May 24, 2013 – Friday

23 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

The flowers and plants were covered and in some instances, double-covered yesterday afternoon in an attempt to save them from last night’s freeze. They should have come through just fine… I hope. After having all the plants in the greenhouse freeze solid the week before last when the temperature dipped down to 18 degrees, I took no chances last night. The contents of the greenhouse were loaded onto the four-wheeler and taken to the shelter of the barn.

I felt as though I accomplished a lot yesterday. After seeing Sargie off to work, I began moving woods chips and covering mulch in the garden. Growing tired of that chore, I finished tilling the closest side, breaking sod really, then pried a wheelbarrow full of rocks from the ground, and filled the newly tilled area with topsoil and compost.

My attentions were turned to making two new raised beds. I had just enough old lumber to make two triangles. After laying black mulch, wheelbarrow’s full of topsoil filled each. I ran out of enough dirt to fill the last one, so had to tap into my emergency pile that is kept at the rear of the back yard.

I finished spreading wood chips along the fence line on far side. The garden is almost complete. As I told Sargie last night, one more heavy day of work and I think I’ll finally be able to enjoy the fruits of my labors and do normal gardening chores, planting, weeding, and simply walking up and down the aisles appreciating the annual miracle experienced by most gardeners.

The last chore of the day was to cover the delicate plants already planted and move those in the greenhouse to the barn. Everything should have made it through the night. We used to have a rule of thumb in northern Maine that no delicates would be planted until the second week of June. Of course, me being me… I planted around the middle of May and played this game of freeze tag yearly. It took years, but in the end, I finally figured out the process how to harvest vine ripened red tomatoes before summer’s end. For anyone interested, I still use the same type of tomato, Siberian, and it works well here in the North Woods. Longer varieties like Rutgers and Big Boy simply require too long of a growing season this far north.

Having to close, Sargie didn’t make it home until late last night. She’s in early today and has a hair appointment after work. The optician in my life works early on Saturday and will be off on Sunday and Monday, a rare two days in a row.

I’m going to work in the upstairs bathroom first thing this morning while it’s still cold outside. As soon as Sargie leaves for work, I want to begin the final phases of finishing the garden. Hopefully, all the construction will be in my rearview mirror when I write Saturday morning.

My first quiz was posted earlier this morning. Teaching in the summer is a different experience. I have only fourteen in class and all are adults. Many are already teaching and taking the class for permanent certification as required by law in Alaska. Each seems to know how to read, write, and use spell check on his computer. It’s a welcome respite before heading into next fall’s herd of first year teacher education students, many of whom forget they are no longer in high school. Oh well, that’s our job as educators… to teach each and every one. Not surprisingly, many will emerge four years from now as certified teachers, prepared to step into their own classrooms.

Time to grab another cup of coffee before the day’s labor begins. A man’s work is never done.

A full moon accompanied a very still, cold, and clear night 

So are the tales from Pentoga Road… 

I wish I could lay like that...