Nov. 25-Dec.1, 2024

Weather | 11/25, cloudy, 33°, 51° | 11/26, p. cloudy, 17°, 43° |11/27, cloudy, 33°, 43° | 11/28, cloudy, 21°, 35° | 11/29, sunny, 15°, 31° | 11/30, cloudy to p. cloudy, 19°, 29° | 12/1, sunny, 20°, 31° |

• Monday, 11/25: Cutting Firewood
  
  • Our high for the day was recorded just after midnight. The thermometer dropped as the day progressed and our recorded low temperature was at 10 p.m.
    
  • We cut firewood in the north woods, next to the north yard. I sawed up small trees and branches dropped out of trees while Mary loaded firewood pieces into the trailer behind the 8N Ford tractor. We took a snack break and Bill joined us after that break. We hauled a full trailer load of firewood to the machine shed, where we stacked big logs. Bill and I stacked firewood small enough to forego the splitter into the woodshed. Mary hauled firewood into the house directly from that load.
    
  • We showed Bill the giant puffball mushrooms sitting near a cedar tree at the north edge of the north woods, where I parked the tractor and wagon. He took a photo of one of the mushrooms (see below).
    
  • Mary cooked up an excellent barbecued pork loin meal with a huge winter greens salad.
  • With an expected overnight low temperature in the teens, we covered the winter greens with plastic.
    
  • We watched three more episodes of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
  • The stars were exceptionally bright when we walked the dogs on their last outing of the night.

  

  A giant puffball with Bill's size 11 boot as a reference.
  

• Tuesday, 11/26: Trip to Town
  
  • I drove to Quincy to buy fresh vegetables for dipping during our Thanksgiving dinner. It felt like the only two people who weren't on the the road and on the streets of Quincy were Mary and Bill. That's what I told them when I got back home. I also filled some plastic jugs with gasoline for firewood sawing and moving purposes. Gas was $2.59 a gallon in Lewistown.
  • I saw several occasions of farmers running no-till planters directly over corn or soybean stubble. It must mean winter wheat is a hot commodity right now.
  • A buck deer is hanging in the tree next to one of our neighbor's house. It will be there for months. Those jerks never handle deer meat correctly. They should have their hunting privileges revoked.
    
  • Meanwhile, Mary moved hay to the floor of the chicken coop. Cooler temperatures are in our forecast, so we add hay to give the floor of the coop some insulation value.
    
  • Mary also racked up leaves and put them in the top of the compost bin.
  • Bill reviewed a bunch of the data programming lessons that he's been using to teach himself the process for the last half of this year.
  • Mary made a delicious meal of hot venison sandwiches for our midday meal. Along with it were big salads. Some of the winter greens are showing a little wilt, due to cold temperatures.
    
  • We watched the rest of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
    

• Wednesday, 11/27: Second Raking of Spiced Apple Wine
  
  • During our morning dog walk, we heard and saw snow geese. That often foretells the arrival of falling snow in a few days.
  • Mary saw an eastern bluebird gobbling up wild rose hips next to the lilac bush in the west yard.
    
  • Mary baked two pumpkin pies and made up some cranberry sauce out of fresh cranberries.
  • Bill continued studying data programming lessons.
    
  • Bill and I racked the spiced apple wine for the second time. There was an abundance of fines. Since the last of the brew bucket went into a half-gallon jug, about 80 percent of it looked like applesauce baby food. We moved the liquid off the top through a hose, then pumped what we could out of the jug with an auto-siphon and dumped it into a screened strainer. Then, we dumped the strained liquid through a fine nylon mesh bag. The process took out a bulk of the residue from the jug. We got two cups of liquid out of an eight-cup jug. With the liquid from the three-gallon carboy, we got 375 milliliters over three gallons. The specific gravity was 0.999. We added 0.5 grams of Kmeta to the wine. We tasted a little bit that was leftover. It was very acidic and spicy. It was quite good.
    
  • Bill picked out a movie that we watched, which was the 1995 film, Sense and Sensibility.
    

• Thursday, 11/28: Thanksgiving 2024
  
  • Mary started preparing a Thanksgiving meal at 10:30 a.m. She baked a 22-pound turkey with stuffing inside. Other dishes included homegrown sweet potatoes, a green bean/French fried onion casserole (our garden beans), mashed potatoes (professionally mashed by Bill), turkey gravy, French dip for dipping veggies, and sliced, raw radishes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, green onions, and celery. We also had her yummy cranberry sauce that she made yesterday. We shared a bottle of last year's spiced apple wine. The meal was amazing. We needed wheelbarrows to move our stomachs around the house after eating.
  • While Mary fixed dinner, I split firewood in the machine shed. I ran the splitter's engine until the gas ran out in the small gas tank for that engine. It sits all summer, which isn't the best with gasoline from Missouri that contains corn ethanol, that deteriorates with time. My efforts gave me about five wheelbarrow loads of mainly maple firewood. Two loads went into the house and three were stacked in the woodshed. Some oak and ash firewood is wet and will need to dry in the machine shed.
  • After eating, Mary removed meat off the turkey carcass that we either refrigerated or froze. Then, Bill and I took the carcass and dumped it near the ladder deer stand in the north woods. Coyotes will make it disappear overnight.
  • I called Mom and we talked for awhile. Temperatures are getting down near zero in the morning in Circle, MT. They have a skiff of snow, but Glasgow got three inches, so Hank and Mom agreed it best if they stayed at their prospective homes for Thanksgiving. Mom baked a Cornish game hen, with Thanksgiving trimmings, for her meal, today.
    
  • Mary, Bill, and I played Rummy. Mary won. Bill took second. I was last with half the score of Mary and Bill. It was fun.
  • Some of our Christmas cactus plants (Mary calls them Thanksgiving cactus) are blooming (see photos, below).

White blossoms of Thanksgiving cactus plants.

A closeup. Mary took these photos.

• Friday, 11/29: Christmas Decorating
  
  • We saw our coldest morning this autumn of 15°. It makes the heat from the woodstove even more appreciated.
  • Two very large red-tailed hawks flew by the west side of the yard in the morning that Mary spotted. At first she thought they were eagles, because they were so big.
  • I saw an invitation by my graduating high school class for a class reunion in July. The cost of all the events they plan is over $100. No thanks! I don't need to spend $100 to see a bunch of people I don't care about.
    
  • We got evening chores done early in order to take a Thanksgiving call from Katie. She cut a white spruce Christmas tree through a program on the Anchorage military bases that cleans up small trees for conservation purposes of preventing fires. The permit is only $10. She is very happy with the tree. She is doing well with her job and her military duties.
  • Bill, Mary, and I put up the Christmas tree. We decorated it and places around the house (see photos, below). We listened to Christmas music and enjoyed a bottle of parsnip wine, along with turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pie.

This year's Christmas tree is decorated.

Christmas figurines on the record & CD cabinet.

Some of Mary's Christmas ornaments created since 1997.

Bill hanging decorations on the Christmas tree.

• Saturday, 11/30: Fourth Racking of Jalapeño Wine
  • We're experiencing colder temperatures. We saw a couple of snowflakes, but that was all. Mary kept the chickens in the coop until late morning.
  • Bill and I racked the jalapeño wine for the fourth time. There was just a tiny bit of fines. The liquid has a deep brown color. The specific gravity was 0.993, a change of a tiny bit from 0.992 about six weeks ago. We didn't lose much liquid in the racking. After filling a three-gallon carboy, about 200 ml was left. We drank the leftover liquid. It has a strong pepper taste, yet fruity. There is a bit of warmth, but not overwhelming. It's very good. I probably will bottle it in 2-3 weeks.
    
  • Mary made three pizzas. We ate all but two pieces while playing a game of Triopoly. Mary won. Bill took second. I brought up the rear. It was fun.
    

• Saturday, 12/1: Bill Leaves
  
  • Bill helped me with some deer blind/stand items. First, we walked down to the Wood Duck Deer Blind, removed the lauan plywood roof on the blind, and stored it in the machine shed. Then, we took down the Four Trunk Deer Stand and hauled it back home. I plan on dismantling this last deer stand. I feel safer with two feet planted on the ground while hunting deer, rather than hoisting my butt in the air on a stand that's waving back and forth to the rhythm of wind-blown tree trunks. Besides, deer blinds are warmer.
    
  • Mary and I loaded Bill up with a couple acorn squash, the last two pieces of pizza, a small bit of popcorn, and whatnot, before he left to return to his St. Charles apartment. He's returning here in a couple weeks for a Christmas visit.
    
  • I messaged Bill on how the Minnesota Vikings won by one point, then he sent me a link to a Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) game, which I watched. The New York Sirens beat the Minnesota Frost just 19 seconds into overtime, by the score of 4-3. It was fun to watch. I also watched some NFL football game recaps.
    
  • We read books and enjoyed cups of tea in front of the woodstove's nice wood heat into the evening.
  • On the last dog walk, Mary heard the lone yip, yip, yip of a coyote not too far north. It was probably near where I left the two deer carcasses in the north woods.