There's a well defined trail going through the maple woods... somewhere under all that snow.

April 5, 2014 – Saturday

10 degrees/sunny/calm

Pentoga Road

Yesterday at this time, heavy snow was falling and it was dark and gray. Twenty-four hours later, it’s sunny and bright and the weatherman even says the temperatures will be reaching towards forty degrees by day’s end. Sometimes I feel we’re on the wrong end of a yoyo string.

With Sargie unable to go to work on Friday, we had a very pleasant and comfortable day. For once, neither of us was in any hurry to do anything.

I spent a couple of hours outdoors plowing the drive and removing the wet and heavy snow from the back deck and greenhouse. 

I’m not sure how much actually fell. Guessing? Probably eight inches in total, but with the rain sandwiched between the two major snowfalls in the storm, it was difficult to tell. I know the moisture content was right up there. I hope all this precipitation finds its way down to the water table so we can begin the summer in good shape.

Sargie worked in the house, cleaning, dusting, sweeping and did a couple of loads of laundry. I can’t figure it out, I clean and the place looks passable. When Sargie does the same, it looks different. It looks… well, clean. Oh well, I do what I can and together, we make a pretty good team.

I spent well over two hours working on grading final profects. I was blind from eyestrain, but felt good after having accomplished so much that I barely noticed.

Since it’s Lent, we are meatless on Fridays, but I didn’t notice as Sargie worked some kitchen magic and baked great cod filets. They were really good and before we were finished, the one-pound package was completely gone. Along with baked potatoes, we ate like royalty last night.

I’m embarrassed to say we dined on purchased commercial fish. One of my goals this spring is to fill the freezers with filets. It’s tough having to go fishing to put meat on the table, but darn it, someone has to around here and since Sargie works, I guess that responsibility falls to me.

At least I don’t feel too badly as I’ve not heard of anyone locally who caught many fish this past winter. It was simply one of those years.

I tackled the chore of assembling an accessory bin last night. The thing has four shelves, a million dividers, and required inserting and tightening more small nuts and bolts than a Sears build-it-yourself tin building.

Sargie loves when I pile tools and other shop goodies on the dining room table. No doubt, they add to the ambience of the house.

Perseverance paid off and I finished after a couple of hours of mumbling and fumbling. 

Last night, we watched television and relaxed. It was the end to a near-perfect day.

The last of the pepper seeds that I transplanted after sprouting them between wet paper towels are poking through the dirt in the greenhouse. If all the tomato and pepper plants I started from seed bear this summer, we’re going to have vegetables coming out our ears… and other places. Right now, that sounds pretty good.

I’m going to run the plow over the drive again this morning to clean off the inch of snow that fell last evening. With the sun bright, what little remains should easily melt. After, I’ll migrate to the shop and continue putting away anything that was used this winter and haphazardly thrown onto the workbench or leaned against a wall. I also need to begin doing the same in the garage. Neither are pretty sights presently.

Sargie has a funeral to attend later today in Crystal Falls. No doubt, we’ll take a drive sometime and when we get home, I’ll need to collect the sap that should run as the temperatures climb this afternoon. The way the forecast looks, I’ll start boiling this next week and should continue for the foreseeable future. It’s time to put up syrup!

But first, I need to get another cup of tea, listen to the news, and think some deep thoughts.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…