A lone deer grazing in a neighboring meadow during sunrise on Sunday

October 22, 2012 – Monday

40 degrees/ clear

Pentoga Road

Though we sleep in a cold bedroom, I awakened at two this morning dripping in sweat. Sargie, her back to me, was curled in one corner of the bed under several layers of blankets while I lay on top of mine.

And thirsty… I got up and downed a huge iced tea glass of water, then another.

I’m not sure what it was all about, but I’m guessing the two huge bowls of chili I inhaled late last evening might have been the culprits. The first tasted so good that I had to have another. Bet that doesn’t happen tonight! After two consecutive nights of chili, the large amount left will go into the freezer to be enjoyed sometime down the road.

Sunday was beautiful. After writing, I was out the door to check my empty traps, then took my five-mile hike. The mist was rising as the sun hit the frosty ground and the deer more resembled cattle grazing in the tree-framed meadows.

The lakes were so smooth and looked as though one might ice skate from one end to the other. It was a perfect morning.

Sargie was ready for work when I arrived home and we enjoyed breakfast together. I felt sorry for her. It was entirely too nice a day to be inside looking out.

I finished another mink box in the barn before it was time to come inside and coach the Packers. Once they took the lead over St. Louis, I gave up the television set for the radio in the barn and listened to the game while working outside.

Sundays mean the next week’s load of wood is worked up and brought to the house. Luke had sent a video on YouTube several weeks ago about a fellow who uses an old tire attached to a stump to make splitting wood easier. I decided to try the method and it works! It’s much nicer not having to continually bend over and set wood upright.

With the Packers victory assured, I began working on cutting another area of popples in back of the yard. I got quite a few done yesterday, chipped, and a large pile of wood chips dumped in the orchard and garden area. I’m happy they way the yard is shaping up before the winter months. When I have a bulldozer in next spring, I hope that area is completed so the boulders and large tree stumps can be pushed away. I’m looking forward to landscaping that part of the yard into something that can be mowed and enjoyed. Wouldn’t a small reflection pool and solar-powered fountain,  complete with a park bench and gazebo under the trees, be beautiful?

I’m not sure what today will bring. I think I’ll hike my five miles early this morning after Sargie goes to work. After, I’ll check the traps then no doubt will busy myself with any one of a million jobs that needs to be done around here before snow flies.

The difficulties with cutting small saplings at ground level are many, the worst being hitting the dirt and rocks that damage the chain...

and here I'm taking burrs off the guides on the chain that happened when a rock was struck and the chain came off the bar.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…