March 2, 2014 – Sunday followed by March 3, 2014 - Monday

-22 degrees/high overcast/calm on Sunday
-37 degrees/clear/calm on Monday

Pentoga Road

I evidently uploaded Sunday's log before we went to Marquette yesterday, but failed to push the publish button. So, here are Sunday's musings followed by today's. Hey, twice the reading for the same money. What a deal.

Written Sunday morning

I went to give Sargie a quick peck, a light kiss, yesterday. As my face neared hers, a bolt of lightening, well, at least one of strong static electricity, jumped between our lips. She jumped, I laughed.

For one to kiss and not be electrocuted these days, either Sargie or I have to hurry and touch the other so we both are grounded. Sometimes in our haste to lessen the effect, it’s more like a slap, but after, we can enjoy a millisecond of tenderness without a lethal charge of electricity being sent to the ends of our toes.

But it’s not limited to human contact.

I was sitting on the floor, loading the stove with wood, when Brutus ambled in and sat beside me. As I turned my head towards his, a strong bolt of static electricity jumped between his nose and mine.

Since Brutus is a bulldog and has a head filled with cement, he barely reacted. Unlike my blockhead buddy, my nose is sensitive and was severely traumatized. It will probably be spring before I am once again able to stop and smell a rose along the way.

Due to open around Memorial Day, one of our local parks isn't quite yet prepared to receive campers.

Page Two

Sargie made mention yesterday that one of our dining room table chairs is wobbly and loose. Due to lack of moisture in our home, the glue has become ineffective and the wood has shrunk. Though I fill the kettle that sits on top of the wood stove four or five times a day, everything in the house is bone dry. There’ll be no lack of gluing and clamping jobs this spring.

The dining room table, chairs, and hutch, were handed down from Grandma and Grandpa Reinhardt and used when the extended family gathered for the holidays during the forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies, and later, while the Pennington boys were growing up in the eighties and nineties. It survived moves from Illinois to northern Maine, and finally, to Pentoga Road several years ago.

There are a lot of memories with that dining room set. I remember a particular holiday, during the mid-sixties, when the entire family, Mom, Dad, my sister, aunts, uncles, and a few hundred cousins, gathered at Grandma and Grandpa’s. It was the Christmas when I made my ascension into adulthood, the day that I graduated from sitting at one of the many card tables with the younger cousins, those who were entirely too immature to dine with the big people, to the large table where only the adults sat. With that privilege came the knowledge that I’d be eating off of Grandma’s good Noritake China, dishes that were only removed from the hutch for very special occasions. I’d come of age.

I felt very grown up and attempted to act as such. Finally an equal, I was reaching for a bowl of mashed potatoes when my arm knocked over a large glass of milk, spilling its contents onto several heavily laden, carefully prepared platters, all with the Noritake label on the bottom. Though my initial experience was somewhat tenuous, I was allowed to sit at the table for every family holiday that followed until I inherited the dining room set thirty years ago.

The entire ensemble, the table with two leaves, a beautiful hutch with a glass front, and Grandma’s Noritake bone china, prominently displayed in the hutch, are the first thing one sees when entering the front door in our little home here on Pentoga Road.

Page Three

I took off out the door early Saturday morning and enjoyed my daily stroll. The wind was brisk and the temperatures remained well below zero. I’m noticing the area lakes are mostly deserted. It appears even the most diehard ice fishermen are beginning to hang up their ice augers, rods, and minnow buckets, for the year. I think everyone is ready for spring.

My tracks alongside of those made by a coyote on Pentoga Road

Upon arriving home, Sargie said no water would flow into the wash machine downstairs. With hairdryer in hand, I thawed any dips in the hoses and discharge pipe. All were once again free within a short time.

Sargie and I took our usual trip to town pausing for a Coke along the way. We stopped at the hardware store where I purchased a heat tape to wrap around the hoses of the clothes washer. It sits along the exposed west wall and is the only thing in the basement that the cold temperatures seem to affect.

I just returned from checking the hoses. Sargie can reclaim her hair dryer. The heat tape worked.

Once back home, I plowed the drive and later played fetch with Brutus before bringing in the nightly supply of wood.

I took hot ashes from the wood stove and placed them in a galvanized bucket then set it outside. I couldn't find the bucket the next day. Having melted through several feet of snow, it was completely out of sight.

Opting to leave the television set turned off, we decided to spend our evening listening to music and playing Rummy and in what has become the norm, Sargie cleaned my clock. I’m Rummy challenged.

We’re heading to Marquette later this morning. It’s a pleasant hour-and-a-half drive to the shores of Lake Superior and I’m hoping to get some good shots of the ice on the lake. I recently read where the Great Lakes are close to being 100% frozen. We’re also looking forward to eating out with Macrea and Mel and catching up on all the news in Sargie’s youngest son’s life.

So with all that being said, I guess I ought to think about adding windshield wiper fluid to the Kia, wiping the dirt off the head and tail lights, and sip another cup of coffee while waiting for Sargie.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road… 

Monday, March 3, 2014

The frozen shores of Lake Superior

March 3, 2014 – Monday

-37 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

I hate the new Yahoo Mail. It seems every time they attempt to improve it, the online email service gets more cumbersome and slower. The newest upgrades have about convinced me that it may be time to move on.

I’ve subscribed to their service and had the same email address for years. Opting to pay a yearly fee for huge amounts of storage and no advertising, most of my university work is done through the Yahoo web servers. They’ve typically been much faster and easier than those of the university’s.

In the last year or two, it seems every improvement has resulted in less than satisfactory results with slower speeds. As it’s said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Hear me Yahoo?

It’s a bit nippy out there this morning, although with the sun rising earlier each morning coupled with the lack of wind, it doesn’t seem so bad. Hopefully, this will be the last record-setting day of the winter. See? I’m thinking positive thoughts and if nothing else, am attempting, no willing, spring to come galloping in sooner rather than later.

An ice boat went zipping along beside us on Lake Superior Sunday afternoon

The phone rang fairly early Sunday morning. It was my son, Matt, along with my gorgeous grandbaby, Emmie, asking if I wanted to chat. Emmie and I had quite the conversation. We spent the next twenty minutes talking Baby to Grandpa stuff; you know, teething, cooing, and doing all those things that deep discussions involve. Matt recently arrived home in New Hampshire after a prolonged business trip to China, Vietnam, and Korea. Oh, and Emmie finally turned the phone over to her daddy. He's doing well too.

Obviously, Emmie's entertaining her Grandpa Pennington

We left Pentoga Road midmorning on Sunday headed for Marquette. The drive was beautiful and at one point, Sargie and I were entertained by two deer that ran alongside the car for a quarter of a mile or more.

We had slowed down to almost a stop after Sargie spotted them and one attempted to cross the highway in front of us. I guess the doe decided the snow was too deep, so she rejoined her partner on our side and they both rain along the shoulder until they could find snow shallow enough to allow them to run into the woods.

This winter has to be decimating the already shrunken deer herd. Wolves destroyed huge numbers this past year. Coupled with a long and wet spring in ’13 and now a record setting cold winter, I doubt we’ll be seeing too many wander through the back yard this summer. I haven’t seen a deer track on our land since Christmas. They’ve either gone deep into hiding or there are no longer the numbers. I rather suspect it’s the later.

We did a bit of shopping after arriving in Marquette. Sargie opted to peruse the clearance racks in TJ Maxx while I wandered next door and slobbered over gardening equipment at Lowes.

I was sitting in the parking lot when my cell phone rang. On the screen popped the face of one of my beautiful granddaughter’s, Ellie. I guess I’m getting old and though I consider myself fairly up-to-date on today’s technology, it still amazed me how I could be sitting in Marquette, Michigan, and suddenly be seeing and talking to my granddaughter in Connecticut.

We had a wonderful conversation and I heard of the most fun birthday party she attended this past weekend. Next came my grandson, Wyatt, who was excited as he was going to a birthday party Sunday afternoon. My oldest son, Josh, and I managed to talk a bit before signing off. What a treat to see everyone on a small screen while sitting in a frozen parking lot close to the shores of Lake Superior.

We drove to Macrea and Mel’s apartment and had the grand tour of their new digs. Mel has the baby’s room decked out and though the grand arrival isn’t expected until early summer, the room is ready, complete with crib, bassinette, dresser, rocking chair, and clothes. All that’s missing is the baby.

Mel had to work her part time job as a cook at the local bowling alley and couldn’t join us, so we went to her for lunch. We had a great meal and caught up on all the happenings in each other’s lives. Mel really outdid herself fixing our lunch and the food was fantastic. Too bad she had to work and we only got to see her a short while.

I wanted to take some pictures along Lake Superior while it’s frozen. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. It was bitterly cold and windy, but beautiful.

Hmm, penguins in Michigan? Sure enough, there they were. I suspect some college students from Northern Michigan University might have had a hand importing these birds from Antarctica. 

Sargie was hoping to go swimming, but there was no open water. In fact, Lake Superior is completely frozen across.

In 1988, a student from Northern Michigan University was swept off this sea wall. His good friend jumped in the water in an attempt to save him. Both drowned. The plaque is below.

The old lighthouse now serves as the Maritime Museum in Marquette

Sargie and I arrived home last night shortly before dark. After carrying in wood and warming the house, it was nice to settle in for the evening. Brutus seemed to manage just fine by himself all day. One interesting thing; he had gone upstairs, gotten into Sargie’s walk-in closet, retrieved one dress shoe, and brought it downstairs. He didn’t chew it, he simply brought it to the first floor and left it. I think he got lonely and wanted something of hers with him as he lay downstairs. Who knows what goes through the mind of a bulldog? Not me.

The phone rang. It was Yooper Mark’s daughter, Sarah, calling from Wyoming. Excited, giggly, and somewhat animated, she broke the news. Sarah and Curtis are expecting their first child next October!

Sarah was one of my students while teaching at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka years ago. It was at her graduation that I met Mark, Sheri, Jared, and Grandma, and as they say, the rest is history.  I’ve already told Sarah that when they are visiting, we’ll be happy to help care for the baby. I volunteered to teach the little one all the outdoor skills needed to survive in the woods and on the water and as Sargie said, we already have a stroller and car seat. Just like with Mel and Macrea’s new baby room, all we need is the baby!

Congratulations, Sarah and Curtis. We’re so happy for you!

I’m not certain what today will bring. I have papers to read and grade and sometime before dark, I want to drive the old truck into town and leave it at Yooper Brother Mark’s plant to be filled with wood. We have talked of going to Rhinelander, but who knows what we’ll do. Since Sargie’s on vacation, I’ll let her call the shots. I’m just along for the ride.

I see the coffee cup is empty and the maid didn’t show up for work this morning. No doubt, the bitter cold temperatures rendered her car useless. Guess I’ll have to get up and get the coffee myself. But then, I’m not surprised.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

No words needed