Aubrey (pictured) along with big sister, Marley, was happy to see the pumpkins arrive in time for Halloween.

October 26, 2013 – Saturday

38 degrees/cloudy/rain/very windy

Pentoga Road

It was nice having a one-day respite in the weather on Friday. I took full advantage of it and worked outside most the day.

Despite the frost and frozen ground, it was time to get the garden put away for the winter.

I checked my trap line first thing in the morning and found I had caught another raccoon. With a grand total of two traps set out, I’ve captured two coons in three nights. That matches last year’s total catch, so one more, and I’ll have shown progress.

Rather than give this one away, I’ll go ahead and skin and flesh it. Luke sent me the latest prices. This guy’s worth around $30. In years past, he’d have brought eight or ten.

I worked most the day in the garden, pulling the dead plants, gathering the vines, putting the tomato cages away, and doing whatever else is required before the snow falls. 

Surely we’ll have one more week of nice weather, Indian Summer, before it all comes to an end. One week would see the little house on Pentoga Road fully prepared for the coming months of snow and cold.

It took over an hour to load the giant pumpkins into the Blazer. I used the front-end loader on the tractor for the two biggest, but found I couldn’t get the bucket close enough to the side doors to be of any use.

 In the end, I utilized one of my ATV ramps and rolled each up into the car.

Sargie had to work later than planned, so I told her I would go ahead and have dinner with Mr. Milligan at the VA and meet her there. Sargie’s dad and I had a great time over supper. We laughed and talked some “guy talk,” and the dinner hour flew by. Just as we were finishing, Sargie walked in and the three of us enjoyed a stroll around the facility for the next hour.

We met Derek, Leah, Marley, and Aubrey, at their house and unloaded the two largest pumpkins. It took both Derek and I to simply lower the big one onto the ground, then roll it up to the steps. Marley and Aubrey were tickled and seeing the look on their faces made all the work of growing those pumpkins this past summer totally worthwhile. It’s good to be Uncle Tom.

You better believe Marley's ready for Halloween!

Our next stop was for Sasha. A real artisan when it comes to pumpkin carving, I made a promise that our twenty-some year old niece would get a couple for Halloween. The girl has plenty to carve on between now and the big day, but I feel sorry for Boyd, her dad, who will no doubt be enlisted to move the giant squash from one place to another so Sasha can practice her art.

The final delivery was made at Holly and Ross’s. Great niece, Brielle, who recently turned one, decided to bring her mommy and daddy from the Appleton, Wisconsin, area, and come visit Grandma and Grandpa for the weekend. 

Naturally, we had a pumpkin for Brielle. I’d love to see her help her daddy try to carve that pumpkin…  slime and seeds everywhere. Knowing her mom (and our niece) Ashley, there’ll be plenty of pictures.

Auntie Sargie has an armful with Brielle and her giant monkey

We didn’t get home until late in the evening on Friday, but that was fine, Sargie’s off today. With the wind howling and temperatures expected to remain in the upper thirties, I doubt there’ll be much activity on Pentoga Road. I have to check the traps and later, skin and flesh yesterday’s catch. Other than that, it promises to be a grandpa nap kind of day.

But I’m not surprised. Even when toiling at being lazy, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

The Pumpkinmobile filled and ready to deliver pumpkins to all the good little Milligan nieces on Friday evening.