I was walking on Monday when this mouse ran across the road and up to my feet. Assuming he wasn't rabid, I picked him up and we had a man to mouse chat before I turned him loose on the other side of the road.

December 11, 2012 – Tuesday

19 degrees

Pentoga Road

My best wishes go out to my brother, Garry, in Mississippi. Garry had a shoulder replaced yesterday and came through the procedure in good shape. In fact, I just received an email from him that was typed one handed. He’ll be coming home from the hospital in short order. I replied, telling him to be good and mind the nurses and most of all, Jody, his wife. She’ll keep him between the lines until he’s fully recovered.

My life is so exciting these days that I skipped writing Monday morning. Note, I said exciting, NOT busy. Seems as though there are never enough hours, but they can be summed up in one word, teaching.

I was awake and working by 2:30 AM Monday. We’d gone to bed by ten the night before and immediately falling asleep, I awakened at 2 and found I was mentally writing the final exam that was due to be posted online today.

I tossed and turned and attempted to sleep, but after a few minutes, I knew all attempts would be futile so I got up. By 6 AM, the final was complete.

After receiving a couple of inches of snow, Sargie decided to drive the small Kia to work on Monday rather than the four-wheel-drive Blazer. The little black car’s gas mileage is almost double that of the SUV and unless one is worried about deep snow, has as much or more traction during normal driving conditions.

After Sargie left for work, I cleared the drive of snow then stepped off on my daily walk. It was beautiful, the snow looking as though God had taken His time flocking the trees and ground. The only prints were those of wild animals and there was no breeze to destroy the natural work of art. Gorgeous.

Coyote tracks

Ronjo the Oil Man visited yesterday and topped off the fuel oil tank by adding forty-six gallons. I guess I shouldn’t complain. He visited last March and hasn’t been back since. I’m grateful we can use wood as our primary heating source. I don’t know how we could afford to burn oil all the time at $4.00 a gallon. Including tax, forty-six gallons costs over $200.00! 

The rest of Monday was spent in correspondence with students. It seems several are beginning to panic. What? Work not done? Waited too long? I sometimes forget that many in my class are only one year out of high school. Could I give them an extension? Do they HAVE to do that assignment?

I’m a hard rock when it comes to assignments and tests especially since I’ve written emails and memos throughout the semester reminding my students not to get behind and to stay current on their work. It seems there were several who didn’t bother to open their emails, let alone read them. Several claim they never received any. What they don’t understand is that I keep every word of each correspondence, incoming and outgoing, for the entire semester.  Oh well, in the end, those who didn’t bother to do the work can try again or go away. It’s up to them.

Sargie and I had purchased talking books, one for each of the grandbabies, last week, and I busied myself yesterday recording my voice and “reading” to the little ones. We’ll get those shipped out in the next day or two. It was fun, but I was somewhat hoarse by the time I was finished.

The Mighty Brule River is about to become covered with ice

It looks as though I’m going to have to go to Brother Yooper Mark’s plant in the next few days and get another load of wood. With our colder temperatures, I’ve been burning through it at a pretty good clip. Still, I haven’t touched the good maple and other hardwood in the shed and since I’m home all day, it’s really no bother to feed the fire softer wood on a more regular basis. I usually have to add two pieces every forty-five minutes or so. Hardwood lasts for two to three hours.

The sun’s up, it’s time to get busy and greet the day. After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…