Weather | 10/22, 37°, 63° | 10/23, 47°, 79° | 10/24, 63°, 79° | 10/25, 0.71" rain, 59°, 73° | 10/26, 1.20" rain, 60°, 67° | 10/27, 0.07" rain, 43°, 60° | 10/28, 0.23" rain, 32°, 39° |
- Sunday, 10/22: News From Katie
- Katie called. She's at the Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB), located about 88 miles southeast of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Katie said it's in the middle of the desert. She is eight hours ahead of us and 11 hours ahead of Alaska time. Katie said she's now over the time lag. There are several maintenance jobs required on the base that they're working on...things like doors ajar that don't open or close. The U.S. Air Force is building up their presence at this base, which was first established in 1951. High temperatures hit 100°. Katie said she visited Don (Mary's brother) and Kristen Orsen a couple times. While in S.C., Katie's group was limited to visits under three hours away and had a limitation of vehicles. Consequently, several people went on any trips. Other personnel who accompanied Katie to the Orsens told her that her relatives are really nice. Katie said her pets are doing good in Anchorage. She set up several people to handle them while she's gone. Anchorage is predicted to get to 12°, soon, Katie said.
- I hunted squirrels for most of the day. I shot a fox squirrel this morning. Blue jays are constantly grabbing pecan nuts and dropping them to the ground.
- Mary and I picked more pecans, with quite a number coming off the ground. Some are falling out of the husks, but most have husks with bird bite marks in them. I used the trailer behind the tractor to put up the step ladder and got several more pecans off branches. We collected 312 pecans, today.
- While picking pecans, I saw an otter run across the yard near the old McIntosh tree. At first I thought I was watching a mink, but it was too large for a mink. It probably ate a bunch of fish from Bass Pond.
- Katie called. She's at the Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB), located about 88 miles southeast of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Katie said it's in the middle of the desert. She is eight hours ahead of us and 11 hours ahead of Alaska time. Katie said she's now over the time lag. There are several maintenance jobs required on the base that they're working on...things like doors ajar that don't open or close. The U.S. Air Force is building up their presence at this base, which was first established in 1951. High temperatures hit 100°. Katie said she visited Don (Mary's brother) and Kristen Orsen a couple times. While in S.C., Katie's group was limited to visits under three hours away and had a limitation of vehicles. Consequently, several people went on any trips. Other personnel who accompanied Katie to the Orsens told her that her relatives are really nice. Katie said her pets are doing good in Anchorage. She set up several people to handle them while she's gone. Anchorage is predicted to get to 12°, soon, Katie said.
- Monday, 10/23: Cutting Firewood
- Mary and I went northeast, near the Cherry Deer Blind, and sawed up an ash tree for firewood. It blew over last winter. After loading pieces into the wagon, we drove a little further north and sawed up a couple more trees to fill the wagon. We unloaded big pieces next to the woodsplitter in the machine shed and smaller pieces in the woodshed.
- We picked pecan nuts, mainly off the ground. A south wind blew hard, dropping several nuts from the trees. We got 112 nuts, today.
- We've always wanted a taller step ladder. New ones are in the $280 to $400 range. I spotted a used 10-foot ladder on Facebook Marketplace for $90. It's made of fiberglass with aluminum steps and has steps on both sides. It's in St. Charles, a St. Louis suburb. I lined up getting the ladder tomorrow. Since I didn't want to drive back home in the dark, I told Bill I'd be there, but not visiting, and I'd see him when he visits us this weekend.
- Mary and I went northeast, near the Cherry Deer Blind, and sawed up an ash tree for firewood. It blew over last winter. After loading pieces into the wagon, we drove a little further north and sawed up a couple more trees to fill the wagon. We unloaded big pieces next to the woodsplitter in the machine shed and smaller pieces in the woodshed.
- Tuesday, 10/24: A New-to-us Ladder
- The guy I'm buying the ladder from left it on the side of his house with the gate to the back yard left open. He sent me a photo. He said to leave the money under the front door mat. I left home this morning, stopped in Palmyra, MO, at our bank's branch and got cash, put $20 of gas in the pickup, and drove south.
- I first went to a place called Steampunk Brew Works, a microbrewery that also sells brewing equipment, and bought two universal stoppers that I need. The place smelled marvelous.
- Then, I went to a nearby Sam's Club and bought two bags of coffee beans that aren't ever in the Quincy, IL, Sam's Club, and two buckets of cat litter that haven't been in the Quincy Sam's Club, recently. I bought gas there, too, for $2.84 a gallon. It must be the cheapest gas price in St. Louis, because cars were lined up behind ever fuel pump.
- I picked up the ladder. I had to leave the pickup's tailgate down, tie the ladder into place, and tie an old red T-shirt at the ladder's feet, that were just at the end of the tailgate. I left money in an envelope under the door mat and let the seller know what I did, and then left for home.
- I saw several mashed up deer along the roads to and from St. Louis. That's why I didn't want to drive in the dark.
- I got home around 5 p.m. Our neighbor east of us was just starting to combine corn. We have a major rain event due to hit us tonight. He always waits until rain is coming before he starts harvest. Most all other farmers are done harvesting, since we've had days and weeks of dry weather. Sure enough, just after dark, it started raining.
- Mary picked nuts off the ground four times today, while I was traveling. A strong south wind kept knocking nuts out of the trees.
- I got the ladder out and tried it (see photo, below). I can get to nuts I never could reach. The next step is a lift, which costs a lot more than $90. This ladder will really be handy during cherry picking season and for spraying fruit trees. It's heavy and a lot sturdier than a six-foot step ladder set up in an old rickety trailer.
- I helped Mary remove husks off pecans. We got 114 nuts.
Our new-to-us 10-foot ladder gets me higher into pecan tree limbs.
- Wednesday, 10/25: Using Ladder
- I set up the 10-foot ladder again and got into pecan tree branches I couldn't reach without an additional hoist. I found a small leaf rake that I used to grab branches and bring them down where I could pick nuts. We picked 267 nuts. We're starting to see nuts without husks on the ground.
- I hunted squirrels most of the day and shot two of them. Jays, crows, and woodpeckers are all trying to grab pecans, too.
- I set up the 10-foot ladder again and got into pecan tree branches I couldn't reach without an additional hoist. I found a small leaf rake that I used to grab branches and bring them down where I could pick nuts. We picked 267 nuts. We're starting to see nuts without husks on the ground.
- Thursday, 10/26: Bigger Pecans
- The pecan trees were messy with squirrels this morning. I shot two squirrels and sent several running away. They kept coming back in the morning, sometimes within a few minutes after firing the .22 rifle.
- We picked 175 pecans, today. I didn't use the ladder, today, due to unstable, squishy ground. The pecan tree closest to us usually is loaded with huge nuts that never develop. We suspect it's not a native pecan tree, but a fancy variety that doesn't quite match our climate. This year our hard freeze is late in arriving, so as of today we got lots of bigger pecan nuts off that tree.
- We received a lot of rain, today. There were times when I was in the east end of the machine shed waiting for squirrels to appear when downpours of water pounded on the metal roof like a drum.
- The pecan trees were messy with squirrels this morning. I shot two squirrels and sent several running away. They kept coming back in the morning, sometimes within a few minutes after firing the .22 rifle.
- Friday-Saturday, 10/26-10/27: Bill Visits
- We watched three bucks and a doe deer meander through our east lawn and driveway this morning. They weren't in rut. They were just hanging out together. One buck had a medium-sized rack. A button buck got the zoomies, running around just like a kitten.
- Bill arrived Friday morning, looking forward to a break. The newly hired inventory manager at Bill's place of employment quit. They perform their inventory assessment next weekend and Bill is now in charge of that, when he will put in 12-hour work days. He took a big afternoon nap.
- I racked the apple cider for the fourth time. The specific gravity was 1.000, the same as it was five weeks ago (I'm a week late with this racking). The pH was 3.1. Mary, Bill, and I tasted it. It has a strong apple flavor and it's quite tangy. There's no metallic taste, so it's much better than last year's attempt. I added 0.6 grams of Kmeta.
- Bill helped us pick pecans. I used the 10-foot ladder to get more large pecans off the tree nearest the house. We got a total of 217 nuts.
- We watched movies that Bill picked out. One was Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Conquers the Martians, where these guys from the Twin Cities make snide comments while viewing a really bad movie. It was hilarious, and yes, the movie was really bad. Then, we watched the 1944 movie, Arsenic and Old Lace, starring Cary Grant.
- Through Saturday, we all picked pecans. We got 172 nuts.
- We played six games of Yahtzee Saturday night. Luck was on my side. I had 13 yahtzees, four in the final game, alone.
- We watched three bucks and a doe deer meander through our east lawn and driveway this morning. They weren't in rut. They were just hanging out together. One buck had a medium-sized rack. A button buck got the zoomies, running around just like a kitten.
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