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| Another six Walls of Water were constructed on Tuesday and the first six Siberian tomato plants of the season were planted. |
May 1, 2013 – Wednesday
47 degrees/partly cloudy/calm
Pentoga Road
It’s a privilege and pleasure to fall asleep at night with
the bedroom window open and listen to the frogs and peepers singing a
springtime song around the edges of Lake Pentoga. Though all the snow is
melted, the large body of water keeps growing and has filled the lowlands. There’s
an overflow drainage ditch that was made in the past to keep the water from
reaching the yard and house. Evidently this isn’t the first time the ice caps
of Pentoga have melted causing the local ocean to rise. I’ll have to call Al
Gore to check my facts.
I always wanted lakefront property. It’s pretty neat as long
as the property taxes don’t rise.
Tuesday's walk was a good one. Brutus and I clicked off the
five miles in record time, in just over an hour. My mongo-pup is getting used
to my pace and didn’t seem nearly as tired yesterday. He had enough energy left
over that we played fetch for over half an hour.
Sargie’s youngest son, Macrea, graduates from Northern
Michigan University this weekend. We’ve planned on attending for quite sometime
and have had a hotel reservation for months… long before Brutus was thought of.
I know Yooper Brother Mark would care for Brutus, but let’s
face it, the pup requires more than sprinkling a pinch of food into a goldfish
bowl. Neighbor Mike, who lives in Marquette, offered to keep Brutus in his
kennel. I appreciated the offers, but I think the way to strain a wonderful and
perfect friendship is to slide the care of a 120 lb bulldog onto those whom I
love. We decided to board him.
I quickly discovered that boarders are hard to come by,
reputable ones, that is. The best, is booked into June. I found another who had
a vacancy, but I didn’t like her attitude. In the end, I found a highly
recommended facility over in Iron Mountain.
It has heated and cooled floors, the dogs are exercised,
etc. etc. So, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, Brutus will be pampered
and played with. I like to think he’ll be on vacation for a couple of days from
his tough regimen of training.
The boarder told me to bring all his vaccination papers. All
I have is a faxed printout from his former veterinarian with minimal
information. I called the local animal doctor who suggested I bring my pooch in.
The doc was unsure of Brutus’s past vaccinations so we
decided to start all over. For $54, he’s inoculated for and against anything up
to bad breath.
The rest of the day was spent outside. I wrestled the patio
furniture and swing from the barn and spent a couple of hours scrubbing and
rinsing it off. Sargie thinks we ought to consider getting some new furniture.
I may have to agree with her. What we have came with the house, is plastic, was
painted, has become faded again, and is getting very brittle. Possibly towards
summer’s end, when patio furniture comes on sale, we can purchase something
new.
I filled six more Walls of Water and planted six Siberian
tomato plants in those erected yesterday. Hopefully, if I can beat the rain and
storms today, I’ll plant six more.
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| A bottomless five-gallon bucket it used to spread the walls, the tomato is planted, then the bucket removed and the walls close in over the top. It seems to work well. |
Sargie was home early last night. She made great salads and
I threw a slab of venison on the grill after rubbing in salt and pepper. In the
end, I coated it with barbeque sauce. It was to die for good and very tender.
I’m not sure what today will bring. If it stays dry, I’ll
work around the garden and in the barn. Cold and rainy means I’ll be laying
floor in the upstairs bathroom. Either way, it promises to be a busy one.
After all, a man’s work is never done.
So are the tales from Pentoga Road…
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| Brutus's mom didn't have no dummy. After being zapped by 9,000 deer-repelling volts on Monday, he didn't come near the garden on Tuesday afternoon. |
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