The ice on the lake is becoming quite thick. I took a quick break from drilling after my hand got a cramp.

February 7, 2013 – Thursday morning

17 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

It appears another three or four inches of snow fell during the night. As difficult as it was to find a decent covering a month ago, the white stuff now falls on a whim. Though this is the month when winter begins to overstay its welcome, we need every bit of precipitation we can get. Let ‘er snow.  

Wednesday evening

My daily life maintains its usual pattern. Rise in the morning, read and grade assignments, go for my five-mile stroll, read a bit more until my eyes close and a short nap ensues, then begin my quest to put meat on the table.

I enjoy my retired lifestyle, although I have to be perfectly honest, I’m getting itchy to begin working more outside. I’ve got things I want to do. As soon as the temperature begins rising on the other side of 32 degrees, I’ll start.

 Maple sugaring should begin next month and I’m eager to begin assembling the boiler. With a few modifications, it will be the same as in years’ past: fifty-pound cement blocks, three pans, and a flue at one end to draw the smoke and heat under the pans. I’m going to begin looking for a piece of metal plating in which I might cut holes large enough for the boiling pans to sit in over the fire. There’s a metal/welding shop in town that I’ll visit and see if they can help me design something. Hopefully, the plate will keep the ashes out of the sap as it boils.

This year, for the first time, I’ll have a dedicated shelter in which to boil. When Pat and I built the addition to the wood shed last summer, it was done with the intent to burn the stored wood during the winter months then utilize it for sugaring in the spring. So far/so good. I’ll have to relocate whatever wood is left to the shed to the other side in the next few weeks as I’ll be ready to begin constructing the boiler.

I’ve also been looking at plans for building a green house and think I’ve found something that will suffice for this year. I want to construct it on skids in the barn then drag the structure to the garden area this spring. Eventually, I’d like to make it more permanent with glass or fiberglass, but 6 mil polythene will work as a cover this year.

I also want to expand the garden and orchard this year, finish the backyard where the popple woods used to be and begin the gazebo and reflecting pond, drive a sand point well by the garden, paint the (now blue) barn red, as well as the trim around the windows on the house. There’s also the alcohol still I want to construct to make my own ethanol fuel for the vehicles and to power a generator. I can purchase sugar beets and potatoes fairly, inexpensively, by the ton.  And then there’re the two windows to install, one in the first floor bathroom, the other in the kitchen. We simply ran out of time this past year.

Sargie also has a few honey-do jobs inside the house; mostly paint the kitchen cabinets and help her redo the kitchen walls and remodel the second floor bathroom.

Other than that, I don’t have a plan in the world for this coming spring and summer.

Meanwhile, back to the present…

Luke sent a couple of pictures yesterday of his ice shack that had blown over after they received winds in southern Maine of up to 60 mph. 

It didn't take Luke long to get the fish shack upright, drag out the lawn furniture, and get the gas grill going. Look, the clouds even cleared and the sun came out! Ah, life for the young and beautiful...
Note the holes drilled on each corner. The water will freeze around the ropes and anchor the shack; just like Daddy taught him.

I’ve been catching crappie and bluegill the past two afternoons while fishing. I’m noticing the action is beginning to slow and I’m having to work a bit harder to be successful… which really means I can’t daydream and sing along with the radio quite as much. Still, I can’t complain. If ice fishing ended today, I’d have to proclaim this winter, my first in the UP, an angling success.

This bluegill had half his dorsal fin missing; perhaps a souvenir from an encounter with a predator fish such as a northern pike, walleye, or even a musky. 

Sargie’s off today so we’re going to run a few errands and get ready to drive to Mom’s in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Saturday. It will take a full day and I hope to help Sargie by driving in the more rural areas and on the interstates.

Other than that, there’s the snow to clear from the drive, assignments to read and grade, and fish to fry later this afternoon. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…