Tales from Pentoga

April 18, 2014 – Good Friday

27 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

The storm as passed and normality once again reigns on Pentoga Road.

Hmm, hold on, I’m having a deep thought.

If this winter’s chaotic weather pattern refuses to leave and occurs over and over, does that mean repeated cold and snowy weather is now the norm and winter as we used to know it is a thing of the past? I’m going to have to ask someone who is really an expert in this stuff, like… say… Al Gore. This deep-thinking weather stuff is entirely too… deep for me.

I spent a goodly part of Thursday clearing the foot of wet and heavy snow that fell the previous eighteen hours. The regular snowfall not only covered the patio, but also that that had slid off the house added to the depth. It took well over an hour to haul the snow away.

Sargie caught this snow as it was falling from the roof onto the deck where I'd just shoveled.

The drive wasn’t any easier. I’d begin plowing and either find myself spinning off to one side in the slush or driving over the pile in front of the four wheeler, compacting it even more.

I got stuck several times and any snow touched with my hands resulted in my gloves becoming soggy and wet.

In the end, the drive was cleaned with the piles of snow alongside as big or bigger than they were at any point during the winter. Nature can be so cruel.

Sargie cleaned the house while I cleared the drive outside. With music playing, she bee bopped from one room to the other swiping and sweeping the week’s dust away.

Brutus thought the snow fell especially for his pleasure. He spent most the day romping through the drifts, burying his tennis ball, uncovering it, throwing the thing high into the air, and begin again. He repeated that sequence over and over.

Where's Waldo.... 'er, Brutus?

I had to try out the newly cobbled together, yet functional, four-wheel drive on the Blazer. When I asked Sargie if she wanted to go to town, she initially hesitated, but finally agreed. The plow hadn’t been through so we followed an old track and made it to the main plowed road in good shape. I have little mechanical ability and loved that the four-wheel drive saw us safely through. I’ll take my victories where I can find them. We bought Cokes to celebrate and came right back home.

The day ended with a game of blood and guts Rummy. As usual, Sargie took no prisoners and I found myself without either blood or guts while sprawled in the gaming gutter of life.

Not to be outdone, Brutus squirmed his way into the action and did all those silly things a bulldog can do to make me laugh. For a big, ol’ ugly, pup, he’s sure a joy. There’re times I’d like to shoot him (not literally) but then I wonder what I’d do without the pooch. He’ll earn his pay today while we’re out wandering the woods gathering sap.

Sargie made some comfort food for supper last night, macaroni and cheese. Though it’s not exactly on our diets, it sure was good on a chilly and snowy night. I ended the evening by grading assignments and corresponding with my university students. A few are finding they are in a bit of hot water. There’re two weeks left in the semester and some are suddenly remembering they are enrolled in an online course with more than a few expectations. As one student wrote, he’d made his bed and now he has to sleep in it. I wish him well trying to slumber through a sub par effort on his part.

Sargie is working early today. I’m going to walk my five miles then begin trying to find the sap bags hanging in the woods. The original trail is long gone so I’ll have to rely on my memory as much as anything. Thankfully, I have Brutus to lead me here and there. With all the snow, the trees tend to look the same.