January 13, 2014 – Monday

25 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Good Gravy! There’s a fly buzzing around the OUTSIDE of one window. So much for the cold blooded theory concerning insects. It’s well below freezing and is quite dark. There’s no ambient sunshine. I think a super strain of flies and ticks grow here on Pentoga Road.

We had the house sprayed last fall and that did very little good. I talked to a representative of the company, who guarantees their work, and she said she would have the owner call me and would reschedule a time to spray again. That didn’t happen and when I got an overdue bill from them in December, I sent a check with a letter saying I was quite unhappy and we were still battling flies.

Evidently they are sticking with their guarantee as the check hasn’t been cashed. I’ll have them back next summer to spray again. When they sprayed two years ago, it worked wonderfully, but someone must have forgotten to put chemicals in the water this past year.

Sunday was a yawner on Pentoga Road. I graded papers most of the morning then decided to go fishing. Since the local lake has produced almost nothing, I opted to drive to one of my favorite bodies of water about fifteen miles away.

There was nary a sign of anyone else who had been fishing this winter.

I didn’t expect much and didn’t get anything other than sore muscles from wading through very deep snow and fighting slush that was sitting on top of the ice (and under the snow.)

I tried every trick I’ve ever known to entice the fish to bite. I could see them on the sonar rising to the bait, but nothing would hit. After three hours, I gave up and made my way back to shore.

The water is discolored due to the tannin... a chemical caused by dead leaves, bark, and roots of trees. Most of our lakes and rivers are crystal clear, but some are shaded brown.

While in the area, I drove a few more miles to a large reservoir I’ve never fished and mentally made plans to return this summer with the boat. I took a few pictures and I think there were fishermen far out on the ice. I’ll know once I unload the pictures. 

Sure enough, there was a fisherman out there. A camping trailer converted into a fish shanty.

Brutus met me at the end of the drive when I returned home and we spent the next forty-five minutes playing fetch. He’s back on pain medication for his knee and it obviously helps. I finally had to call a halt to our game… the dog would have run all afternoon and night.

I carried in wood, then ran the vacuum over the floors, dusted a bit, and headed to the shower.

This morning will be spent grading papers. This is officially the first day of the second term, but since I posted the class last week, many of the students have already turned in their first assignment, some are up to week three already. That’s fine with me. I like them to spread their assignments out. It’s easier on the eyes.

There’s laundry to do today and I’ll go over the floors and dust one more time so the house is clean when Sargie arrives home tomorrow. I’ve sure missed her.

Time to warm up the coffee and get started on grading that digital stack of papers. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…