Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2023

Weather | 1/29, light snow, 14°, 19° | 1/30, 6°, 19° | 1/31, 0°, 21° | 2/1, 7°, 37° | 2/2, 17°, 46° | 2/3, 0°, 21° | 2/4, 14°, 54° |

• Sunday, 1/29: Racking 2 Wines
  
  • Mary made a midday meal of venison stew and biscuits. It was very good.
    
  • Bill and I walked dogs on an eastern loop. We visited the south shore of Wood Duck Pond. Then, we walked to the Cedar East Woods Deer Blind that Bill helped me start, but didn't see as a finished blind. We returned home.
  • I caught trumpeter swans flying overhead in two videos (see below) in the evening.
    
  • Bill and I racked the persimmon wine for the second time, since there was a little over an inch of fines in the bottom of the carboy. I used up more than 1.5 liters of must that was thrown out with the fines. We added a gram of Kmeta to approximately 5 gallons of must. The specific gravity is 0.991 and the pH is 3.3. Bill tasted it and said it had a strong yeast flavor. We added 2 cups of distilled water to top it up.
    
  • Next we racked the garlic wine for the third time. The must was very clear, with about half an inch of fines on the bottom of the carboy. The specific gravity is the same as last month at 0.994. We didn't add Kmeta or check the pH. It should be ready to bottle in a month.
    
  • While Bill and I worked on wine, Mary cross stitched and we all listened to the AFC playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Chiefs won 23-20. They play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl in two weeks.
    
  • We watched an episode of Young Indiana Jones.
    
    
  Two quiet trumpeter swans flying over our house.
  

Noisy trumpeter swans flying northeast to southwest.

• Monday, 1/30: Swans in Corn Field
  
  • I made waffles for breakfast.
    
  • Mary, Bill, and I talked for quite awhile.
    
  • Bill left for his home in St. Charles around 2 p.m.
    
  • As he was driving down the gravel road to the east of us, he spotted several trumpeter swans in the neighbor's corn field, took photos, and texted them to us (see below). This is where they fly to every morning and fly away from every evening.
  • Mary and I walked the dogs on the east loop.
    
  • Tonight's low is predicted to be 3°. Pets sleeping around the base of the woodstove speaks volumes for the penetration of warm wood heat.

Trumpeter swans in neighbor's corn field east of us.

More swans where there's plenty of spilled corn.

• Tuesday, 1/31: Food Processor Find
  
  • Today was a cold day for this neck of the woods.
    
  • Last night I spotted a Hamilton Beach food processor for $20, similar to our current one. The one for sale has been used 5 times. I want a food processor I can use to crunch up apples for apple cider production. It's in Warrenton, MO, about 30 miles west of St. Louis. I left a message last night with the person selling it. I texted Bill this morning to see if I could overnight with him and pick up the plywood he has saved out for us that his work place was throwing out. He's extra busy, because several employees didn't show yesterday, and he will have to work after hours tonight and maybe tomorrow. I suggested I overnight on Thursday after getting the food processor, then picking up the plywood early Friday morning, before work begins for him. That's what we'll try. Hopefully, the food processor doesn't sell before Thursday. I relayed my plans to the woman selling the processor.
    
  • I worked on our 2022 tax return, but didn't finish.
  • I walked the dogs on the south loop trail.
    
  • Mary made a venison General Tso dish for our main meal and finished her cross stitch Halloween Season of the Witches pattern (see photo, below).
  • More waterfowl flew over at dusk. I saw about a thousand snow geese fly southeast. I think they were heading for the Mississippi River.
    
  • We watched two episodes and finished Ken Burns' The Civil War.
  • While walking dogs on their final walk at night, we saw a rare treat. Large frost crystals formed on the ground and looked like diamonds in the flashlight, but showed rainbow colors when the flashlight was off and the moon lit them up. It was magical!
    

  

  Mary's Halloween Season of Witches cross stitch project.

• Wednesday, 2/1: Tax Returns Finished
  
  • I finished federal and state taxes and electronically filed them. It took a big chunk of time in the afternoon. The Missouri tax return form is insanely long and stupid.
  • Mary and I tried to view the green comet that's supposed to be between the North Star and the Big Dipper, but clouds blocked the view when we looked. Instead, there was a large blue halo around the moon, the biggest we've ever seen. When I let the dogs out for the last outing, the sky was clear, but the moon was too bright to see much.
  • Bill and I texted about my overnight visit at his place tomorrow. I'll meet him at his apartment at 6:30 p.m. He has ideas on a place to eat.
    
  • I figured out a list of fly tying items I'd like to get so that I know what I want in case I visit a Bass Pro or Cabelas store in St. Louis tomorrow.
    
  • We watched an episode of Downton Abbey.
    
    
• Thursday, 2/2: A Trip South
  
  • I sent a message first thing this morning to the seller of the food processor and learned it was still available. I got her address and told her I'd be there by 2 p.m. Then, I asked Bill if it was till fine for me to stay overnight at his apartment. He said yes and suggested meeting at his place at 6:30 p.m.
  • After breakfast, cleaning up, and packing, I left at 11 a.m. I stopped by our bank's branch at Palmyra, MO, and picked up cash. At Troy, MO, I bought and ate lunch...3 burgers. From there it took 30 minutes, driving narrow, paved back roads to get where I was going. I showed up at 2:02. They are a very nice couple who raise bees and sell honey from their country home near Warrenton, MO. She got the food processor as a wedding gift in 1991 and only used it about 5 times, because she finds it easier to pull out a cutting board and a knife, instead of the machine. It's in good shape.
  • From there, I drove about 5 miles south, then took I-70 west to the Bass Pro shop in St. Charles (St. Louis suburb).
  • I wandered through the store. Prices are high. Fishing lures start at $7.95. They were out of most fly tying tools and basic materials are too expensive. I wasn't impressed. I'll get my materials online, where they're much less expensive and available.
  • I went to a Sam's Club two miles from there and fueled up. The price was $2.98 a gallon. Fuel economy was 19.12 mpg, which is good for a pickup. I strolled through Sam's Club to eat up time.
  • After meeting Bill, we went to a brew pub near his apartment that he likes. It's called Third Wheel Brewing. I had a stout called Riot Girl and Bill had an IPA called Gotta Have It. He ate buffalo chicken nachos and I had quesadillas.
  • We went to Bill's apartment and watched a DVD called Vantage Point.
  • Back home, Mary vacuumed a lot of bugs, maybe 800 to 1,000 flies just in our bedroom windows. She also took the dogs for a walk (see photo, below) and watched a movie, A Bridge Too Far.
  • Katie sent a text to her mother that the University of Alaska, Anchorage sent her a letter that she was accepted in the construction management program in her pursuit of a bachelor of science degree.
    

  

  Amber (foreground) & Plato (background).
  The edge of east woods is behind Plato.

• Friday, 2/3: Drive Back Home
  
  • Bill and I woke at 6:30 a.m. I packed as Bill made a nice breakfast. After eating, I followed Bill to his place of work. We loaded seven 4'x5' sheets of 1/2" plywood into the back of my pickup and I left for home. I stopped at Aldi in Troy, MO, and bought a few items, then proceeded home, arriving around noon.
  • Mary baked, then took the meat out of three New England Long Pie Pumpkins, and froze four quarts of pumpkin meat.
    
  • After lunch, I put a bunch of winemaking items away in the west room's closet.
  • Mary and I did chores, had a tea, ate some grapes, then I fixed waffles for an evening meal.
    
    
• Saturday, 2/4: Windy Day
  
  • We experienced strong southwest wind gusts.
  • The woman I bought the food processor from sent a message thanking me for purchasing it. I asked her for the name of their honey business. It's Royal Bee Apiary.
    
  • Mary did a load of towels. They dried fast in the wind.
    
  • She also worked up and paid the bills.
    
  • Mary vacuumed dust off all of the Christmas cross stitch ornaments and stored them away.
  • Mary and I both took turns vacuuming bugs and flies. This is one of the worst bug winters in this house.
    
  • I moved the seven sheets of plywood I got from Bill from the pickup bed to the machine shed. They're actual size is 3'3" x 4'.
    
  • I pumped up the driver's side front tire of the Buick. It has a slow leak. I also charged the Buick's battery.
  • We saw several types of waterfowl at dusk...mallard ducks, trumpeter swans, Canada geese, snow geese, and cackling geese. There were a lot of solo birds, like they were scared off of some nearby pond.
    
  • Mary baked two pans of cinnamon rolls, which we enjoyed, along with two pots of Yunan loose leaf tea while watching four episodes of Downton Abbey.