Tree limbs, panoramic pictures, and shrimp. What are the poor people doing?

I discovered the panoramic function on the camera yesterday afternoon and had to take a picture of something. I'd just finished mowing the yard.

July 11, 2013 – Thursday

50 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

The back windows of the living room face east. It’s nice watching the sunrise each morning, although once it clears the trees, the glare is hard on the eyes. Today’s isn’t spectacular by itself, but is an integral part of a audio/visual display composed and performed by Mother Nature and the fence charger this early morning. It starts with the singing of several varieties of song birds. Add in a subtle, yet regular drip of dew onto the metal roof above, two deer grazing in the back meadow, and the regular clicking of the electric fence surrounding the garden. Couple the audio effects with the haze that blankets our valley almost every morning, and one has a complete surround sound, I-Max, 3-D, experience. It’s a good morning to be alive.

Wednesday wasn’t a bad day either. With low humidity and cool temperatures, I hit the ground running. That’s a lie. I haven’t run in weeks, but the knee felt good and I was ready to do some work.

The first chore was to trim the large spruce tree that grows next to the burning barrel. In the old days, it was small enough that I didn’t have to worry about any of its limbs catching fire. That has changed over the past several years.

While burning boxes earlier this spring, several of the large boughs were singed and eventually died. I’ve been fearful that during the upcoming dry season, a spark might land on one and cause the tree to catch fire and spread throughout the forest.

That won’t happen now. I cut boughs well over twenty feet up the trunk. The tree looks good, the cutting opened up the forest somewhat, and we no longer have to worry about a stray spark.

The next project was to cut a good-sized spruce tree that prohibited a clear clear view of the road while pulling out of the drive.

 I was going to cut it into sections, but in the end, I simply fell the thing, hooked onto it with the tractor, and pulled the tree to the burn pile to be dealt with later.

It took the rest of the morning to haul all the boughs to the burn pile. Thank God for the little Ford. Utilizing the front end loader is like having two other workers helping. It remains the single most important piece of equipment on Pentoga Road.

My good clergy buddy, Pat, called from Fresno, California, where he is the pastor of a large Presbyterian Church. The boy has been building a boat in his garage. We talked at length of family and friends, but later our discussion turned to our planned trip down the Mississippi River in his boat… when he gets it finished and puts it through all the sea trials. We’d like to begin our journey at Lake Itasca in Minnesota and motor down this nation’s largest river all the way to New Orleans. Assuming that goes well, our next journey will be up the inland waterway starting in northern California and ending in Sitka, Alaska. That definitely is a few years away. Right now, we’re undecided which of us is Huck Finn and who is Tom Sawyer, but who cares?

The carbon paper arrived in yesterday’s mail! While looking for a disk of carving patterns, I came across a couple that contain pictures of my former life in Maine and the Arctic. It all seems like a lifetime ago, but I guess it was. All served as prompts for a two-hour trip down memory lane.

I greased the Cub Cadet mower and proceeded to cut the grass. All the rain of the past two days has produced a very lush lawn. The gasoline string trimmer was started and within two hours, the yard looked almost picture perfect. The way the grass is growing, it will need cutting again in the next three or four days.

Sargie was home early and we enjoyed fresh baby beets from the garden along with shrimp barbequed on the grill. Since both are low in calories, we ate unfettered until there wasn’t a beet or shrimp left.

Sargie works early today, but has a hair appointment after. It will give her a chance to get caught up on the happenings with her beautician friend, Melinda.

Today: There’s the old apple tree to trim and several large boughs from the spruce tree that grows alongside the house. I may wait until Saturday when Sargie’s home so she can steady the extension ladder while I climb and cut. Maybe I can talk her into driving the tractor and taking the limbs to the burn pile. Climbing on and off is hard with the bum knee. That sounds like a plan. I’ll cut and load, she can be the heavy equipment operator.

The transom on the boat needs replacing, there’s a wood pattern to transfer onto a piece of basswood, a small area in the garden needs tilling, and with a perfect day forecast, I may have to venture out onto the lake in search of meat for the table. Lord, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

The wild apples in the woods are beginning to grow. If we get the rain, there might be a pie in the future.