The Milligan girls and friends at Jeanne's (third from left) birthday party

June 10, 2014 - Tuesday
41 degrees/clear/calm
Pentoga Road

It's another near-perfect day in the neighborhood, although I have to admit, when I saw the heavy dew this morning, I initially feared it had frosted. The temperature was 36 degrees and I'd dodged a garden bullet. The weatherman had promised a low of 44, so I didn't bother to cover the delicate plants. Oh well... no harm/no foul. The weatherman lied once again.

I began yesterday with a fishing expedition to our local lake and scored some nice, big, bluegills, enough for a decent fish fry in the next few days. I love fly fishing, but my eyesight no longer allows me to be very successful, not that I ever was really all that great. I aim at a patch of water, feed the line out as I move the rod back and forth, and let fly. 



Yesterday, I was lucky enough to have some fish swimming under my fly. 

I must have caught twenty-five undersized bass, all about 12 inches long

I came home and constructed a pole bean trellis in the garden. Sister-in-law, Holly, had given me some beans in a baggie that she'd received from her neighbor, Louise. Louise is Italian, very Italian, and she'd gotten the bean seed from her brother, Jerry. I guess these seeds have some very deep history involving the family going back to Italy. At any rate, they are planted, growing well, and now have a trellis upon which to grow straight and tall.



I finished welding another tomato cage. It took forever, but it's finished. The heavy cages, five of them, will be used to hold up the cherry tomato plants that are planted at the entrance to the garden. In fact, they are so convenient that Sargie can grab a handful each time she enters or exits. We love our cherry tomatoes.

It was time to go to sister-in-law, Jeanne's, birthday gathering in Iron Mountain. I drove to the Vision Center, met Sargie, and went from there.



Many of the family and several friends were in attendance. There was enough food to feed the starving third-world countries and conversation was plentiful. We laughed and talked and ate and since Marley and Aubrey were there, we played and danced. 



Happy birthday to Jeanne. Those Milligan sisters keep getting younger and better looking every year.

Sargie closes tonight so it'll be a long day for her. I've got several projects going on here on Pentoga Road. Since the Blazer is in Iron Mountain, I'll ride back with Sargie later this morning then stop at Home Depot while I'm in town and pick up some two by fours. I try to keep eight or ten handy for when I might need one and naturally, I needed one yesterday and couldn't find even an old piece of scrap. 

Andy arrives tomorrow on the 12:30 flight in Iron Mountain. We're looking forward to his visit, doing some fishing, kayaking down the Mighty Brule, cutting down a tree or two, and no doubt, he'll want to play backhoe. 

Oh, I feel bad. Derek, Marley and Aubrey's dad, was over on Sunday and I showed him the backhoe, started it, but we didn't play with it. I found out last night the boy wanted to dig a hole. With forty-two acres of land, I have LOTS of places he could dig a hole. 

Derek, you come back over just as soon as possible and you can dig right down to China... actually, I'd like to visit Australia again, so maybe you can dig at an angle. Oh, and bring Leah and the girls. We can play while you dig.

I guess I felt chatty this morning. I actually wrote something. The day's a waistin' and it's time to get busy. 

A mama mallard and a zillion babies

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