Oct. 19-25, 2026

Weather | 10/19, p. cloudy, 35°, 67° | 10/20, sunny, 40°, 69° | 10/21, p. cloudy, 42°, 71° | 10/22, sunny, 43°, 73° | 10/23, p. cloudy, 45°, 74° | 10/24, p. cloudy, 47°, 74° | 10/25, p. cloudy, 47°, 75° |

• Monday, 10/19: Looking Down
  • I hung my head in shame all day. While sitting on the couch, I look down at the laptop that's sitting with the screen facing up on top of a milk crate. After my neck gets sore, I lay across the bed with the computer in the same arrangement at the edge of the bed. I'll be very happy when I don't have to act like a shameful dog.
  • Mary finished processing the jalapeños that she picked out of the garden last Friday and made them into two quarts of pickled peppers. They are very spicy, so they should last for quite some time.
  • I walked 2.5 miles by going up and down the lane while looking down at my feet. At least it gets me outside.
  • We are experiencing a very late fall. There is hardly any color on the trees.

   

• Tuesday, 10/20: Another Head Down Day
  • I spent another day looking down. It's an exciting time!
  • I walked 2.5 miles up and down the lane. Cooper came with me. I wore him out. He slept very hard in his chair this evening.
  • Mary baked four loaves of bread and cross stitched while waiting for the bread to cool down before cutting and freezing the bread.
  • I did research and ordered a shop vacuum. We figure we need a spare in preparation for Asian ladybug season. We don't want to be without when the influx of bugs shows up.
  • I listened to the Oilers/Wild NHL game. Edmonton was ahead 3-1. Minnesota tied it up 3-3 in the third period. The Oilers scored in overtime to win, 4-3. Two good teams played a game that could have gone either way.

   

• Wednesday, 10/21: Retina is Still Attached
  • We saw a young deer in our front lawn (see photo and video, below). It meandered off to the southwest.
  • Mary drove us to Quincy for my eye checkup, a week after my surgery. This time I was seen by Dr. Kevin Blinder. He whispers and mutters in a low voice. I felt like this old guy needs to retire, soon. Online research reveals he is about 64-65. Dr. Blinder said the retina looks good and is attached. He says I'm not to lift anything, to stay face-down for another week, then see him in two weeks. I asked him when I'll be back to normal activities. He looked astounded that I'd even think of such a question and said it will be months down the road. That was the same answer as to when I'll get the oil removed from my eye. I get the feeling that he will retire before I'm out of the woods with this eye surgery business.
  • We bought a few things before heading home, so we don't have to shop before my Nov. 4th eye appointment. 
  • I walked my normal 2.5 miles with Cooper this evening.
  • Mary saw the first red-breasted nuthatch of the year.

  

  This young deer liked the taste of the grass.

   

  A young deer browsing on front yard grass.
   
  
  

• Thursday, 10/22 - Sunday, 10/25: Harvest Air Swelling
  • I've been struggling a bit with harvest air around us as area farmers stir up dust while running combines in their fields. It's resulting in some swelling in my right eye. I wear chemical splash goggles that completely cover the eyes while going outside. They help.
  • I keep my head down when I can, but I sleep on my left side several times a day when I don't have my head down. I still have to live!
  • I walk 2-3 miles each day. Cooper loves coming along with me. We're intimate with our quarter-mile lane.
  • Cooper is keenly into chasing squirrels. He sent one up the power pole next to the house. That fox squirrel jumped from the top of the power pole to the ground and ran off. We didn't know that a squirrel could drop that far, sustain the fall, and hit the ground running. Cooper sent another one to the top of the weeping willow stump, which is about 7-8 feet high. The dog stood on his hind legs trying to get to that squirrel. Squirrels are cleaning up all of our pecans, since I can't shoot them while I recover from eye surgery.
  • I've listened to several hockey and football games for entertainment.
  • Mary picked the last of the tomatoes that she's willing to harvest.
  • She also mowed the west yard. Shorter grass makes it easier for Mary to collect leaves after they fall.
  • On Sunday, Mary started vacuuming Asian ladybugs in earnest. That chore eliminated what she planned to do outside.
  • During the overnight hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning, all of our trees started to change color, despite not receiving a hard freeze. We now realize that it's not necessarily a hard freeze that makes Asian ladybugs start to swarm; it's a change in tree leaf color that gets them moving.
  • Sunday morning, a bird brushed Mary's shoulder as she was sitting on our porch.
  • New birds that Mary discovered by using the Merlin app on her phone include a hermit thrush. These are birds I used to hear during twilight hours while sleeping in a tent under a tree in Homer, AK, the summer between 8th and 9th grade. Other new birds include a bufflehead duck, a fox sparrow, and a house finch.
  • Cooper and I spooked up a covey of Bob White quail on one of our walks on Sunday.

Oct. 12-18, 2026

Weather | 10/12, sunny, 65°, 86° | 10/13, p. cloudy, 0.33” rain after dark, 65°, 87° | 10/14, cloudy, 60°, 71° | 10/15, 0.15” rain, 59°, 67° | 10/16, 0.02" rain, 43°, 53° | 10/17, frost & sunny, 31°, 55° | 10/18, sunny, 35°, 64° |

• Monday, 10/12: Tomatillo Harvest
  • I drove to Quincy to pick up two types of eye drops needed for after my retina surgery. The cost of one was dropped down to $65 with a coupon that the pharmacist had. I hope I only need one bottle of that stuff! I picked up a couple other items.
  • While I was gone, Mary washed the inside of all house windows and washed all curtains. She had curtains back on the windows before I returned from Quincy. A south wind helped dry and iron out the wrinkles while the curtains hung on the outside clothesline.
  • After getting home, I poured a gallon of windshield washing fluid in the new tank and tested the washer on the pickup's wipers. Everything worked great and there was no leakage.
  • She raked up grass that she cut a couple days ago.
  • I mowed the lane. The grass was getting high enough to smack on the pickup's undercarriage, which means it was too high.
  • Mary harvested some comfrey leaves.
  • She picked and froze a quart bag of tomatillos, which is enough for one batch of salsa. One salsa batch is all that Mary plans on making this year. She also found an acorn squash that was in the middle of the tomatillo plants.
  • Mary hears a white-throated sparrow from the brush under the first pecan tree, where it likes to hide.

   

• Tuesday, 10/13: To St. Louis
  • Mary picked a big bunch of tomatoes.
  • I packed up stuff to take to St. Louis…enough for a visit for a week, if I have to stay that long.
  • I drove to Bill’s apartment and unloaded. He had an amazing chicken dinner ready for me.
  • Bill and I watched a Wild/Jets NHL game. Winnipeg won.

 

• Wednesday, 10/14: Retina Surgery
  • Bill drove me to the St Louis Eye Surgery & Laser Center. We arrived 30 minutes early in a rain storm. They were administering dilation drops by 8 am. I saw the clock read 9:03 when they wheeled me into the surgery room. I was put out for just a few minutes as they deadened my right eye and inserted tiny surgical instruments. Two hours later and my retina was reattached, tears lasered together, a gas bubble and oil put inside the eye, instruments pulled out, and insertions sewed up.
  • Bill went to work and I spent the rest of the day resting with my head in the face down position for most of the time. I have to do the face down scene during the day for a week. At night I can only sleep on my left side. I’m to keep the eye guard on my right eye until tomorrow.
  • Back home, Mary froze two gallons of tomatoes.
  • She added a golden-crowned kinglet, a swamp sparrow, and a common grackle to this year’s bird list.
  • Mary also saw two pairs of deer. One was a pair of does in the west yard, who seemed to be too tame. The other was a doe and a fawn without spots near Bluegill Pond. All of the deer have their gray winter coats.
  • I went to bed early, while Bill was washing dishes. I have an 8:55 a.m. appointment tomorrow.

   

• Thursday, 10/15: Post-Op Appointment 
  • Bill drove me to my 8:55 a.m. post-op appointment in the rain. It was in the St. Luke’s Hospital complex. A helper guided us to the office.
  • They dilated my eye and the doctor checked it thoroughly. He said it looked good for a day after surgery. He said continue the straight down approach with my head for a week, then I get a week without the face down regiment. I cannot lift anything more than 10 pounds for 2-3 months. I don’t know if I’ll be hunting deer this year. Cutting firewood will also be interesting.
  • An appointment was set for Wednesday, Oct. 21st at 12:20 with Dr. Blinder in Quincy. 
  • Back home, Mary had light rain for most of the day. 
  • She cross stitched for four hours. Outside of the sunroom windows, several birds put on a show. She saw robins, cardinals, yellow-rumped warblers, and a yellow perula warbler.
  • Mary took out the ashes from the woodstove before tomorrow’s predicted winds made that task difficult. She plans on lighting the stove tomorrow evening.
  • On a call, Mary, Bill and I decided Bill will drive me home tomorrow after he gets off work, then drive Mary back to St. Louis on Sunday. She will drive the pickup home Sunday afternoon. It gets me home to a better place to sleep, gives Bill his bed back, and gets our wheels back home.
  • Bill and I listened to the Wild/Blues hockey game. Minnesota won, but St. Louis almost tied the game at the end. The score was 5-4.

   

• Friday, 10/16: Returned Home
  • Today was a day of rest for me in Bill's apartment. Slowly throughout the day, I packed my stuff.
  • When Bill returned from work, we loaded my gear in his car and drove north. Before leaving St. Louis, we picked up a meal from Bill's favorite Mediterranean restaurant, leaving there at 6 p.m. We got to our house around 8:30 and ate a wonderful meal of chicken and rice. It felt good to be back home!
  • Back home, Mary dodged rains while harvesting the last of the garden produce. She picked about a third of a grocery bag of jalapeno peppers, about a 4-gallon bucket of tomatoes, and 19 more acorn squash for a grand total of 42 squash.
  • She also ground up the Jonathan apples that we recently bought from Edgewood Orchard in Quincy and froze 27 packages of apple slush for topping breakfast oatmeal. It's not as good as using our apples, but it's the best we can do on a year when our apple crop froze out.
  • Mary brought in some firewood and kindling, but didn't light a fire. The house was still warm from hotter days.
  • Cooper went after a squirrel that was on the old weeping willow stump. It ran into the woodshed with Cooper right behind. Mary said that there was a great deal of thumping in the woodshed before the squirrel zinged back out to the stump, then to the maple tree next to the woodshed. It was an exciting time for the puppy.

   

• Saturday, 10/17: Hiking Day
  • I decided sitting around with my head down is no good, so I walked up and down the lane with my head down looking at my feet. I put in three round trips, which on our quarter-mile lane, equals two miles. Something scurried off when I was next to Bluegill Pond. I didn't see it, since I was looking down, but it sounded like a deer.
  • Bill took a hike to the ponds. He spooked nine wood ducks off Bass Pond.
  • We played six games of Yahtzee. It was a game fit for down-looking me. I had five yahtzees in the final game. It was insane!
  • We deciding that I will go on the roundtrip venture to St. Louis tomorrow. That way, Mary has company while she drives and I can watch the Google Maps directions on my phone and help direct her through city traffic. The amount of time should be similar to a shopping trip to Quincy, so it's not too bad for pets. Plus, I can behave and keep my head down inside the vehicles.

   

• Sunday, 10/18: Returning Our Pickup Home
  • Bill spotted a cardinal and a fledgling outside the living room's west window. It's pretty late for birds to be bringing up little ones!
  • The entire day was spent returning our pickup home. Mary and I rode in Bill's car with him driving the 130 miles south to his apartment in St. Charles. En route, we ate horrible McDonald's hamburgers that had the flavor of "NEVER AGAIN"! We fueled Bill's car up at the gas station across from his apartment complex, and left soon after with Mary in the driver's seat and me giving her directions based on Google Maps and my previous experience. It was an uneventful drive home.
  • By leaving our home just after 10 a.m., we were able to return well before sunset and feed the chickens and handle pets with plenty of time to spare. 

Oct. 5-11, 2026

Weather | 10/5, sunny, 45°, 71° | 10/6, sunny, 44°, 74° | 10/7, sunny, 56°, 80° | 10/8, sunny, 49°, 78° | 10/9, p. cloudy, 55°, 83° | 10/10, sunny, 54°, 83° | 10/11, sunny, 51°, 83° |

• Monday, 10/5: Splitting Firewood & Cutting Hay
  • Mary heard a great horned owl during the early morning hours when she couldn't get back to sleep. It's the first hoot she's heard from that owl type since last winter.
  • While feeding pets, Mary watched a barred owl fly into the pecan tree north of the house well after sunup. It's a perfect location to find a squirrel snack for any owl.
  • I chased squirrels away from the pecan trees all day. They are really tenacious this year.
  • I split wood that's been sitting next to the woodsplitter all summer. It involved several wheelbarrow loads to the woodshed. Prior to stacking firewood in the woodshed, I cleaned up wood bits and bark and dumped a wheelbarrow load around two cherry trees. We now have a stack of firewood about 30 inches high, which is a nice start to fuel for the heating season.
  • Mary cut down hay in the lawn east of the lane and north of the near garden. She will let it dry for a couple days.
  • Mary created a shopping list for a trip to Quincy tomorrow.

   

• Tuesday, 10/6: Shopping Trip to Quincy
  • We shopped in Quincy and returned with a full pickup of stuff. It was over a month since we last made a major shopping trip.
  • Mary heard a white-throated sparrow, so those birds are down from the north for the winter.
  • I spent the evening packing items in case I have to spend a night or two at Bill's apartment in St. Louis.

   

• Wednesday, 10/7: St. Louis Eye Visit
  • I left for Bill's apartment at 7:45 a.m. and reached there by 10:30 a.m. The trip to The Retina Institute only took about 10 minutes from Bill's apartment, so I was there for my 11 a.m. appointment by 10:50.
  • While I was gone, Mary turned the hay that she cut a couple days ago and mowed part of the lawn.
  • Dr. Nicholas Iafe, gave me a thorough exam and showed me images inside both of my eyes. I have a 360-degree detached retina in the right eye. My left eye looks good. The right eye will require surgery sometime next week. The exact day and time of the surgery will come to me in future days. They remove liquid of the eye, move the retina back onto the inside of the eyeball wall, patch up tears with a laser, then place either gas or oil into the eye to hold the retina in place while it heals. Healing takes up to two months with gas, or up to a year with oil. A different doctor will perform the surgery. I left their office within one hour with a folder full of reading material and word that a scheduler will call me in the next few days with surgery scheduling details. 
  • We ate at a place where Bill enjoys the food. It's called the Albadia Mediterranian Cuisine in St. Peters, MO. He had chicken and I had lamb. The food was exceptional!
  • I bought gas at a station just across the road from Bill's apartment complex for $3.97 a gallon and drove back home. It was 260-mile roundtrip excursion.
  • On the way home, I stopped at Fastlane in Taylor, MO. Outside of the store is firewood for sale where you can purchase five sticks of firewood for $6.99 a bundle. Gee whiz...at that price, we have a fortune in firewood in our woodshed!

   

• Thursday, 10/8: Book Sale
  • We drove to Quincy in the morning to take in the Quincy Library Book Sale. We paid $6 for 12 inches of books, which involved 14 books. That means we spent 43 cents per book. Mary got several art books. I bought a biography of John Steinbeck and a book about Barack Obama's mother.
  • We stopped by a sporting goods store and bought some gun cleaning oil. I received a phone call from The Retina Institute about surgery details while in that store. Surgery will be at the St. Louis Eye Surgery & Laser Center on Wednesday, Oct. 14th at 9 a.m. I have to be there by 8 a.m. The surgery takes 90 minutes. The surgeon is Dr. Sweta Kavali. I have a post-operative appointment with Dr. Nicholas Iafe, who I saw yesterday, on Thursday, Oct. 15th at 8:55 a.m. at The Retina Institute's office in Chesterfield, MO. Then, I go home. Future follow-up visits will be in Quincy, where my optometrist is located, with Dr. Kevin Blinder, who travels there biweekly.
  • This schedule means I need to drive to St. Louis and overnight at Bill's apartment Tuesday and Wednesday nights, then drive back home on Thursday. 
  • After we got back home, I filled out a long online questionnaire prior to the surgery. It was amazingly extensive and took me two hours to finish.
  • Mary picked up the hay and stored it in the second grain bin. She said it smells so good and that we had perfect hay curing weather.

   

• Friday, 10/9: More Surgery Info
  • I finally read all the paperwork that was handed to me during my first visit to The Retina Institute in St. Louis and discovered that I won't be immediately driving after my surgery next week. Instead, I will be my son's roommate for a few days. Also, he can't just drop me off. Bill will need to be with me during my surgery. Bill and I discussed all of the new developments. When I relayed that being able to drive can be anywhere from a few days to several months, Bill responded that he will pay someone to drive my pickup home if it leads to a visit involving months.
  • Reading the procedures used to perform the surgery is interesting. They use instruments that are the equivalent of half the diameter of a human hair.
  • Dr. Kavali's office sent prescriptions for two kinds of eye drops to the Sam's Club pharmacy in Quincy. I also got a voice mail from the billing office of the St. Louis Eye Surgery & Laser Center, where my surgery takes place. They have cost estimates and asked me to call back, which I did, and left a voice mail with them. I didn't hear back from them. 
  • Some weird events of nature are taking place. Lilac flowers are opening, as are some violets. These blossoms are usually reserved for springtime. Mary noticed a carpenter bee buzzing around the machine shed. Again, they surface in the spring, not now. 
  • Mary mowed more lawn and raked up some grass.
  • I added mothballs to the plastic Gaterade bottles I have in the pickup, the riding mower, and the woodsplitter. After checking the pickup's air filter housing, I noticed a couple bits of insulation, so I added eight mothballs to that airbox.
  • Today was the first day of the early anterless deer hunting season. Temperatures in the 80s are just too hot for handling venison meat, which is probably the reason why we never heard a single shot today.
  • Mary and I put up the Halloween tree and decorations.

   

• Saturday, 10/10: Replacing Pickup Parts
  • I saw on the Sam's Club app that the prescription for the two types of eye drops called in by my surgery doctor was delayed, so I called the Quincy Sam's Club Pharmacy to ask about it. The pharmacist said he'd fill it right away, which he did. One is rather costly at over $70, but I think that's going to be a minor cost compared to the bill for the upcoming retina surgery.
  • I replaced the plastic window washer tank and the rusted battery tray in the pickup. The leak in the tank is undetectable with the naked eye. I cleaned up bolts and metal parts under the battery tray with a wire brush. It all went together without a hitch. The process took all day. I want to be able to use the washer on the windshield while driving on multi-lane highways during a rain, such as on I-70 in St. Louis.
  • Mary made pizza and topped it with garden tomatoes...wow, it was really tasty.
  • She also washed house plants and repotted two plants.
  • I heard one shot from a nearby deer hunter. I was in the machine shed at the time and couldn't tell the direction of the shot.
  • After dark, we heard coyotes howling from the west yard, somewhere outside of the chicken coop.

   

• Sunday, 10/11: Winterizing Cellar Door & Harvesting Squash
  • We noticed glow worms on the lane at 51 degrees in the morning before dawn while we were walking the puppy. 
  • The steel cellar doors to the basement were initially put on with a wooden board between the outer edge and the cement underneath. Over the years, that board rotted away leaving a significant air gap. Instead of wood, I found that two 4x8x16-inch concrete blocks set on their skinny edges, along with a brick, fit perfectly under that edge of the steel cellar doors and the concrete step below it to block the air gap. I added a piece of mortar from when I redid the chimney and three pieces of asphalt shingle to fill in gaps. Then I used a can of Great Stuff Gaps & Cracks expanding foam to seal up air gaps all around the base of that set of steel cellar doors. It's ready for east winter winds and in better shape than it's been in the past few years.
  • Mary picked 22 acorn squash from the far garden. I helped her haul the squash to the house. There are several more squash that are not quite ripe. If the first freeze holds off, we'll get more.