The ice is slowly receding from the local lakes

April 12, 2014 – Saturday

34 degrees/calm/rain

Pentoga Road

Whew, we’re dodging a bullet by a mere two degrees. If all this rain that is currently falling were snow, it would be measured in multiple degrees of inches, not a mere dusting. The stars must be aligning in our favor for a change.

I was hanging up a load of towels on the clothesline early Friday morning when I heard a noise coming from a nearby tree. I followed my ears and soon saw a large back blob thirty feet up. It could only be one thing… a porcupine.

As much as I dislike squirrels and other nuisance rodents, I hate porcupines. I think my animosity stems from the multiple times I’ve had to pluck quills from various dogs’ muzzles and mouths. I walked to the house and retrieved the mini-.22 caliber rifle Yooper Brother Mark has loaned me, a handful of ammo, and came back outside ready to do some damage.

It took ten or twelve attempts, but I finally brought down the prickly beast. I think I hit him several times, (although I could only find one bullet hole) but firing thirty feet straight up into a heavily-quilled porcupine with a small .22 caliber bullet is almost like shooting one with a pellet gun. A lucky shot to the head finally brought him crashing to the ground.

What to do with the body? I knew it would be a matter of minutes before Brutus (whom I’d shut in the house) would have his nose full of quills, even from a dead porky. In the end, I dumped the body in a remote area well down the road.

Yesterday was the first day of hanging laundry out on the line. Sargie and I are fairly straight-forward northerners who truly appreciate some things that the average city person might not understand.  The smell and feel of line-dried laundry is one of them. We had the absolute joy of climbing between fresh sheets last night that smelled like springtime in the North Woods. As one of us mentioned, it’s too bad we can’t bottle that natural fragrance to be released throughout the winter months.

Sargie and I took a huge load of newspapers to the recycling center in Iron Mountain before she had to go to work. I think our last deposit had been last November and the hatchback of the Kia was filled with several large, black, trash bags of neatly stacked papers and magazines. I think I can finally get serious about cleaning the garage now they are gone.

A goodly amount of sap had run during the morning hours and I busied myself emptying the bags once I arrived back home. Another two or three days of good runs and I’ll ready to boil down again.

My high-pressure washer has been leaking heavily the past two summers. It was time to find out why.

Evidently, I hadn’t emptied it as well as I should have a year ago this past fall. Some water had been trapped in one of the pipes, had frozen, and expanded. The inevitable happened; part of the pot iron had cracked.

Normally there’s not much that can be done to those types of things other than get a new piece. Since the washer was purchased in a broken box at Insurance Liquidators several years ago, the brand is questionable, let alone having a booklet with a parts list. I’m fairly certain it was manufactured in the furthest, most remote, area of China.

Since the broken area was so small, I ended up taking multiple pictures, unloaded them onto my computer so I could enlarge each, then decide what the next step would be. 

In the end, I mixed JB Weld epoxy and liberally applied it to the broken piece. It feels and looks good, but I have no idea if the repaired section will hold the pressure. At Andy's suggestion, I'll attempt to fasten a large radiator clamp around the area for reinforcement then will hook up the hose and try it as soon as the weather is suitable. I use the high pressure sprayer often and if the repair wasn’t successful, I’ll be shopping for another.

There was enough time in the day to take a hike. I did the lakes walk that totaled five miles. The ice is beginning to get rotten and I noticed it’s receding from the shoreline. With the heavy rain that is falling this morning, all that’s needed are a few more days of warm sunshine accompanied by heavy winds.

Sargie had to close on Friday and wasn’t home until later in the evening. We watched a bit of the late news then climbed the stairs to bed.

Sargie was only a few miles away last night when she called and said there had been a large black bear run across the road in front of the car. It's that time of year again. I'll be turning the trail camera on fairly soon to digitally capture the critters that are walking through our woods.

Today is date day in the North Woods. Since Sargie is off, I asked her yesterday if she’d like to go out on a date. She batted those big ol’ Irish eyes, gave me that million dollar smile that makes my heart race, and said she’d love to. We’re going to the matinee showing of Noah this afternoon then will pig out at the Chinese buffet after. It’s a cold, rainy, day… perfect for a date. Heck, maybe we’ll even hold hands during the movie. Who knows?!

With all that being said, it’s time to get this uploaded then start the process of getting spruced up a bit for the big day ahead.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Flocks of migrating birds continue to fly through. These are eating any seed that dropped from the feeders during the winter months. I've quit filling them for the year as I've had several destroyed in the past by bears.