Sargie and Brutus playing his favorite game... getting squirted with the hose

May 31, 2013 – Friday

63 degrees/cloudy/calm/humid

Pentoga Road

Now there’s something I’ve never seen before; a gold finch drinking from the hummingbird feeder. There was no time to snap a picture. I really wish I could hang the finch feeder, but I don’t care to have every black bear in the world attending a buffet in our back yard.

Thursday was kind of a strange day. Sargie busied herself doing laundry… that is until the big storm came crashing through. Right now, the lines are full of wet clothes that hung overnight. Hearing the forecast, it sounds like they may be there a while. Oh well, we’ll have some of the softest and best smelling clothes around.

I worked on the park bench, making a form to mold around the broken area and mixing cement with as much water as possible to make a smooth patch. I checked yesterday afternoon and it appeared as though it might work. I’ll know more this morning.

I rebuilt the steps on the back patio. They should be good for a few more years.

Storms appeared on the horizon during the late afternoon and soon gusts of wind were buffeting Pentoga Road. Sargie was at the clothesline when a large maple tree, one not far from where she was standing, cracked and fell into another tree.

Several minutes later, more strong gusts brought the tree crashing to the ground. I’m glad it fell. Caught up in the trees, the thing was a real widow maker. Worse yet, it was dangerously close to the woodsheds and kayaks. As it was, it missed them completely.

The wind was roaring, the rain pelting. I ran upstairs to close our bedroom window. Returning to the first floor, I yelled for Sargie and barely heard her voice in reply. I screamed for her to get into the house. It was suddenly very black and the wind was roaring through the valley. I thought she was outside trying to get the clothes off the line. We later laughed. She was in the basement putting clothes in the dryer, the safest place she could be.

I was concerned about the greenhouse. It’s never been in a big windstorm and is supposed to be anchored to the ground in a conventional manner, bolted to buried concrete footings rather than weighted down with 500 lbs of cement blocks. The greenhouse survived the wind in great shape. All the panels remained in place and it looks no worse for the wear.

Naturally, we lost our electricity and it didn’t reappear for over four hours. Meanwhile, we enjoyed hamburgers on the grill for supper and passed the time playing rummy. Sargie even let me win!

There was a strange and tragic accident happen not far from here yesterday. A seventy-one year old man was mowing his lawn by a river when his mower slipped off the bank and landed on him. The man was trapped in two feet of water and drowned. You never know when it’s your time.

Today is shaping up to be a busy one. I’m to talk with around twenty college-age counselors for a couple of hours at Fortune Lake Camp this afternoon at 1 PM. I feel like the opening act for a teachers’ in-service at the beginning of a school year. The first of this summer’s campers arrive Sunday afternoon.

Sargie will be bringing Aubrey and Marley home with her this afternoon; and for supper tonight? I think we’ll go to McDonalds for Happy Meals. I know, I know… ol’ Great Uncle Tom’s a real softie. Give me a couple of good-looking girls who also like to cuddle and I’m a push over for a Happy Meal every time.

I’m going to cut the wood for the park bench this morning and try to put together a few thoughts for this afternoon’s presentation. As I said, it’s shaping up to be a busy day. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…