August 24-30, 2026

Weather | 8/24, 0.03" rain, 56°, 73° | 8/25, p. cloudy, 59°, 81° | 8/26, sunny, 65°, 83° | 8/27, sunny, 63°, 80° | 8/28, sunny, 56°, 82° | 8/29, cloudy, 60°, 83° | 8/30, cloudy, 68°, 89° |

• Monday, 8/24: A Bird's Gift
  • Light rain started falling in the late morning hours and continued for a couple hours. It was never in the forecast and never acknowledged by various weather products.
  • While it was raining, I spotted a squirrel heading for the pickup. I jumped outside as it looked like it would jump under the front of the pickup and hollered at it, so it ran to the north.
  • I decided to hunt squirrels from the east end of the machine shed. I sat for two hours watching trees grow and listened to an eastern wood-pewee the entire time. Right before I left, the bird dropped a perfectly aimed bomb on the bill of my cap. I wiped the bird pooh off on the grass, went inside, and washed the hat. I guess it didn't like my presence!
  • Mary took a photo of a pearl crescent butterfly (see below). 
  • Mary picked a few worms and eggs off garden plants, but had a hunch she was missing several. She went back out as darkness fell armed with the UV flashlight. She found 31 small worms of various types. Altogether, she picked off 40 worms and three eggs.
  • While Mary was out in the dark, she saw a lone firefly. We thought they were all finished for the season, but that's not the case. 
  • The wiper motor arrived via regular mail exactly one week after I ordered it.

  

  A pearl crescent butterfly on grass in the near garden.

  
  
  

• Tuesday, 8/25: Pickling & Wiper Motor Replacement
  • Mary picked a few more cucumbers, along with hot and bell peppers.
  • She canned six quarts of pickles. This gives us 12 quarts of pickles canned this year. She says there are several quarts of pickles from previous years that need tossing.
  • The extra sliced cucumbers left over from pickling went to the hens. They loved them.
  • I replaced the wiper motor in the pickup with a new one. Prior to the actual work, I wrote down steps as outlined by a video created by A1 Auto. I'm glad I labeled all nuts, bolts and parts. Everything went together well and the wipers operate correctly through all settings.
  • There was a clicking sound in the blower assembly when I turned on the air conditioning in the pickup. I removed the blower and found the sound was a maple leaf stem in the fan that came in with a bit of rainwater, due to a missing plastic cowling under the wiper blade arms. It's fine now.
  • Mary watered a little bit in the garden and picked two hornworm eggs off the tomato plants.

   

• Wednesday, 8/26: Freezing Bell Peppers
  • Mary froze 16 sandwich ziplock bags of bell peppers. Before she processed them, I took a photo of the washed peppers (see below). She also froze enough hot peppers for a batch of salsa. She strung up some hot peppers to dry.
  • Mary picked three zucchinis.
  • She also watered the gardens.
  • Mary saw a giant swallowtail and a tiger swallowtail feeding on some tall thistle (the actual name of a native Missouri thistle) flowers.
  • I took in a virtual session by the Missouri Department of Conservation about crayfish. It was a very poor presentation. I think the presenter was just out of college and doesn't belong in front of a camera and a microphone yet. After that was done, we ordered a book entitled The Crayfishes of Missouri, by William L Pflieger.
  • I checked for leakage in the pickup's window washer reservoir by pouring water into it and putting a board under the truck to show water dripping from above. It's a slow leak until I run the windshield washer, then it's a gusher. The tank is definitely bad, so I ordered a new tank. Included in the order is a new battery tray, since the current tray is extremely rusted, and inner wheel well retainer push pins, since these plastic gizmos are often destroyed when removed.
  • I finished reading Chris Ingraham's book about moving to Red Lake Falls, MN. It's a good read, especially for former residents, such as Mary and I.

  

  Washed bell peppers ready for packaging and freezing.

  
  
  

• Thursday, 8/27: Pickup Passes Inspection
  • Mary watered all gardens, picked a zucchini, and found 10 worms, and four worm eggs. 
  • I drove to Lewistown Tire to get a vehicle inspection, but they were too busy. I need to make an appointment, but Travis Fleer, the owner, told me I could return at 4 pm. I asked him if the windshield of the pickup would pass inspection. He looked at it and said it would pass. I guess my repair job on that window was adequate. I returned at 4 and got the inspection and a new sticker on the windshield. It was too late to get new license tags, since that office closes by 4 pm. I'll need to get the tags on Monday, because we're shopping in Quincy tomorrow.
  • I took in a session called "all things hackle," by Pat Rigby, from Kirksville, during the Virtual Vise Missouri Department of Conservation online presentation. A chicken cape or neck skin full of hackle feathers costs around $70. I like my price...collecting feathers from the chicken yard for free. There are two kinds of hackle feathers called furnace or badger hackles. These have a black center. When wrapped around the shank of the hook, the black part makes the fly appear larger. Most of Leo's (our rooster) hackle feathers have this dark center. Another interesting point is that rooster hackles possess stiffer fibers that resist soaking up water, therefore helping to create a dry fly that floats. 
  • Mary and I watched tonight's lunar eclipse gradually appear. It was cool.

   

• Friday, 8/28: Shopping
  • We went shopping in Quincy, IL. The pickup's air conditioning was divine and blasted cold air on us better than it's ever done.
  • I bought weird wigs at the Salvation Army's thrift store that are intended to be worn as Halloween costumes (see photo, below). I plan on using fibers from these hair pieces to make fishing flies and lures. Mary found quite a large selection of Aida materials, which stitchers use. We also bought an under-the-bed plastic container often used to store wrapping paper that we'll use to store fly tying materials.
  • When we crossed the Mississippi River while on the way back home, we noticed how thick with humidity the air was while looking west into Missouri.
  • While driving to Quincy, a buck with partially developed antlers ran across J Road in front of the pickup. Mary watched a fawn goofing around in the west yard when she was putting chicks away for the night.
  • We watch two movies. The first was This is the End (2013), which was by far the worst movie we've ever seen...vulgar, gory, and so horrible that we threw the DVD away in the trash. The second movie, The Aviator (2004), about Howard Hughes, was good, but extremely long at almost three hours.

  

  I will use the synthetic hair from these wigs for tying flies.

  
  
  

• Saturday, 8/29: Relaxing Day
  • We are anti-shoppers. Mary and I don't like shopping. We took today off from doing much after shopping yesterday.
  • On Cooper's morning walk, I saw a doe deer with a fawn that was at shoulder height to Mama. They were on the lane near Bluegill Pond and ran off to the west.
  • After breakfast, Mary and I watered the gardens.
  • Mary spotted small bumblebees on some thistle blossoms that had pollen baskets stuffed with light lemon yellow pollen. She identified them as Two-Spotted Bumblebees. 
  • Mary picked strawberries. Adding them to strawberries she picked yesterday and we had enough to add to nearly all of the waffles I made for our midday meal, which were exceptionally yummy!
  • Weather predictions were for a high temperature near 90, but clouds kept our temperature down, and that's just fine with us. 
  • In the afternoon, Mary looked for worms and worm eggs and found several of both. We're in the height of the hornworm season.
  • Fedex delivered a new pickup washer reservoir. It looks perfect. I won't install it until I get the new battery tray and the new push pins for the inner front wheel well.
  • We think we have four pullets from this year's chicks. That's what I counted as we put them to bed tonight.

   

• Sunday, 8/30: Swallowtail Larvae
  • I washed the under-the-bed plastic container that we bought on Friday. I thought old age turned it tan, but now I think it came from a house of a smoker. It's nice and clear now. 
  • I chatted online for awhile with my cousin, Marjorie, who is working to wrap up handling her parents' belongings at Clarklake, MI. She showed several camera shots of great photographs from some scrapbooks that she's going through. Several were of our Grandad and Grandma Melvin.
  • I removed the cow panel around the Goldrush apple tree and took out the weeds and tall grass growing next to that tree. Some were over my head in height. Cooper was with me. I looked up once while tossing greenery aside and there was the pup right next to me with his head covered in roots and grass. He likes to stay close by.
  • Mary looked for worms and worm eggs and watered both gardens.
  • Parsnip leaves are covered with swallowtail butterfly larvae (see photo, below).  
  • I mowed around the Goldrush tree and then various lanes through the tall grass of our lawns. Clippings went around the Goldrush and Granny Smith apple trees.
  • Mary harvested half a grocery sack of hot and bell peppers and a few tomatillos. We're entering several days involving a high heat warning, so Mary is harvesting peppers that might scald in the intense sun.
  • After adding up our jalapeño wine numbers, we decided that I didn't need to make any this year. The jalapeño pepper plants are struggling, limiting the number of peppers in production.

  

  A swallowtail butterfly larva on a parsnip leaf.