November 30, 2013 – Saturday morning

24 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Just like that, the temperature is almost thirty degrees warmer this morning than last. According to Carl the Weatherman, the highs for the next three days are to be close to the freezing mark, what is normal for this time of the year. I also see he is forecasting a HIGH of 7 above zero for the end of next week.

Today’s my sister, Barb’s, sixty-fourth birthday. Growing up, she was quick to point out that she was, indeed, older, implying more mature and wise… and she was.

Being less than perfect, I was always kind of jealous. No matter how hard I tried to age, she continued to be the older sibling. Barb got to stay home alone first, drove the family car first, and even got to talk with her friends on the phone for more than thirty seconds at a time.

Forward the clock sixty years. I’m happy to tell you that I’ve matured and am no longer jealous of her advanced age. In fact, it’s good to be the baby brother! Happy birthday, sis.  Enjoy your day.

Saturday was a lazy one on Pentoga Road. After fixing pancakes for breakfast, Mel was off to meet her mother and sister in Iron Mountain and then travel onto Appleton, Wisconsin, for a day of Black Friday shopping. Macrea, Sargie, and I opted to be lazy for the rest of the morning.

We ventured into town shortly after noon. Sargie found a few treasures at Insurance Liquidators and later, purchased what was needed so she and Macrea could make French meat pies.

Neighbor Mike and some of his visiting family came over and asked if they could borrow a handful of birdseed. He wanted his company to have the pleasure of feeding the wild birds by hand. Though there weren’t many, his guests weren’t disappointed.

As planned, Sargie and Macrea spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen and in the end, made thirteen French meat pies, all of which are now in one of our freezers. Macrea said they didn’t have room in their freezer to take any with, so it appears there’ll be no shortage of meat pies in our household this coming year. Sargie and I both thoroughly enjoy them and making each disappear won’t be a problem.

I spent the afternoon working up firewood, playing fetch with Brutus, and otherwise fiddle/farting around outside with an emphasis on the later. I plowed the drive, gabbed with Luke on the phone… I don’t know that anything was really accomplished; it was just a nice day to be outside. I was happy to leave Sargie and Macrea alone, to have some real mother/son bonding and talking time without interruption. Their making of meat pies has become a tradition and is one of the early markers of the Christmas season to come.

Later in the day, I managed to get all the grandbaby Christmas shopping done online. That is a huge relief… to have that out of the way. It’s been years since I purchased kiddy gifts on my own. In fact, I’m not sure I ever have. It was time I started and there’s no time like the present. I only hope they like them.

Since Mel was still in Green Bay late in the evening, she decided to stay at her mom’s house in Iron Mountain. Macrea will catch a ride with Sargie this morning.

Today… hmm. It’s to be moderate and that means I’ll walk my usual five miles, hopefully get all the ice fishing gear ready for this coming season, and cut some spruce boughs for the front window boxes. And then, there’s that nap that increasingly seems to interrupt my normally busy day shortly after noontime.

If only you had my life, but I’m not surprised. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Making meat pies can tire a guy (and a bulldog) out.