Feb. 17-23, 2025

Weather | 2/17, 1" snow, 0.06" moisture, 3°, 19° | 2/18, cloudy, -3°, 11° | 2/19, cloudy, 1°, 13° | 2/20, sunny, -7°, 17° | 2/21, sunny, 0°, 26° | 2/22, sunny, 10°, 38° | 2/23, sunny, 23°, 53° |

• Monday, 2/17: Bottling Garlic Wine
  • Snow filtered down ever so slowly throughout the day.
  • We saw a barred owl sitting on the nearest clothesline post this morning. His feathers were all fluffed out so that he looked like a dust mop.
  • I racked and bottled the garlic wine. At the third racking, this is the fastest I've had any wine clear, and it was crystal clear (see photo, below). One difference with this wine is cool temperatures kept it from moving quickly while in the brew bucket on the initial fermentation stage. Maybe slow fermentation allows it the clear faster. The pH was 3.1 and the specific gravity was 0.998. The alcohol content of this cooking wine is 13.62 percent. I added 2/3rds (0.6 grams) of the full amount I'd normally add of K-meta to the wine, since I added a full amount on the second racking a month ago and usually none is added on the third racking. I corked 25 bottles, leaving me 200 ml that I added to an opened bottle of garlic wine in the refrigerator.
    
  • While I was filling bottles, Mary saw a deer herd of six to eight animals out the north windows. Once they were past the far garden, they bucked and jumped out in different directions. Mary suspects that they were playing.
  • I watched the Sweden/USA game of the NHL Four Nations Tournament. Sweden won 2-1.

  

  An extremely clear garlic wine sample.
  

• Tuesday, 2/18: Cold, So We're Inside
  • It's quite cold for us...in the subzero single digits. But, Mom is seeing much lower temperatures in eastern Montana. She said today was the fourth day of below zero temperatures. It was -30 at her house this morning and it didn't get above zero yesterday and it's not expected to do so, again, today.
  • I looked at birthday gift ideas for myself.
  • Mary baked four loaves of bread and worked on a cross stitch project.
  • I read the Whizbang Apple Grinder & Cider Press book that I bought at Christmastime of 2023 and looked up where to buy HDPE plastic to make into a basket for the press. I found an inexpensive source on Amazon.
  • I'm finding online that foam board insulation, which is advocated for placing under slab on grade floors, outside of basement cement walls, or as exterior insulation, is an excellent source for carpenter ant nests. They like its softness. It resembles decaying and rotting wood. It would be a poor item, along with spray foam insulation, for us to use with woods throughout our property. Pest control companies are starting to nullify any guarantees to homeowners who have foam board insulation installed on the outside of their buildings.
  • Katie asked me what to do in case volcanic ash falls in Anchorage. I told her about my experience at WSU in Pullman, WA, when Mount St. Helens blew. Mary and I looked online and Mt. Spurr, near Anchorage, is having recent seismic activity and they're suspecting it might erupt sometime soon.
    

• Wednesday, 2/19: Gift Ideas
  • I looked into making a basket for an apple cider press. It can be made out of wood or 1/8-inch thick food safe plastic and it appears that wood will be cheaper than the HDPE (high-density polyethylene) plastic.
  • I followed deer tracks into the north woods just north of the machine shed. The deer walked down the trail to my new deer blind, looked at it, then turned north and walked right by it.
  • Mary made a venison General Tso dish for our midday meal.
  • On potential birthday presents to buy, I think I decided on purchasing a set of precision screwdrivers made by PB Swiss. Reviews online state that this Switzerland-based company makes top-ranked screwdrivers with tips that never wear out. I'm also looking at some gun cleaning items that assist in removing rust from the inside and outside of rifle barrels.
  • I recently listed hobbies I enjoy, along with hobbies I once enjoyed. When I was a kid, I loved flying kites. I mentioned it to Mary and she dug out a kite I once bought at a Washington, D.C. Smithsonian gift shop which is a stunt kite that was never used. On a warmer spring day, I'm going to try it out. Mary also dug up a Golden Press book on kites that has several interesting plans for building unique kites. That looks like fun.
  • We watched the 1993 film, Medicine River, starring Graham Greene, from Dances With Wolves fame. We rented this movie years ago, when we lived in Roseau, MN, and liked it. YouTube has a copy of it that was rerecorded from a VHS tape. It's a rough video in spots, but at least the film is viewable. It's not available for purchase, anywhere. The movie was fun to watch, again.
    

• Thursday, 2/20: Family Birthday Wishes
  • We saw a barred owl twice today. The first time it was on a tiny branch in a maple sapling in the east yard as I opened the bedroom curtains after waking up. Owls are so light for their size that they can sit on a twig similar to what a small song bird can perch on, which looks odd. The second time we saw a barred owl was in the late afternoon. It was perched on a cow panel wrapped around a cherry tree southwest of the house. Maybe it was the same owl we saw this morning.
  • Mary heard a cardinal's spring song at sunrise when the temperature was at -7°. It proves that the height of the sun is a determining factor for spring activity in birds, not warmer temperatures.
  • Four deer tried to munch on apple trees south of the house at 10:45 a.m., but Mary pounded on the living room window and waved the curtain, scaring them away.
  • I'm 68 years old today. It sounds a heck of a lot older than I feel.
  • We received a call from Katie this morning, wishing me a happy birthday. She was at the airport in Anchorage, catching a flight to Fairbanks, where she was to represent her company today at a job fair in the student union building at the UAF campus.
  • Bill called with birthday wishes. Today was a big day for him. He had a third interview with the CEO of a company he applied to for a job. A couple hours later, Bill announced that he was hired. He will start March 1st. His position is listed on the original job advertisement as data analyst/project coordinator. The company is McBride Homes. They construct homes throughout the St. Louis region. He will assist a purchasing manager who works with suppliers for the company's home construction efforts. She was one of the most recent hires by that company and she's been with them for 10 years, which indicates that McBride Homes is a stable employer. The job means a step up in income for Bill.
  • Mom called with birthday wishes. Yesterday when she looked out the window at her thermometer, she thought it was broken. After calling around town, Mom realized her outside thermometer was correct. The morning temperature really was -40° in Circle, MT.
  • Mary and I watched the championship game of the Four Nations NHL tournament. Canada won in overtime, beating USA, 3-2, on a shot from Edmonton Oilers Captain Connor McDavid. Canada's goalie, who is in the goal for the St. Louis Blues, Jordan Binnington, was amazing in overtime, stopping several extremely good shots on goal by the USA team. It was a fun game to watch.
    

• Friday, 2/21: Dragonfly Webex
  • I watched a Missouri Department of Conservation Webex presentation about dragonflies. It was interesting. Dragonflies were around 100 million years prior to dinosaurs. A pond with dragonfly larvae indicates unpolluted water. They live three to five years underwater in the larval stage, then a few weeks to a few months as adults. They can fly up to 35 mph. Some are migratory and can travel as much as 1200 miles. Their four wings allow them to maneuver in any direction through the air.
  • The chickens were outside for the first time in several days. They enjoyed themselves dusting in the mud on the south side of the chicken coop.
  • I walked Plato to between the ponds. Snow hasn't melted on that part of the trail, where we saw coyote tracks of a very large canine. The tracks were as wide as Plato's tracks and much longer. Deer tracks are everywhere.
    

• Saturday, 2/22: Turkey & TV
  • Bill arrived between 11 a.m. to noon. Plato mugged him like he always does...he loves Bill.
  • We watched NHL hockey. First was the Minnesota Wild and the Detroit Red Wings. The Wild came from behind 3-1 to win 4-3 in overtime. The second game was boring. Washington beat Pittsburgh 8-3.
  • Mary baked a 21-pound turkey, with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. It was very good. We also enjoyed a bottle of 2024 parsnip wine. It was also good. Bill says it has the most complex flavor of any wine I make. The earthy flavor that also includes a citrus taste is very unique.
  • A 60-piece case of Milwaukee impact drill and drive set of attachments were delivered via FedEx today (see photo, below). They are part of a birthday present from Katie. They look really nice.
    
  • After chores, we watched three episodes of Genius: Einstein, which was something Bill requested viewing.
  • We ate turkey sandwiches and part of a cherry crisp that Mary made for my birthday.
    
  • The stars were very bright and steady when Mary, Bill, and I took Plato outside on his nightly walk.

  

  Impact drivers & drill bits for my new impact wrench.
  

• Sunday, 2/23: Using New Tools
  • We saw a barred owl at the top of a cedar tree south of the house this morning. Near sunset, a barred owl was on the insulator on the side of a power pole near Bluegill Pond. It might have been the same owl.
  • When Mary and I walked Plato around noon, we spotted a bald eagle circling way above our property. It caught an uplift and soared higher. At the same time, we spotted a red-shouldered hawk circling near the bald eagle. The hawk shows off as an extreme orange bird when the sun is shining through its feathers against the deep blue sky.
  • I used some of my new impact drivers and bits to attach strips of half-inch plywood to cover cracks in the tongue and groove siding on the north end of the woodshed. The impact driver works very well at driving screws into tough wood. The design of the chuck is nicer than old chucks on electric drills requiring a key to tighten or loosen them. You just push the tools into place and release them by pulling a retaining ring outward. It means I can change bits with one hand while holding a piece of wood up with the other hand. The biggest advantage is I don't need to run an extension cord to the tool, since it's powered by a lithium battery.
  • Bill and I saw a flock of mallard ducks fly over the house, followed by a big flock of snow geese that ventured to the southwest. Because the sun was setting, the geese were dropping in elevation and getting ready to land for the night.
  • We watched four episodes of Genius: Einstein.