Tales from Pentoga

February 18, 2014 – Tuesday

5 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

The days keep plodding along in a late winter fashion with no big ups or downs and all seem to qualify for the in between category. At least there’s a promise of above-freezing temperatures in the forecast for today and Wednesday, the first we’ve seen in weeks, almost months. I’m hoping to get out the old Ford tractor and move some large piles of snow from alongside the drive. If the past is any indication of the future, March and April signal our heavy snow months. I heard on the weather last night that we’ve already exceeded last year’s total snowfall.

Snow had covered the stand pipe on the roof. Thankfully, that was reached with the roof rake and I didn't have to attempt to crawl up on the tin roof covered with snow.

The weather people are already talking about the big storm that might hit us on Thursday; a possibility of large amounts of heavy wet snow and /or freezing rain. Yummy.

Issued by The National Weather Service

... STRONG WINTER STORM MAY IMPACT UPPER MICHIGAN LATE THIS WEEK...

THE LATEST FORECAST INFORMATION INDICATES THAT A SIGNIFICANT WINTER STORM MAY TAKE AIM ON THE UPPER GREAT LAKES REGION THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. THE EXACT TRACK OF THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS STILL UNCERTAIN AND COULD CHANGE. AS IT STANDS NOW... HEAVY SNOW ALONG WITH FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WOULD OCCUR OVER UPPER MICHIGAN. THE HEAVIEST SNOW WOULD OCCUR LATE THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT OVER THE WESTERN HALF OF UPPER MICHIGAN. WARM AIR MOVING ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF UPPER MICHIGAN WILL SWITCH SNOW OVER TO A MIX OF FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET BY THURSDAY EVENING WITH ICING POSSIBLE. BEHIND THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM... VERY STRONG WEST WINDS WILL RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW OVER THE KEWEENAW PENINSULA ON FRIDAY WITH BLIZZARD CONDITIONS POSSIBLE. THIS SYSTEM COULD RESULT IN VERY DIFFICULT TRAVEL ACROSS THE UPPER GREAT LAKES REGION THURSDAY INTO FRIDAY. STAY TUNED TO LATER FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MARQUETTE AS THE WEEK PROGRESSES.

Naturally, Sargie is off at the end of the week and weekend and has an obligation Thursday morning in Iron Mountain. While she’s there, I have an appointment to take the Kia to the auto glass place for a windshield replacement. Maybe we can get all our running around done before the storm arrives. More importantly, I’ve promised to treat her to a Chinese luncheon buffet while we’re in town. Missing the her appointment or getting the windshield replaced would not be good, but having to forego a Chinese restaurant buffet? Tragic!

Bringing in Monday evening's supply of wood

Page Two

Mark and Sheri invited us for supper on Sunday evening. Sheri put on quite the spread of one of my favorite meals; chicken, mashed taters and gravy, salad, rolls, and all sorts of goodies. Mark made an old Italian dish, planetia or plenencia (or something like that,) and I’m sure it’s misspelled… a cornmeal mush sort of dish that has the consistency of mashed rutabagas that one can either cover with spaghetti sauce or gravy. It was really good and I had seconds on that one!

At any rate, Jerad come for supper and the five of us had no problem finding plenty to talk about as we inhaled Sheri’s delicious food. Sargie and I worked our kitchen charm earlier in the day and made a two-layer carrot cake for dessert.

Page Three

I was up before 4 AM Monday and decided to immediately begin to read and grade the pile of assignments that had come in during the night. All were due at the beginning of the week. It was nice having fresh eyes and I plowed through the majority in the morning hours, finishing in the early afternoon. I see there are more to read and grade today.

I’ve walked five miles every day and am happy that my knee no longer has a painful twinge if I use it too much. I think with a year’s worth of conditioning, I’ll be ready to attempt the Appalachian Trail a year from March. Next comes the core strength training. The legs are in fairly good shape, but the body is that of an old, out-of-shape, flabby man. This summer, I’ll begin to climb the old ski hill in Caspian with a loaded pack along with an occasional stroll up the ski jump hill in Iron Mountain.

I started the Man Truck recently and moved it into the drive. It's ready for another season of use.

Page Three

The wood stove began smoking on Sunday night which can only mean one thing… the flue was obstructed. Since the chimney is only 8 feet long and our roof is tin, I built a larger fire in hopes that it might burn out whatever was clogging the airway. No such luck.

So on Monday, with snow pounding down accompanied by a wind to blow it sideways, I climbed the extension ladder and discovered the screen that surrounds the flue to keep birds and bats from entering, was completely clogged. I almost did a dance of joy right there on the roof.

I found the flue fairly clean, certainly good enough that we can wait until this summer to run the scrubber up and down the interior. I cleaned the screen and suddenly, the stove was back to burning clean and smoke-free.

Sargie plowed home through several inches of snow and arrived safe and sound last evening. It appears four or five inches fell, enough to get out the plow and shovel today and clean the drive before the next storm arrives.

Somehow, I don't think this old house has a lot of insulation, but it does have some great icicles!

I’m putting in my order for garden seeds today. Once the tomato, pepper, and other plant-seeds arrive, I’ll erect the indoor greenhouse and begin the process for this coming summer. Lord knows, I think everyone in the UP, (the coldest place on Earth in January!!) is ready for a nice summer.