It was -33 on Tuesday morning when I took my walk. Reminded me of the old arctic days.

February 13, 2014 – Thursday

4 degrees/calm/cloudy

Pentoga Road

It certainly is hard to write these days. I think I write more for something to do rather than to relay information. The days run into each other without any real defining characteristics. I keep busy and am not complaining, but how does one describe a very average, if not mundane, late winter lifestyle.

Homemade bread is always good on these cold winter mornings

I took Brutus to the animal hospital on Tuesday. He was the model puppy, entertaining the vet techs and anyone else who happened to come into the waiting room. The big boy did all his tricks, shake with both paws, lay down and roll over to play “alligator,” and even sang for the receptionist.

The doctor also enjoyed Brutus’s antics and spent almost an hour poking and prodding, but mostly he played with him and kept saying, “Isn’t he fun?”

The prognosis… Brutus once again poked himself in his groin with a stick or other sharp object and infection set in. The prescribed antibiotics have already made a huge difference and my puppy is back to normal.

He has arthritis in his right knee, but that we already knew. Someday, his lifestyle will probably slow down, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

That being said, the dog got carsick during the trip to and from the vet’s emptying the contents of his belly all over the back of the Blazer. Thankfully, I’d spread out his doggie blanket before we left, so most of the mess is now outside, firmly frozen to the blanket, to be cracked off and disposed of before the blanket is put into the wash machine.

The past two days have been spent walking, five miles each day, later grading assignments, listening to music, and of course, going outside to play.

Brutus and I played a game of blood and guts fetch yesterday for almost an hour. That’s where I throw the ball, he retrieves it, then if he drops it at my feet without my having to remind him, I tackle the big boy in the snow and we wrestle for a minute or two. Problem is, he gets me down, stands over me, then begins to lick my face. I start to laugh, so hard that I’m completely incapacitated and at his mercy. I don’t mind telling you, we live on the edge here on Pentoga Road.

Grill season seems a long ways away

Some of this winter’s snow let go and fell from the roof onto the back deck yesterday. I would generally use the snow blower, but there’s no spark. I changed plugs and still no fire. I’ll wait until summer to have the beast worked on, or maybe Andy can take a look at it when he’s up the next time. Whatever, I’m not going to spend any money on it this late in the year. I’ve got the four-wheeler and plow and am well equipped to move snow.

Sargie’s been working some long hours. One of her co-workers has been ill, so the Vision Center has been running short handed. She didn’t get in until past 8 last night after working two hours past her scheduled quit time. Tonight will hopefully be more normal, but she closes Friday and Saturday. This week is a marathon work session for my favorite optician in the world.

So that’s about all the news. There’s just not a lot going on. I continue spending hours estimating what sort of storage building I want, mostly calculating costs. I got an estimate yesterday for a forty foot storage container, in mint condition, with a wind ventilator installed, for $4,300. I can build an attached addition to the barn for around $1,500 to $2,000 if I used treated plywood for the floor over a gravel base. Wooden kits, precut and purchased from Home Depot or Menards seem to run around a thousand dollars more.

I think I’m approaching this whole building thing way too scientifically. I need to take the same attitude with it as I did while building the doghouse last summer. I’ll simply start, enjoy my time and efforts, and when I’m finished, I’m finished. In reality, I imagine that’s what I’ll do and it will come out just fine. It’s the way I roll.

Time to get this uploaded and get ready for my morning walk. I see we’ve got up to four inches of snow forecast. It’ll soon be time to plow and shovel… and think deep thoughts.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…