Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2024

Weather | 9/30, sunny, 57°, 80° | 10/1, sunny, 55°, 68° |10/2, p. cloudy, 39°, 71° | 10/3, sunny, 46°, 83° | 10/4, cloudy, 57°, 80° | 10/5, sunny, 57°, 87° | 10/6, sunny, 55°, 73° |

• Monday, 9/30: Cleaning the Coop
  
  • A bunch of robins were flying about in the morning. They obviously flew in overnight.
    
  • I gave Mary a haircut.
  • I cleaned the chicken coop. I moved many wheelbarrow loads of chicken manure, old hay, and dust to the compost bins. After I finished, Mary put new hay on the floor and all chickens seemed very happy.
    
  • Mary brought in house plants that were outdoors through the summer, after cleaning them with a garden hose.
    
  • She also watered gardens.
    
  • We moved in the Halloween tree and decorated it with orange lights, a few cobweb and bat spherical decorations, and several cross stitch ornaments handcrafted by Mary. The tree is an old cedar tree with bare branches, which is perfect for Halloween...very stark.
    

• Tuesday, 10/1: Left Eye Cataract Surgery
  
  • We got up by 5:30 a.m., because I had to get breakfast done by 6 a.m., due to the fact that I had cataract surgery scheduled for 1:05 p.m., today.
    
  • After sunrise, I hunted squirrels for a couple hours. I shot four of them.
    
  • We left around 10:30 and shopped a little bit in Quincy.
    
  • After they got me all prepped for surgery, we waited for almost two hours, due to the fact that there were three people ahead of me. The gurney chair they put me into was extremely uncomfortable. Once they wheeled me into the operating room, the back went down and I was fine. Anesthesia is applied, but not enough to knock you out. A plastic device was put in my left eye to keep the eyelid open and a laser cuts a tiny incision into the top side of the eye, enabling the insertion of a minuscule tube, through which the cataract and old lens is sucked out and a new lens is installed. It's absolutely amazing technology. They used a new technique that eliminates the need for applying several types of eye drops for a week. Instead, the medicine goes in with the new lens. It means that I see what they describe as a lava lamp. I think it more resembles octopus ink, because it's a swirling, ever-changing amount of black material. The doctor placed a plastic shield over the outside of that eye and sent me home.
  • Once we left the hospital, we snarfed a lunch that Mary prepared this morning. Mary drove us home.
    
  • We watched the vice presidential debate.
  • A barred owl and a screech owl were calling after dark from the north woods.
    

• Wednesday, 10/2: Driving, Driving, Driving
  
  • At 9:20 a.m., we had a follow up appointment at the eye surgeon's office. My eyesight after they removed the eye guard was 20:60 through the octopus ink. The doctor said by Sunday the swirls will fade away and I'll see better out of the left eye. I was informed that I can bend over, something I had to avoid after surgery, yesterday. I can also drive, which I did, after Mary drove us to the doctor's office.
    
  • We got home in time for a phone call from the doctor's office, telling me that there was some higher pressure in my left eye and that I needed to get prescription eye drops. 
  • After Mary fixed a midday meal, I drove back to Sam's Club in Quincy and picked up the drops, then drove back home, again. That was a poor job by the doctor's office at letting me know about the eye drops.
    
  • The nurse told me that since the lenses in my glasses cannot be easily removed, I should blacken the left lens of the glasses. Mary found some black construction paper that we cut out and taped over the left lens of my glasses. It's only temporary. By this weekend, I probably won't need the glasses.
  • Mary picked beans and watered all gardens.
  • I picked some winter greens that we enjoyed on top of chimichangas. They tasted great.
  • The mailbox flag fell off the mailbox. A lightweight plastic wedge hold the entire contraption into place. Since I couldn't find that cheap wedge, I installed a small screw that has a double nut on it to hold the flag in place. This is better than the garbage supplied with the mailbox.
    

• Thursday, 10/3: Processing Green Beans
  
  • Instead of hunting squirrels, I chased them away. I'd sit on a stool at the east end of the machine shed and watch. Twice I saw squirrels. When I did, I'd walk forward quickly while clapping my hands and shouting. I don't want to operate a gun while my eye heals from cataract surgery.
    
  • I didn't do much today, because I'm trying to abide by the rules laid out by the eye surgeon, which includes not lifting anything over 10 pounds, not touching the left eye, and avoiding bending over too much. I'm also supposed to avoid dust or dust-producing activities, such as using a saw.
    
  • Mary made a big batch of vegetable soup.
  • She also cut up, blanched, and froze 40 small packages of green beans. It's a long, monotonous job cutting up each green bean, so while chopping away, she listened to several CDs of Great Courses World War I: the "Great War". I listened to several lectures, too.
    
  • We watered gardens. Mary marched and poured while I sat on a stool and filled waterers. Mary said some of the acorn squash are large enough to be one meal. Usually, Mary cooks up two acorn squashes for a meal for the two of us.
  • Below is one of Mary's newest cross stitch Halloween ornaments.

  

  A new cross stitch ornament entitled "Midnight Meeting."

• Friday, 10/4: Harvesting Gardens
  
  • While walking puppies this morning, we saw lightning and then heard distant thunder as a storm system skirted by us to the northeast. A few raindrops plopped on the kitchen window.
    
  • I chased squirrels away from pecan trees, again.
    
  • I cleaned up the used cooler that we most recently bought from the Salvation Army. It was filthy in the store, but cleaned up quite nicely.
    
  • I tightened up the double nuts holding the flag on the mailbox.
  • Mary harvested produce from the gardens. She picked 53 acorn squashes and moved them to the south upstairs bedroom to cure. It was a good amount out of just six hills. Mary picked all of the tomatillos, which was over 100. She normally puts 60 in one batch of salsa. She picked more green beans, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and all of the ripe hot peppers. The peppers almost filled a four-gallon bucket.
  • I fed four sliced up cucumbers to the chickens. They loved the juicy veggies.
    
  • I transplanted two strawberry plants I started several weeks ago from shoots.
    
  • We checked for pecans and collected 48. It won't be as successful of a pecan year as last year. Squirrels have really cleaned them out, despite my efforts to curtail their raids. There are several paper pecans, but it's a little too early fro picking them.
    
  • Mary and I watered the gardens. By cleaning out all of the tomatillos and squashes, there is less to water.
    
  • The octopus ink swirls (medicine) that I see in my left eye are diminishing and the vision is improving. By blocking vision of my right eye, I can see pretty well.
    
  • Below is another new cross stitch ornament that Mary made for the Halloween tree this year.

  

  "The Deed is Done" Halloween cross stitch ornament.

• Saturday, 10/5: Better Distance Vision
  
  • I'm noticing better distance vision in my left eye. Mornings start out blurry, but as the day progresses, vision improves. The octopus ink swirls of medicine in the eye are more like concentrated dots that seem like flies darting about. In the afternoon, I noticed the details of leaves and twigs as I looked about. My left eye is getting similar to how you view the world with new glasses.
    
  • Mary froze a gallon bag of tomatillos and eight packages of sweet peppers. She also strung up five loops of hot peppers to dry.
  • I labeled and stored the second batch of cherry wine, involving 27 bottles, in the cooler I recently cleaned. I still have 28 bottles of the first batch of cherry wine to label and store.
    
  • Our newest pullet, Jasmine, is blending in nicely with all of the other hens and Leo, our rooster. She loves to eat sunflower seeds, so she goes right into the coop with other chickens, even if they try to peck her.
    
  • We watered gardens, again, where I sat on a portable bench and filled watering cans while Mary marched them back and forth and dispensed water. During resting moments, I enjoyed the sharp vision of my left eye while watching butterflies, dragonflies, and tree branches swaying in the strong south, southwest wind.
    
  • We watched the 2022 film, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
  • Below is the final ornament that Mary cross stitched this year for the Halloween tree.

  

  This Halloween ornament is called "Flight Navigation."

• Sunday, 10/6: A Great Sweet Potato Crop
  
  • Mary dug up the sweet potatoes, filling two milk crates out of 10 hills. Some were really big (see photo, below). This year's crop did exceptionally well. Sweet potatoes grow in abundance, here, as long as the voles stay away, which they did this year.
    
  • Mary also picked more green beans, helping to fill a plastic grocery bag in the refrigerator.
    
  • I labeled and stored the 57 bottles of cherry wine, batch one. Including the 2023 cherry wine, we now have 81 bottles of just that variety of wine. It's a good thing we like cherry wine!
    
  • I occasionally checked the Vikings/Jets football game score from London, where they played, today. The Vikings won and are 5-0 on the season. The only other NFL team without any losses so far this year is the Kansas City Chiefs, another team we follow.
    
  • We had lettuce, kale, and tomato sandwiches, all produce from our gardens. Alongside the veggie soup, the sandwiches were very good.
  • I chased squirrels away from the pecan trees all day. I wonder if it's the same two squirrels that I'm giving a Bronx cheer to, but I doubt it.

  

  This foot-long sweet potato was our largest this year.