March 29, 2014 – Saturday

22 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Anyone who’s been reading this daily blurb on a regular basis knew it was

bound to happen and yesterday it did. I bought a backhoe, the one out of California that I’ve mentioned on many occasions.

Once I’d made up my mind, I had to figure out the financial angles of how I might actually buy the thing and not lose any money due to interest charges. The way I saw it, there were several options.

The first was simply taking the money out of my savings account and paying cash, but that’s my emergency money. I try to keep enough that should something  catastrophic occur, I won’t have to sell Brutus, Sargie, and the family farm.

The second option was conventional financing, but who wants to pay interest?

The third was to finance the amount on my Alaska Airlines credit card so I could earn the miles. There was a problem with that.  To not have to pay any interest would require I withdraw money from savings before the end of the month and pay the principal in full.

And the fourth option; pay with the Alaska Airlines credit card for the miles, then take advantage of another credit card that offers zero percent financing for a year when using it to pay off balances incurred on another card. BINGO!

I actually financed the large wood chipper several years ago in the same manner. I paid the amount off before a year had passed using a bank’s money interest free.

So the backhoe is ordered and I’ll take delivery in early May. I can already picture rocks being lifted from the ground, mounds of dirt smoothed over, and trails carved through the maple woods, big enough for a pickup truck to navigate.

Friday morning began by plowing and scraping the drive. Several more inches of heavy, wet, snow had fallen during the night and about the best I could do was to make huge mounds alongside the drive. I also cleared the deck the old fashioned way… using my back and a shovel.

Later, I got out the old Ford tractor and moved a large amount of snow to make way for water to run when it begins to melt. Assuming we don’t get another foot or two of snow, we’re ready for the big spring thaw and all the runoff that comes with it.

The county plow finally came through shortly before noon and with the warm temperatures, the roads soon melted bare. 

It was a gorgeous day, highs in the mid thirties and sunny. I busied myself going over the maple trails with the snowmobile and got stuck only one time.

Sargie and I went into town later in the afternoon. I noticed someone had tapped a few maple trees. The bags were flapping in the breeze as nary a drop has run. Soon, I hope, soon.

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to make a hitch on the snowmobile so I might pull the two-wheeled wagon. I thought I might be able to mount skis on the wheels, making the wagon into a sled, but after sleeping on it last night, I don’t think it’s going to work and I’m back to square one on how to transport large amounts of sap back to the boiler without a great deal of labor. I’ve still got a day or two to figure it out.

Yooper Brother Mark, Sheri, Sargie, and I, went out for a fish fry last night at a place that had closed a year ago, but has been reopened. 

It was a little bit pricey, but the fish and sweet potato fries were very good. I think the days of inexpensive fish are long gone. I noticed that even the lowly fish filet sandwich at McDonalds has skyrocketed in price.

Sargie closes tonight and it will be a very long day for her. I’m going to dig into the maple tapping supplies and get things ready to go. I need to clean out the remaining fire wood from the boiling/wood shed, assemble the boiler, clean and sterilize all the equipment and pans… it will be a busy day. Tomorrow’s highs are to be in the upper 40’s. It might be time to start.

But meanwhile, there’s tea to sip and deep thoughts to think.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…