It's getting closer to being finished

May 3, 2013 – Friday morning

28 degrees/freezing rain/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Hey! I’m going to be a grandpa again. Matt and Jessica, my third son and his wife, are expecting their first child in October. Jessica has come through the initial pregnancy in great shape and the entire Pennington Clan is excited at the thought of adding another to our growing number. Congratulations, kids. I think that’s wonderful.

Somehow or the other, we lucked into being on the other side of the snowstorm that is battering much of the Midwest. Yooper Brother Mark called yesterday afternoon saying he'd been talking with a person who had just come from a few miles west of here and reported conditions were terrible. We’re getting rain and freezing rain; it appears mostly rain. The high today is to be in the mid to upper 30’s, so hopefully, anything in a frozen state will disappear. Monday’s predicted high is for close to 70 degrees. Go figure. It’s springtime in the UP.

Freezing rain coats everything this morning

I’m hoping the claims by the manufacturers of the Walls of Water are true. Supposedly, the delicate tomato plants will be kept frost and freeze-free tucked away inside the watery enclosure. Stay tuned.

After the usual five-mile walk, Thursday was spent in the spare bathroom. The first chore was to take out the stool and vanity. The stool presented no problem.

The vanity was something else. It was glopped to the floor and wall by age. I think the thing must have been installed around the Civil War period and covered with caulk, paint, and … glop. The water shutoff valves were completely corroded and naturally didn’t work. I had to turn the water off in the basement then go into town and purchase new ones. Thankfully, they were fairly simple to install and worked well.

There was mildew behind the old vanity. Sometime in the past, probably around the great flood of Noah, water must have flowed everywhere in the old bathroom. I stripped the small wall area where the vanity had been, mudded, sanded, and painted the surface. As Dad always quipped, “If you’re going to do it, do it right.”

The floor went in fairly easily once the edges around tub were trimmed. As I knew would be the case, the bathroom isn’t square. In the end, I had to trim each piece along the furthest wall, but any mistake I might have made will be covered by trim. It passed Sargie’s inspection and that’s the main thing.

It seems every time I turned around, Brutus was offering to help. A teeny room, a 120 lb bulldog, and a man who's not sure what he's doing. Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

The stool was reattached with little or no problem. I sat on the seat and rocked back and forth sealing the porcelain throne well into the wax ring before hand tightening the plastic nuts. The new vanity and sink were set in place and aligned with the water pipes and drain. It took some time to assemble and install the new faucets and stopper. I looked at the old water lines and the new connections. Each was two inches too short as was the PVC drainpipe. I’ll be heading back into the hardware store this morning to purchase what is needed to finish.

So, all in all, it was a good remodeling day. Brutus kept me company the entire time; usually laying half in and half out of the room. He’d occasionally bring his toy and drop it on the floor hoping for a game of tug of war or fetch. Since the bathroom isn’t much bigger than a large walk-in closet, both were out of the question.

Sargie had to close last night and wasn’t home until 9:30. Thankfully, she has the next three days off. For that, we’re both grateful.

I received an email from Pastor Tracy at Fortune Lake Camps yesterday asking to meet for lunch in the near future. She wants to pick my brain for some strategic planning points and has asked I help in a work session on age group characteristics when the camp counselors arrive for the summer. I told her I would love to have lunch and lend what little knowledge I may possess.

Today will be spent finishing (I hope) the bathroom. Sargie’s going to paint some trim and touch up any places I missed. Hopefully, I’ll have the water flowing to the sink and cross that chore off my list. The original trim needs to be tacked around the door and new trim added around the tub. There’s no small amount of caulking to be done. It’ll be another full day.

We’ll take Brutus to the kennels late this afternoon and bid him goodbye for the weekend. I feel badly for the pup as he’ll no doubt feel abandoned. We’ll pick the big boy up on Sunday afternoon and take him to the VA Hospital with us when we have supper with Mr. Milligan. They like to have well-behaved pets visit as the patients like them so much. Brutus will probably lick everyone to death with that massive tongue of his.

A guy can only take so much remodeling

We’ll leave bright and early in the morning for Macrea’s graduation in Marquette. It begins at 9:30 AM and is about a two-and-a-half hour drive. A meeting room has been rented at the hotel and there’ll be a party for Macrea and niece Sasha, who is graduating with her Masters Degree in Public Administration.

I’m taking my swim trunks so Marley, Aubrey, and I, can take a dip in the hotel’s indoor pool. I never turn down the opportunity to swim with good looking babes... literally. It promises to be a big Milligan Family gathering.

Speaking of Macrea, at the ripe old age of 23, Sargie’s youngest has just been promoted to Branch Manager of Wells Fargo Bank in Marquette; quite an accomplishment for one so young. We’re very proud of him and all his hard work. Congratulations, Macrea!

So with all that being said, I think it’s time to head into town and buy what is needed to finish the bathroom. I know it will look nice when it’s done, but Lord, it’s been a long journey. I’m not surprised. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…