Tales from Pentoga

With the lake effect snow showers on Monday morning, the back yard looked like a snow globe.

November 27, 2012 – Tuesday

8 degrees

Pentoga Road

Happy Birthday to my second son, Luke! My little guy (who never was little) is 33 years old. A firefighter, he’s working today. I hope there are no fires or emergencies so the boy can relax and enjoy his special day. The card’s in the mail. I love you, buddy.

I see that the temperature rose during the night. It was 5 above zero when we went to bed. There’s a quick warm-up forecast for late this coming weekend with temperatures in the upper forties for a day or two, then they are to sink back to more seasonal norm.

Monday was a busy one. The wood stove began burning dirty this past weekend. I assumed the flue wasn’t clogged as I’d scrubbed it a couple of months ago and was puzzled why smoke and ashes would suddenly begin flowing out the door rather than the top of the chimney.

The doors were closed to the living room as I started work. After shoveling the coals into a bucket to save outside, the stove box was cleaned and inspected. Nothing there.

I removed the flue and using the wet/dry vac, vacuumed any suet that might have fallen down the pipe into the stove blocking the vent. Nothing there.

The only thing left was to climb onto the tin roof… the roof that was covered with six inches of slippery snow. Thankfully, the pitch is shallow and other than one close mishap that sent my stomach into my throat, there were no problems.

The solution to my back-belching stove was immediately obvious. A screen that prevents bats and birds from flying down the chimney was completely clogged. I removed the thing and banged it on the heel of my boot watching the suet fall in hardened globs. A nice, warm, clean, fire was burning in the stove ten minutes later.

I put the patio furniture away for the winter season. I don’t think anyone will be sitting outside enjoying the cool evening air until next… May? We’ll let the furniture rest for a few months.

This was from the latest snowfall. I'd already cleaned the table off once before.

The deer are arriving in the backyard in droves. I guess I ought to shoot one, but had more fun yesterday taking pictures. There was a fairly nice spike horn buck that appeared late in the day. I got my rifle and went around the side of the house. Evidently he heard or saw me as, when I quietly poked my head around the corner, he was bounding away. I’ve still got several days in which to harvest a deer.

I made split pea soup on Monday with carrots, onions, and lots of big hunks of ham.

Sitting on the wood stove simmering all afternoon, the concoction made the house smell delicious and reminded me of Hilltop Camp where there was always a caribou or moose roast sitting in a pan of simmering water and onions.

I also made cornbread and for once, my timing was perfect. I was removing the pan from the oven at the exact time Sargie arrived home from work. We were enjoying the soup and eating thick pieces of cornbread slathered in slices of butter within minutes.

Projects from my class were graded yesterday and I see there are six or eight that arrived via email overnight.