July 4, 2014 - Friday
38 degrees/clear/calm
Pentoga Road

Happy Fourth of July! It seems a lifetime ago that our nation was celebrating its 200th birthday.  Wait a minute, that was thirty-eight years ago... I guess a lifetime isn't too much of an exaggeration. 

At any rate, with all those, inside and out of our country, who would destroy what America stands for, we truly need to God's blessing. Hopefully, all of us will remember that as we celebrate our nation's founding.

Thursday was the day of the strawberries. I'd started picking on Wednesday evening when we arrived home and finished yesterday morning. 



Sargie stemmed and washed while I gathered and in the end, we put nine gallon freezer bags of berries in the freezer.



It took over an hour to uncover the garden and spread everything out to dry Thursday morning. The dew was quite heavy and all the blankets and tarps were soaked. Later, Sargie helped me to fold everything and put them back into totes. No doubt, we'll be using it all again at the end of the season to protect the plants from an early end-of-the-season frost. When one lives in the North Country, blankets and protective coverings are as much a part of gardening as rakes, hoes, and trowels.

The peppers are beginning to blossom. Here we have Giant Red, mini-sweet, banana, and jalapeno varieties. There are another dozen pepper plants spread around other parts of the garden.

The broccoli heads are forming and will be ready to eat in another week. After that, we'll enjoy the side shoots until late fall.

The lawn was a bit shabby before we left for Mackinaw City on Monday morning. I could barely believe how much it had grown while we were gone. I settled in on the lawn mower later on Thursday morning and sheared not only the lawn and trails, but also cut the thistles in several places that I normally don't mow.

I've fought thistles in one meadow every year since I bought this place, careful to cut them before they bloom, in an effort to curb next year's crop. They don't seem to spread, but come up in the same area each summer. I've tried cutting, spraying, hoeing, and cussing. Nothing seems to work.

Sargie and I did a bit of grocery shopping yesterday afternoon and she spent time in the kitchen making goodies to take to today's Mighty Milligan Fourth of July Celebration. I sampled some of her macaroni salad... to-die-for good. It was difficult not eating it last night each time I opened the refrigerator door, but I behaved and left the huge bowl full untouched for everyone to enjoy today. 

Daisies growing alongside the back deck

We'll be heading to Derek and Leah's later this morning to help celebrate our nations birthday with the rest of the Milligan clan. I'm looking forward to eating and swimming, but most of all, laughing and talking. The weather is to be perfect, in the upper 70's, sunny, and calm.

It's time to wake up Sargie and get this show on the road. After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...