December 21, 2012 – Friday

Snowy/strong wind/23 degrees

Pentoga Road

The past twenty-four hours can be summed up in one word, snow. Although it wasn’t heavy, there was a steady pouring of the white stuff all day Thursday. It appears we received around five inches, give or take. The winds have taken over where the snow left off with gusts forecast to 35 mph today.

Our road seems to be the last in the world plowed so I’ll ride with Sargie a few miles towards Iron Mountain this morning to makes sure she has a good start on her drive to work. She can let me out several miles away and I’ll walk back home. I might as well accompany her and get my exercise too.

Other than removing snow from the drive, I really didn’t do much yesterday. Sargie’s supervisor sent the two opticians home early due to the heavy snowfall. I was happy she was driving the four-wheel drive Blazer and as she later confirmed, it’s really nice to have on slippery roads.

The poor girl was going to take advantage of a free afternoon and finish wrapping presents, but developed an upset stomach and became sick. Sargie spent Thursday afternoon in her jammies and robe, lying or sitting, trying to shake whatever it was that had invaded her tummy. I talked with her before getting out of bed earlier, around 4 AM, and she said she felt much better.

We made it past midnight and the world hasn’t ended… yet. I have to wonder how many people made millions promoting the Mayan Calendar End-of-the-World prophecy? I read where people were going underground and equipped with several years worth of food and water, were sealing themselves off from the rest of civilization. It’s during these times of trials and tribulations that I have to wonder what Al Gore would do.

I received a family calendar yesterday that highlights pictures of the family and the dates of everyone's birthday. It's too good not to include here. Though it's from Josh and Megan and the babies, I have to think that it was Megan who designed and made the calendar. She's an accomplished photographer and extremely thoughtful. Thanks, Megan! I love you.

I think with the wind howling as it is, today will be spent in the house or best case scenario, the barn and shop. There are a year’s worth of pictures, totaling several gigabytes, that need to be transferred from this computer’s hard drive to a supplemental one used just for that purpose. I’ve planned on spending a couple of days between Christmas and New Years getting class material ready to upload for next semester. Maybe I’ll get a head start today. Saying all that, there’s a distinct possibility that I’ll be lazy, sip hot tea or coffee, and listen to the wind howl while playing Christmas music and resting my weary eyes. It’s a tough call, but you know, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…