What ever happened to carbon paper?

With the sudden influx of rain and hot temperatures, the garden is finally beginning to grow.

July 9, 2013 – Tuesday

66 degrees/hazy/breezy

Pentoga Road

Well, darn, I thought today was supposed to be much cooler, but with a high of 86 forecast, I guess that’s not to happen until tomorrow. We have rain and thunderstorms forecast for today and tonight, THEN much cooler tomorrow. Oh well, the garden loves this weather.

Brutus and I did our quarter-mile trek yesterday morning and I think it was a bit better than the day before. Certainly I can tell a positive difference when simply walking around the house. The swelling continues to subside and the pain is noticeably less. It’s going to take that four letter word I hate so much: T-I-M-E.

Wanting to transfer a carving pattern onto some basswood the other day, I called and asked Sargie to pick up some carbon paper before she came home from work. She called back saying no one carries it.

I checked at a couple of local merchants and found carbon paper is a thing of the past. Staples has it in Escanaba, but they want an arm and a leg for the stuff. In the end, I went online to Amazon.com and ordered it with free shipping. It should be arriving in tomorrow's mail.

It seems we’re surrounded by digital progress and very little common sense. I guess the common thought is, if it can’t be done on a computer and reproduced on a printer, it’s not worth doing.

The boys from the internet provider arrived with a teeny antenna in hand. A plastic dish, it appeared to be something purchased in a dime store rather than the digital miracle the owner of the service promised. And as I predicted, it didn’t work. 

After an hour of the boys climbing on and off the roof of the house trying various adjustments, the signal remained so weak that it wouldn’t register. The guys apologized, put on the old antenna, and left. It’s back to square one.

I weeded most of the potatoes yesterday, something that badly needed to be done. With our hot weather and plentiful supply of rain, the garden is growing by leaps and bounds.

I wove the string for the pole beans to climb just two weeks ago. Already, some have reached the top of the tee pee. 

The strawberries are showing life again with the rain and I picked half a large bowl yesterday. They aren’t the great big ones, but certainly will taste good on our cereal and ice cream, and for those that are frozen, during the winter months.

Since Sargie had dinner with Mr. Milligan at the VA, I went fishing late in the afternoon. It was pretty on the lake and I enjoyed landing a few bass. I caught all on a deep running lure while trolling.

Sargie’s off today and I’m not sure what’s on the agenda. We talked about going fishing, but it’s going to be hot with a 70% chance of thunderstorms, not a good formula for successful angling. There are a few limbs that need trimming and the yard could be mowed again. Oh if you only had my life.

The tail lights I installed remain high and dry!

A man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…