Marley and Aubrey. Waiting for pizza on Friday evening, but first, time to color!

June 1, 2013 – Saturday

64 degrees/partly cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

The usual quiet that usually permeates the little house on Pentoga Road was dashed Friday evening with the sounds of happy little girls filling every nook and cranny. Auntie Sargie’s in her element, surrounded by adoring nieces. All is well on Pentoga Road this morning.

Friday was a catch-all day. I began by doing some research about camp counselors, expectations of other camps, problems normally encountered with college-age counselors, and brushed up on age-expectations of the campers.

Confident I had enough material should I need it, I turned my attention to finding a orthopedic doctor who might be able to fix my knee. It’s continued to get worse even though I’ve not walked and tried to rest it for the past three weeks.

I’m fairly certain there’s a few gallons of water surrounding the knee. It’s puffy, very stiff, and has grown quite weak; so much so that navigating steps has become somewhat of a challenge. It’s time to get it fixed so I can continue on with my hiking plans.

Calls were made to several doctor’s offices, then to my insurance company so I might find one that’s in my HPO. It seems there are several in the area, a good thing for me. Unlike in Alaska, doctors in northern Wisconsin and the UP don’t seem to work on Friday’s. I only found one office open and that group of doctors didn’t participate in my health care plan. Hopefully, something will happen on Monday.

Storm clouds rolling in

The presentation at the camp went well. The kidlings were all very kind, very attentive, and filled with good humor. The two hours flew by and in the end, I never referred to the notes and research I’d so diligently taken earlier in the morning. After all the years spent teaching and in education, the facts and figures came flying back out of the past.

The cement work previously done on the bench didn’t hold. It appears I’ll have to purchase some more epoxy. Once it’s sanded and painted, no one will know and in the end, will probably be the strongest part of the bench.

I talked with the man who is going to pour a new garage floor (cement) and pave our drive and the floor of the barn. The blacktop plant is in town and he’s anxious to begin, as soon as this next week.

We celebrated the girls’ arrival Friday evening by dining out on pizza. Poor Aubrey. At a year-and-a-half years old and not quite sure why she wasn’t with her mommy and daddy, she succumbed to hunger pangs and began to cry once we were seated in the restaurant. Our waitress came to the rescue with a fist full of crackers and a container of peanut butter. Both Aubrey and Marley were content to munch their hors d'oeuvres until our pizza was ready.

I ordered a family-size pie. Assuming little girls’ appetites are less than boys’, I calculated there would be plenty left to have for today’s noon meal. We walked from the restaurant an hour later with just a few small pieces, little squares, about enough to snack on sometime today. That’s great… I love children who sit up and eat.

With Aubrey tucked away for the night, Marley and Brutus spent a couple of hours together. Marley’s not exactly sure what to think of a dog that is the same height as she and is double her weight.

This morning found all four of us in our small double bed. Marley and I ran down the must-sing list for all five-year-olds, the most popular being Five Little Ducks, but You Are My Sunshine was also popular.

I made pancakes for breakfast. Naturally, when the girls come to Aunt Sargie’s and Uncle Tom’s house, we have M cakes and A cakes… designer flapjacks, if you will.

With showers and thunderstorms occasionally popping up in the area, I’m not sure if we’ll go kayaking. With my knee swollen larger than normal, I’m also not sure how long I could sit in a kayak. With that said, we’ll have to see what the day brings.

I’m heading out to start cleaning the garage, sorting, throwing, and putting stuff away. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…