 bottles of 2021 pear wine and stored them on their sides in 2 coolers in the upstairs north bedroom.
  • The cherry wine emits a bubble once every minute or so. It's full of fines on the bottom of the carboy and the half-gallon jug, so I need to rack it to a new carboy, probably tomorrow.
  • The weather prediction is for freezing rain, tomorrow. We're staying home.
    
    
• Saturday, 1/8: Freezing Mist
  
  • Freezing mist in the morning and evening made road conditions slick. The Quincy Airport is 7 miles east of the east side of Quincy. Halfway to the airport, a 5-car accident resulted in a death and 2 severely injured children. The Quincy Sheriff told residents to stay home. We're fortunate that we don't have to go anywhere.
    
  • I racked the cherry wine for the second time, this time from one 5-gallon carboy to another 5-gallon carboy (see photo, below), due to Christmas gifts from Bill of two 5-gallon carboys. The cherry wine must looks like pink lemonade. The specific gravity is 0.994, resulting in an 11.8% alcohol content. I read online about SO2 content in wine and decided to forgo using the SO2 testing kit and estimated that I needed to add 1.69 Campden tablets. I crushed 2 tablets, mixed them with about 2 ounces of cherry wine must heated to 95°, stirred the mix thoroughly, added it to the must, then stirred the must in the carboy. Over a half-inch of fines were in the carboy and half-gallon jug. I filled the new carboy to within 3/4-inch from the top and had about 175 ml left, which we drank. The wine has a slight cherry taste, it's tangy, with a strong yeast flavor. I think with aging, as it clears, the cherry flavor will get stronger.
  • I finished Susan Cooper's book, Over Sea, Under Stone. It's a very good book.
  • Katie is in the Florida panhandle, doing her military things. She's hoping this is her last visit and she gets to transfer her Air National Guard assignment to what used to be called Elmendorf Air Force Base, but is now known as Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) at Anchorage.
  • After dark, we heard our first owls for 2022. A great horned owl and a barred owl called from the woods just west of the house.

  

  Racking Cherry Wine into a new carboy.