January 30, 2014 – Thursday

20 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

It was nice waking up this morning to a warm house… 65 degrees. The fact that the fire didn’t go out during the night helped, but the biggest factor is that it’s a full forty degrees warmer this morning than it was a mere 48 hours ago. What a difference a day or two makes. We’ll enjoy it as the temperatures are to dip again after a twelve-hour reprieve.

A bit of frostbite following Tuesday's walk

 I spent Wednesday morning reading assignments and making up this week’s test. A couple of students were given the boot who had yet to attend. I wrote them a few days ago and received no response. We’re well into the semester now and it would be difficult for them to catch up and not very fair to the rest.

A trip was made into town to purchase some gasket adhesive for the wood stove. I’ve been tired of the gasket falling each time I open the door to add wood and have waited for warmer days since doing it correctly means to let the stove cool down, clean the groove where the gasket fits, let it gradually dry, etc. etc.

I stopped by the plant and talked with Yooper Brother Mark for a few minutes. The lucky guy… he and Sheri are heading to Florida for a few days this next week. They own a floating time share and decided to take theirs at a resort far south of here this year. I had some banking to do and saw Sheri there where she was conducting some business of her own.

It was too nice a day to stay inside. The thermometer was registering 13 degrees… THIRTEEN ABOVE ZERO. The breeze was stiff, but as they say, I had to make hay while the sun shone. A few minutes later, I was hoofing south on Pentoga Road to the Brule River. It was a wonderful time, probably the most I’ve enjoyed walking in a year.

The road over the Mighty Brule is turned into a formal snowmobile trail during the winter months.

The take-out point on the Brule River. If you look closely, you can see a lone wolf's tracks on the ice.

Brutus and I played fetch after until we lost his ball. Sargie brought home a bag full of tennis balls last night. When the snow melts this spring, Brutus is going to think the Easter Bunny visited and left him all those balls under the snow during the winter months.

Sargie wasn’t home until past 9 last night. She is working early today, but thankfully, has Friday and Saturday off.

I see there’s three to six inches of snow forecast to fall today, then the wind’s to pick up and the temperature plummet once again. Looks as though Brutus and I will be clearing the drive and patio… again.

That's a car buried under all that snow. Thankfully, it's not ours.

We’re heading to Green Bay Friday morning for the day. As mentioned in yesterday’s log, I’m ready to get away for a few hours. Even when I lived in the cabin, I’d occasionally throw care to the wind after being cabin-bound for days and fight blizzards and cold to make my way the seventeen miles on snowmobile into Kotzebue to see Brother Elmer and the rest of the family. I can feel a good trip to Harbor Freight coming on, a Fleet Farm stop, a stroll through Sam’s Club and the Mall, and possibly, inhaling a good steak. Oh yeah, we’re going to Title Town.

But first, I need to take a loaf of homemade bread out of the oven, pour some more coffee, and think deep thoughts.

After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Looking at the snow on the kayaks, it sure seems as though summer is a long ways off.