Blowing snow falling from the trees during Saturday's wind

January 5, 2014 – Sunday

-6 degrees/clear/breezy

Pentoga Road

Am I the only one who’s noticed how small the toothpaste tubes have become, or the new design? I’m currently using Sensodyne with enamel building qualities, or some silly thing. It seems Sargie just brought the tube home a week or two ago and it’s already half empty.

And I don’t like where the toothpaste comes out; it’s more of a nozzle resembling the nose cone of a rocket, and the cap doesn’t screw on any longer, it sort of snaps in place. What is wrong with the old design, the same that has been used for the past sixty years?

How about ice cream? First the half-gallon carton shrunk to 1.75 quarts. Now I see it’s become 1.50 quarts. Why don’t they just charge us more, they are anyway, and keep the sizes the same?

I don’t like this age of shrinking commodities… everything seems to be getting smaller except my belly and the Federal budget.

I spent Friday morning working with Nancy and her computer at Holly’s house in Iron Mountain. (Nancy and Holly are Sargie’s sisters). I enjoyed the time a great deal, sipping coffee, talking with everyone and figuring out the Windows 8 Operating System. I can’t say the software impressed me, but the quality time spent with the family was a lot of fun. In the end, I think we got Nancy up and running. Ross, Holly’s husband, helped a great deal and between the two of us, Nancy’s back to navigating in the digital fast lane of life.

I met Sargie at the Vision Center and we enjoyed a late lunch. I headed home immediately after as the snow was beginning to fall.

We woke up Saturday morning to several new inches of white, fluffy, powder. After Sargie left for work, I hopped on the four-wheeler and plowed the drive. The snow thrower was later used to clean the back deck and everything was finished within an hour.

What to have for supper? With just two of us, it’s difficult to come up with new ideas and it seems we get stuck eating the same four or five recipes. It was cold and snowy… definitely comfort food time.

Inside one of our large groceries in town. It was stuffed with shoppers. I guess everyone had the same idea and was stocking up before the forecast frigid weather arrives.

In the end, I went old school. I drove to town and bought several bags of beans and a big ol’ hunk of ham. I later combined everything in a big pot where it simmered atop the wood stove the rest of the day.

Neighbor Mike stopped in for a visit and commented several times how good the house smelled. I wished the soup might have simmered long enough to offer him a bowl. During my Hilltop Camp – Arctic Circle days, almost everything I ate was cooked on top of the wood stove; mostly some combination of caribou or moose stew. The cabin always smelled good and on calm days, one could be down by the river and occasionally get a whiff of the soup du jour.

I spent a few hours Saturday doing domestic chores. With the Christmas decorations put away for another year, it was time for a good, old-fashioned, furniture-moving cleaning session. I scrubbed, I dusted, I vacuumed, all the while singing, shaking, rattling, and rolling, and dancing the hootchie coo to a fifty’s bee-bop radio station; the volume turned as loud as possible.

There was one mishap. I momentarily paused from sucking up cold ashes on the hearth with the vacuum’s hose. My eyes were closed and I was singing, Teen Angel, using the nozzle as a microphone. Caught in a moment of artistic expression, I had failed to turn off the vacuum resulting in my lips almost being sucked off my face. Who needs plastic surgery to achieve that “pouty” look?

Sargie was home early last night and we enjoyed our ham and bean soup along with freshly made cornbread. I prefer hoecake slathered with butter and dripping in honey; so much so, one needs a fork to eat it from a plate. Mere hands won’t suffice. Sargie likes dipping hers in the soup and that’s okay. Some people dip, I slather.

I talked with Preacher Pat and was happy to hear that our good friend, Scott, is continuing to heal and recover in the hospital following a motorcycle accident. Scott has had to endure several operations, most concerning a severely crushed pelvis and dealing with internal injuries. He’s been conscious and alert, but is being kept sedated to allow his body to heal. Thanks for keeping Scott, Becky, and the boys in your prayers. They’re good people, really good people. I’ll continue to relay the news as I receive it.

Today is Packer Day on Pentoga Road. Yooper Mark and Sheri will join us to watch the Packers host the 49er’s at Lambeau Field. We’re going to have to play better than we’ve played all year, but I have faith in the Green and Gold. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I can see the bottom of the coffee cup and there’s news to be listened to. That doesn’t include the deep thoughts to be considered and the world problems that need to be solved before sunrise. If only you had my life, but then as we all know, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road… 

It's a ritual. Each night, while Sargie is getting ready for bed, Brutus sits on the third step, and since he's afraid of the dark, waits for both of us before heading upstairs to sleep on his blankie.