I had just parked the truck alongside the barn when this winter's accumulation of snow fell from the roof barely missing the old relic. Had it landed on it, I doubt there'd be much of a truck left.

March 11, 2014 – Tuesday

34 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Sargie closes tonight so I’m a bit later than usual getting around this morning. In fact, I didn’t want to get out of bed. I think it was because I played so hard on Monday.

The sun was bright and the temperatures warm as I exited the doctor’s office. Thankfully, I was his first appointment of the day, so other than the drive home, I wasted little of the daylight hours.

It appears I’m going to have to take a prescription drug for high blood pressure. It’s been borderline for several years, but when the lowest reading they could register yesterday was 160/106, he said it was time. There was no talking the doctor out of it, so I’ll join the majority of retired citizens in the country and pop a daily pill. The rest of me checked out just fine.

There’s not a lot to write about concerning Monday’s happenings. I used the old Ford tractor to move some banks of snow to facilitate melting, then spent hours making rivers and dams, trying to control the flow of water that was crossing the drive. I scraped away a good deal of rotten ice and as of now, most of the drive is clean and I can once again enjoy all that expensive blacktop I had laid last summer.

I took an afternoon five-mile walk, but didn’t enjoy it a bit. With several inches of slush on the road and shoulders that were very muddy, my feet, ankles, and pant legs, were quickly soaked to my knees.

Brutus and I played fetch off and on during the entire day. I’d pause with my dam-making chores and he’d drop the ball at my feet. I’d give it a toss and resume what I was doing. That act was repeated hundreds of times during the day. It was a puppy’s delight.

Sargie worked early, but wasn’t home until later in the evening as they were so busy. I guess everyone in the UP decided to have his eyes checked on Monday. I spent almost three hours reading and grading homework. We’re getting to the end of the weekly assignments and next will come three final projects. Another six weeks and the semester will be over.

I’m going to begin unfastening and pulling the bottom cabinets out from the wall today. It’s hard telling what I’ll discover, but whatever it is, it needs to be insulated. Best case scenario, I pull them out and find I can work quite easily. Worst case… arg, let’s not even talk about that.

Sargie works late these next two days. That’s probably a good thing. I have the feeling that by the time I’m finished with the kitchen cabinets, if she were home, she’d be ready to hit me between the ears or wash my mouth out with soap. Probably both.

So with that being said, it’s time to wade into the mouth of the beast. But first, I think I’ll have another cup of tea and think some deep thoughts; possibly walk my five miles. A guy never wants to rush these things.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…