Caught on Tape! Trappers Gone Wild!!

October 18, 2012 – Thursday

50 degrees/rain

Pentoga Road

I just read that Newsweek Magazine is ending its printed format and going all digital online after the first of the year. Several other publications already have and I’d be willing to bet in a few years, there’ll be few, if any, still in print.

I know many universities are now urging their professors to require only digital texts to help save students money and the trend in public schools is to use iPads and other devices rather than books.

Personally? I do all my reading on my Kindle Fire. It was a Christmas present from my son, Matt, and with its ability to enlarge print, meant I could return to the days of reading an occasional novel. I use it daily.

Still, there’s something about a monthly magazine that arrives in the mailbox. I get four; Backpacker, Trapper/Predator Caller, Popular Science, and Popular Mechanics. Three are offered online, but I prefer the printed editions. After all, what would I peruse while visiting the reading room here at home? The back of the porcelain throne would look positively bare without a stack of magazines waiting to be read at a moment’s notice.

Wednesday was an active day. Sargie was out the door shortly before 9 and I left to check the traps. I’d have bet something might have wandered into the waiting sets, but all lay bare. Oh well, it gives me a good reason to get out and into the woods every morning.

My route checking traps on a very foggy Wednesday morning

After arriving home, I changed clothes and took my first of two hikes.  It was warm and felt almost strange with only a t-shirt covering the upper half of my body. Had I thought, I’d have changed from long pants into shorts.

I felt like something was watching me as I trekked down a neighboring remote road. A wood gnome!

The next activity… the living room windows… arg. Sargie and I have long talked about the need to wash them. Between last summer’s hoards of flies and the wood stove, all were filthy. Her drive and hours at work are long and hard and in our spare time, we’ve been busy moving her possessions to Pentoga. There’s simply not been the opportunity to wash windows.

It was warm and sunny. I decided there was no time like the present.

The panes in our living room aren’t easy to remove. One must hold one window while lifting another, turn around three times, whistle Dixie in at least four different keys, and say just the right magic words, for the chance to swipe both sides of the glass.

And speaking of glass, it’s getting brittle. One storm window cracked in my hand while holding it. I wasn’t tugging or lifting. It simply began to crack and eventually, the break ran the entire length, much like a fissure in a windshield.

Still, after four hours, most were clean. We’ll complete the final three windows this fall before cold weather arrives.

I think we’re going to replace some of the panes with large picture windows next spring. These are over twenty years old. The plastic runners on which the windows are set have cracked and as mentioned above, some of the glass in the storms is getting brittle.

There was still two hours until sunset. Sargie wouldn’t be home for at least three. What to do?

Hike!

I’ve wanted to do the country block on which our home and land sits for several years. Looking at a plat map, I calculated it was about seven miles around. Once again, I changed shoes and took the first step.

Tucked off the road... a dream cottage in the woods

It was a wonderful trek and between the two hikes, covering almost thirteen miles, I was happy to get back home to a warm shower and the thoughts of Sargie arriving soon after.

Last night was a quiet affair watching television and enjoying being together.

Sargie is off on Friday and Saturday. We’re going to try to use that time to clean her old house so that chapter can be closed.

Oops, I’m being Skyped. It’s Luke and the grandbabies. They enjoy calling from the breakfast table before the kids hop on the bus for school.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Do you ever look at a picture of yourself and be surprised how much you resemble one of your relatives?  Here, I look like my Uncle Buggsy, Dad's baby brother.