Ready to begin the push... the last day of the Popple Project

November 21, 2012 – Wednesday

32 degrees/VERY foggy

Pentoga Road

It looks like a combination of homemade flour paste and pea soup out there this morning. I just went to the shed for an armload of wood and feared I would need a compass and GPS to find my way back to the house… located across the drive. Sargie will have to leave early this morning. It’s going to be a long and slow drive to Iron Mountain.

I’m told there are still two days of Indian Summer left before winter marches in late Thursday night.

At last! Breaking through to the other side.

I cut and chipped another two truckloads of popples Tuesday morning and it felt good to break through to the back meadow. All the hard work of this past month became apparent and for the first time, I could actually visualize, rather than imagine, what our new yard will look like. I was excited before. I'm doubly excited now.

Talk about resilient. This popple sprouted at the base of a large spruce tree, then grew up and out around the branches seeking sunlight.

Unlike Monday, I took a two-hour break in the middle of the day and skipped hiking yesterday. As I said a couple of weeks ago, the mind is twenty, but that darn body of mine… though it would like to be the same age, it’s triple that of twenty. I have no problems going full-out while working, but when I quit for the day, I physically crash. With that in mind, I slowed down yesterday.

One of the more difficult jobs is trimming the lower branches from the large spruce trees.

Presently, there’s a truckload of mulch to unload and about two hours left of chipping. After that, I’ll use the tractor and front-end loader to clean up some old logs and lying around. I need to find a place somewhere, way back in the woods, to pile them. They can rot back there out of sight. If there’s time left in the day, I’ll hook up the large rotary mower behind the Ford and mow the area to rid it of the vines and brush that were too small to cut with a chain saw.

The orchard with chips ready to be spread next spring. The new addition to the yard is in the upper left hand corner.

It’s got to be done today. Tomorrow’s Thanksgiving and it’s to snow and blow on Friday. I’m ready to be finished.

Sargie made it home last night after having supper with her dad. She said it visibility was good until a few miles from here, then she ran into dense fog. Last night was spent watching tv and dining on leftovers.

Since Sargie has to work all day, I told her I’d make the cranberry sauce (our contribution to the Mighty Milligan Family Thanksgiving Day feast). She purchased some of the canned variety, but I love the old-fashioned, pop-in-your-mouth, kind of sauce; the type that makes a person screw up his face and dig in for more. No doubt, I’ll have a sample or ten before tomorrow.

I think I’ll head to the kitchen and start that chore. It’s still pitch black outside and will be awhile before labor can begin.

A man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…