Grady, Macrea, and Mel, stopped into the Vision Center to see Grandma Sargie on Sunday

June 30, 2014 - Monday 
68 degrees/partly cloudy/calm
Pentoga Road

No time to write today as we're heading to Mackinac Island for the next couple of days. I believe Sargie said there'll be fourteen of us going, all Milligan Family, so it'll be a fun time. No doubt, there'll be lots of pictures taken and stories to tell. 

Meanwhile, here're the pictures from the past thirty-six hours.

I finally got the holes dug for the new addition

Some of my figures to decide exactly where to place the treated posts. I'll have Yooper Brother Mark check and double check my calculations. Hey, I'm the guy who failed algebra twice in high school and geometry three times... and went on to become a teacher.

Changing the bucket on the backhoe

All thirty tomato plants have been staked, wired, tied, or caged.

If the leaves are any indication, I should have giant pumpkins again this year. They are just beginning to blossom.

The gooseberries are full and plentiful.

I spent two hours on Sunday picking and cleaning strawberries. Most of these are going with us to Mackinac City to share with the family. As niece Marley says, "They will be a good snack!"

Speaking of snacks, I popped a huge bag of popcorn to take for everyone to munch on.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of butterflies line the holes I dug for the footings

So, it's a busy and exciting time on Pentoga Road. We're dropping Brutus off at the kennels this morning and after a quick trip to the dentist so Sargie can have a tooth fixed, we'll be meeting in town and leave from there. 

We're staying on the mainland in Mackinac City and will be visiting the very historic Mackinac Island on Tuesday. Hopefully the weather will be nice so we can play on the beaches of Lake Michigan. I'm certain Aubrey, Marley, and Brielle, will help me make sand castles.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Wolves - a mama and yearling

June 28, 2014 - Saturday
64 degrees/clear - hazy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

I'm thinking of opening a wild animal park here on Pentoga Road... Pentoga Road Photo Safaris. I could drive tourists up and down the path on my little blue four-wheeler in search of wild game. Maybe I'll wear a Dollar Store plastic safari hat and carry my pellet gun to protect any and all from hard-charging squirrels.

In the past week, we've photographed:
a bear
a buck
a doe and twin fawns
a Tom turkey
a raccoon
and two wolves, all photos taken in the same place by the same camera mounted on a tree. Unbelievable.

Brutus used to run through the woods, but now confines his roaming to areas near the house. I understand why. Even with his powerful jaws, he's not a fighter. A wolf, let alone two, would make quick work of him.



I walked five miles first thing Friday morning and am extremely happy that the pain in both feet has completely left and I'm good to go for my usual training regimen.

One of the farms I pass on my daily hike. Wild turkeys are in the drive and field.

A simple dirt road has turned into a tunnel winding through the trees.

If the knee continues to work and be pain-free and the feet remain in good shape, I might actually be on target to try hiking the Appalachian Trail beginning next spring. There's a part of me that hesitates putting my life on hold for six months and being away from Sargie, Brutus, and Pentoga Road while pursuing my forty-year dream. On the other hand, if I don't attempt it next spring, I never will. I don't want to be eighty years old and regret that I never even tried. Fact is, I'm not getting any younger, the body's not getting any more limber, and my sight's not getting any better. Stay tuned. As I told Sargie, it may come right up to the week before I'm scheduled to leave before I finally make up my mind. Right now, I'm a go. The shake down hike will be a solo 45 mile trek along the shores of Lake Superior from August 8th to 11th later this summer.

I graded papers for an hour after arriving home and am completely current. The class is small this summer and all my students are active teachers who are earning their Alaska certification.

The strawberries are quickly ripening. I picked a large bowl full Friday morning and spent almost an hour cleaning, sugaring, and putting them in the freezer for next winter. Between Sargie and me, we eat fruit every day of the year.

Caught on camera! I spotted this wild she-wolf grazing in the strawberries immediately after she arrived home from work. In another two or three weeks, Sargie will eat most of her supper from the garden by wandering up and down the rows, plucking cherry tomatoes, snap peas, small sweet peppers, berries, and anything else that appeals to her culinary palate.

The rest of the day was spent on the backhoe working on the landscaping in the side yard. I got a lot done and will begin raking and leveling off the area Andy and I worked on two weeks ago. I'm hoping to finish the side yard and build several raised beds before summer's end.

I took a break and called my good buddy, Scott, in Georgia. You might remember, Scott was involved in a severe motorcycle accident months ago and I'm happy to report that he's healing and recovering nicely, although I suspect not nearly as fast as he'd like. In fact, he said he'd been outside mowing the lawn. Scott's truly one of the good guys of the world with both feet flat on the ground and those of us who know and love him are grateful for his progress.

I continued trying to dig the four-foot deep holes for the treated posts to support the new storage building. Unfortunately, I hit some large rocks. At first, I thought they were shale, but I wasn't that lucky. They were boulder-sized rocks. What to do?

Last night, with Sargie's help, I replaced the 16 inch bucket on the backhoe with the smaller 9 inch one and started digging. Unfortunately, I hit a large boulder, but at least I've dug deep enough around the boulder that by adding concrete, it should be okay. I'll dig the remaining two holes later today.



The wild flowers are beautiful. With the warm temperatures and rain, the flowers, wild and tame, are at their prime. I wish they would last year 'round.

A single peony in the garden covered by asparagus fronds

Sargie works early today. I'll walk my five miles then resume working on the holes for the support posts. I've got several stakes to pound in the garden to support tomatoes and there's some weeding that needs to be done.

But, I'm not surprised. After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales of Pentoga Road...

A black bear captured on trail cam

June 27, 2014 - Friday

52 degrees/hazy - clear/ calm winds

Pentoga Road

Happy Birthday to Mom. Her's was yesterday and we talked at length last night. Reaching a very active 87 years of age, Mom spent the day with my sister in Indiana doing "girl things," shopping and dining mostly, and had a great time. 

Mom will be traveling this way on July 15th to spend a couple of weeks with Sargie and me. We're looking forward to her visit. We had so much fun last year getting caught up on news, ate like we'd never seen food before, saw some sights, and laughed like we didn't have a care in the world. 

The air is so thick out there this morning that it could be cut with a butter knife. Thursday was perfect, low humidity, temperature in the low 70's, a bit of a breeze with few mosquitoes buzzing around.

The wild flowers are beginning to bloom around the area.

A field of daisies

Sargie was off yesterday and we had a great day, much of it spent outside or away from the house. I started the day working in the garden by tying the cucumbers to the trellis. The giant pumpkins are beginning to spread... in fact, the entire garden is exploding. It's a fun time of year if a person enjoys that sort of thing.

Tasting like a cross between a sweet radish and a turnip, we enjoyed our first kohlrabi of the season. Actually, it was the first vegetable harvested from our garden this year.

I tied the cucumbers towards the trellis on Thursday morning so they'll begin to creep up the mesh.

The snap peas are beginning to bloom. We should begin eating them in another couple of weeks.

The honey berries are at an end as the strawberries are beginning

I began digging the first of four holes in which to place the posts below the frost line for the new storage building... 

... and hit water at three-and-a-half feet. I thought I was digging a hole, not drilling a well.

I'll never worry about running out of water even though ours comes by way of a shallow well pump. I've never dug a hole before and hit the water table.

The trail cam has been busy recording animals as they pass by.
A young buck deer.

Twin fawns running through

Followed by their mama

A raccoon in the wee hours of the morning

Sargie followed me into town and I dropped the truck off at Yooper Brother Mark's plant to be filled with wood. We spent a few minutes talking before grabbing a couple of burgers and later, enjoying a long ride around the local lakes. 

We also took Brutus swimming on Thursday afternoon

I began mowing thistles Thursday evening in the old popple woods before they could bloom and spread their seed. Some were taller than I am.

Sargie works early today. I'm going to replant parsnip seed early this morning, go for my five-mile walk, then attempt to dig the second of four holes for the footings of the new storage shed. 

I should go fishing. The day is looking to be almost picture perfect. Decisions! Decisions! What to do? Oh well, I'm used to the stress of heavy decision making. 

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

Finally! My first day of walking five miles after two months away due to Morton's Neuroma, a growth on the nerves in both feet.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Picked Tuesday afternoon

June 24, 2014 – Tuesday

61 degrees/rainy/calm

Pentoga Road

Normally I do all my writing in the early morning, but just as I was grading assignments a bit ago, the internet decided to go away. Since the computer was already on my lap, I decided to go ahead and write. Sargie works early tomorrow and I’ll be making my initial test hike on my “new feet” in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed.

Monday saw me going to the podiatrist in Iron Mountain. I’ll admit, I was nervous. The last time I had a shot inserted into the top of my foot, I about went through the roof. When injecting cortisone, the doctor isn’t in a hurry and moves the needle around the area, leaving it inserted for an hour or two… or maybe twenty or thirty seconds, depositing a bit here and there.

I’ve never known a real foot doctor, but mine is a sweetheart. Somewhere in her 30’s, I wondered what would cause a spunky little lady to dedicate her life to feet.

She told me I had several options, the easiest being cortisone shots. I screwed up my face, asked her if she had a piece of leather on which to bite down, and told her to go ahead.

She laughed and pulled out a can of spray anesthetic then asked if I wanted to watch. My feet are ugly enough without me having to look at them in her office.

She sprayed and I looked away. After a minute, she said “There!” I told her to go ahead and give me the shot. She replied that she already had.

I watched the second shot, but didn’t feel a thing. The person who invented topical spray anesthetic should automatically go to Heaven.

I arrived home on Monday afternoon and mowed the rest of the lawn and under the big trees out front. I’m averaging mowing at least once a week. Just like last year, it’s green and lush on Pentoga Road.

I next tried to figure out how much lumber and what dimensions would be needed to complete the storage building, but finally gave up. There’s just a lot of marks on that tape measure and after putting down some numbers, I came in the house, started entering them into the calculator and discovered that I’d measured wrong. After a few more attempts, I finally gave up. Yooper Brother Mark is going to come out sometime in the next few days and help me measure and figure what needs to be purchased.

I ended the day outside working with the backhoe and covered over one huge boulder-filled hole. I'll use the leftover dirt to fill in the low places in the future.

No matter where I dig or work, Brutus wants to lay there. There was a six foot hole under where he is lying and I wanted to make it smooth and plant grass seed. Though I'd shoo him away, he'd return and roll around every time I'd turn my back.

 Sargie was home fairly early Monday night and we had a quiet evening watching television and talking.

 Yooper Brother Mark called early Tuesday morning saying the truck was full of wood and I could pick it up any time. Sargie hurried to get ready for work and took me in so I could get the truck, drive it home, and still make my 10 AM appointment with my money man in Iron Mountain. It all went like clock work.

Everyone wants a Man truck like mine. 

I’m VERY conservative when it comes to my IRA and my financial advisor has done well. It appears I can stay off the welfare rolls for the foreseeable future.

I stopped at the Vision Center and saw Sargie for a few minutes, then went on to Tractor Supply and purchased several steel T-posts to use in and around the garden.

Sargie bought me several packages of bean seed a couple of months ago. I assumed (as did she) that they were bush beans, but all turned out to be of the pole variety. I used the posts purchased today to make more trellises for them to climb. We should have plenty of green beans, they’ll just be two or three weeks later than the bush type we usually plant.

I made the first large picking of strawberries on Tuesday afternoon. The early berries are ever bearing and hopefully, will give us another crop later this summer. With the cool temperatures and plentiful rain, we ought to have berries for the next month, then with the ever bearing variety, again towards fall. Many of these early ones, we’ll eat fresh, but I’d like to put twenty-five to thirty bags of strawberries in the freezer for eating this next winter.

Strawberry season has officially started.

I picked the last of the honeyberries. They taste almost identical to a blueberry, are very hardy and plentiful, grow on bushes that get up to six feet tall, and are high in antioxidants. I had a handful on my year old bushes and am looking forward to gallons and gallons of honeyberries in the years to come.

The wild gooseberries seem to be plentiful this year and I want to pick as many of those as possible. We’ll also have tame black raspberries and should enjoy gallons of wild red raspberries later in the summer. My tame blueberries are loaded, the most ever, and we’ll begin to eat and freeze those in the later part of July. It’s shaping up to be a good berry year.

I see the internet is back on so I think I’ll get this uploaded then head outside and start to work up the truckload of wood. We burn about twelve truckloads per winter. This one puts me at about half of that, perhaps a bit more. I still have my own hardwood to cut on the property and the brown shed to fill. It’s a never-ending process, but then as we all know, a man’s work is never done.

The peonies Jared gave us from his yard two years ago are in full bloom.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…