Feb. 19-25, 2023

Weather | 2/19, 33°, 55° | 2/20, 23°, 556° | 2/21, 27°, 49° | 2/22, 1.19" rain, 37°, 46° | 2/23, 27°, 33° | 2/24, light freezing rain after dark, 11°, 32° | 2/25, 25°, 43° |

• Sunday, 2/19: Wheelbarrow Tire Work
  
  • I replaced a tire on our oldest wheelbarrow. The old tire looked good once I removed it from the ring. After filling the new tire with air, I could hear air leaking. I couldn't find leaks by dipping it in a tub of water, because air is leaking through the inside of the rim. I will buy an inner tube to solve that problem and the tire I took off will go on the other large wheelbarrow that has checked rubber on its tire, but a good inner tube keeping it inflated.
  • I washed all chicken waterers in the tub of water I used to check for tire air leaks. The waterers weren't cleaned all winter and looked much better after I finished. 
  • Because it was a very nice day, Bill took a long hike around our property. He took photos of trumpeter swans swimming in Wood Duck Pond. He scared wood ducks off Bass Pond. He found a deflated silver balloon in the shape of an S in a tree at the northwest corner of our property that he brought home and we threw away.
    
  • Mary and I watched V after V of snow geese flying high in the sky while heading west. Mary heard an eastern blue bird, the first of the season.
    
  • Mary picked up all of the branches laying on the ground after we pruned fruit trees a few days ago.
    
  • Bill picked out three very serious movies that we watched. They were My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Galaxy Quest, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
    
    
• Monday, 2/20: I'm 66, Today
  
  • Today is my birthday. Karen put a photo of our parents and me when I was a few months old on Facebook. I talked with Mom on the phone, and with Katie. A big dump of snow, high winds, and temperatures in the -20s is expected in the next several days for Circle, MT. Katie was at a construction planning meeting in Hawaii last week and recently returned from a reggae concert in L.A. This week she returns to Venetie, AK, to supervise the end of installing a fire suppression system in that school.
    
  • Bill gave me three birthday presents: an assortment of fly tying hooks, a bag of silver fly tying beads, and an assortment of silk body fiber in eight colors. Katie gave me a gift card to J. Stockard, a fly tying supply company.
    
  • We ate smoked scrambled eggs for our midday meal.
    
  • Bill returned to his St. Charles apartment, leaving around 2:30 p.m.
    
  • Mary and I took a hike with the puppies on the north loop trail.
    
  • I got a call from Quincy Medical Group informing me that the doctor I wanted to have as a primary care doctor turned me down. Apparently I wasn't rich enough for his liking. The medical clinic in Lewistown is run by Quincy Medical Group. They transferred the phone call to Leiwstown and I got an appointment for Friday morning at that location.
    
    
• Tuesday, 2/21: Picking Up Plant Trays
  
  • Yesterday, I saw used plastic plant trays for sale near Palmyra that cost $1 for 10 trays. Mary uses them to hold Styrofoam cups when starting garden plants. I drove to Palmyra and picked them up. The lady there used to sell garden plant starts, but quit it with the pandemic. She gave me all of her trays without holes, which was 13, for just one dollar...very nice of her.
  • I bought gas on the way back home. It's $3.08 a gallon.
    
  • I scrubbed out a cooler that I discovered with a mold smell when I recently retrieved a bottle of wine. It got a thorough scrubbing with a bleach/water solution and aired in the sun.
  • I looked up information about making trusses for post frame buildings. I didn't find much. I'll keep looking.
    
    
• Wednesday, 2/22: Fly Tying Order
  
  • We received over an inch of rain throughout the day. Right before sunset, the sky cleared. Sloppy water puddles were everywhere.
    
  • Mary worked on a cross stitch project.
    
  • At twilight, Mary heard two American woodcocks east and northeast of the house.
  • We saw the conjunction of the waxing moon and Jupiter in the western sky. Venus was below them.
    
  • I was a bum all day, reviewing fly tying equipment and materials. Before bed, I placed an order. I was only a couple bucks over my allotted dollar amount. There's all kinds of fun in my future.
    
    
• Thursday, 2/23: Windy
  
  • The wind blew hard, especially in the morning.
  • We watched a red-tailed hawk sitting in a walnut tree at the northwest corner of our lawn. When Mary went out with the dogs, it flew to the north.
    
  • Mary made a large batch of minestrone soup. She also worked on a cross stitch pattern.
    
  • I worked out a list of health issues that I have, then wrote them down to take with me on tomorrow's visit to the doctor.
    
  • I got an email that the fly tying order from J. Stockard shipped today, the very next day after placing the order.
  • My friend, Alison, put a link on Facebook to a very good country music artist called Tony Jackson, who sang a fabulous version of the Randy Travis song, "Diggin' Up Bones."
    
    
• Friday, 2/24: Doctor's Visit
  
  • I went to the Lewistown Clinic to see Dr. Arvin Abueg. He's Filipino. I liked him. My blood pressure is high...160 something over 90 something. I weigh 155 pounds. At one point in Circle, MT, I weighed 185. There's more activity in my life, nowadays. Dr. Abueg took a blood sample. From that he will be able to determine my blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and how my kidneys, liver, and thyroid are functioning. He says this will establish a baseline. He sent in a prescription for a glucometer for me. He will get results from tests on my blood on Monday, then call in appropriate drug prescriptions. The Lewistown Clinic folks will call me after that to let me know the details. I'm to visit him two weeks after all of this takes place. He asked me to immediately start taking baby aspirin, not only as a blood thinner, but to protect organs, such as kidneys. I'll know more next week.
  • Mary cooked up three New England pumpkins and froze 4 quarts of pumpkin meat.
    
  • We took a hike to throw out pumpkin seeds for birds and critters to eat. Then, we walked the dogs down to Wood Duck Pond and back.
    
  • In the evening, Mary finished her Theodore Roosevelt book. I diddled around online.
  • Below is a photo of one of my son's T-shirts that was on the line drying last weekend.

  

  Bill's T-shirt...typical example of his humor.

• Saturday, 2/25: Mothballs for Vehicles
  
  • Last night's freezing drizzle put a skim of ice on the front porch that reminded me of the pebbled surface of a curling rink. It melted quickly.
    
  • Mom and I texted back and forth, comparing medical information.
    
  • I put one mothball in each of my Gatorade bottles that have holes drilled in them, which I put under and in vehicles to keep chewing critters away. One mothball added every other month seems to refresh them. The pickup has 14 bottles in the engine compartment and 11 under it for a grand total of 25. The Buick has 13 in the engine compartment, seven around it, for a total of 20.
    
  • I aired up a Buick front tire. I was pleasantly surprised that the wheelbarrow tire I recently fixed dropped only 5 psi in air pressure.
    
  • Snow geese are still flying east and west each morning and evening. In other words, they're milling around right now and not flying out of here.
  • I looked at past years of this blog. Plato walked into our lives nine years ago. Here's a LINK to that day.
    
  • We watched the 2011 movie, The Grand Exotic Marigold Hotel. It's really very good, with several outstanding British actors in it.