Sargie and Mom making Thursday night's super salad

July 18, 2014 - Friday
45 degrees/clear/calm
Pentoga Road

We dodged another bullet Wednesday night. Patchy frost was forecast and Sargie and I managed to cover some of everything. Thankfully, it only dipped into the mid to upper thirties and I saw no signs of frost on Thursday morning.

Thursday began with a shock when I looked out onto the back yard and saw our hummingbird feeder was demolished and the burn barrel turned over on its side. Obviously, a bear had visited during the night. 

He must have been a pretty good sized guy as the hummingbird feeder was around 8 feet in the air suspended by a wire. The support that held the feeder is too weak to support the weight of a bear, so he had to have reached up to grab it. 



After walking my usual five miles on Thursday, I began mixing cement and filling in the holes around the posts. 

This is what happens when one's mind is on something else other than carting heavy, dry, concrete, from one place to another.

Next came removing the sheets of flooring and installing cross braces. I began by using the circular saw, but soon brought in the miter/chop saw, made a jig, and began mass producing the bracing out of 2x4s. 

Mom's spent much of the day supervising. That, or she's guarding the burn barrel from a marauding bear. 

I was ready for a break when Yooper Brother Mark sent a text saying the Man truck was filled with wood. Mom took me in and we had a great, but all-to-short, visit with Mark and Ann, his administrative assistant. 

I was thinking last night that I haven't seen much of my Yooper brother this summer and we haven't even made our annual Brule River kayak trip. He's been out of state for two or three weeks on business, then a week to Boy Scout camp. Between the storage unit, gardening, and the back hoe, I've been busy around here. The summer is flying by all too fast.

Having returned home, I began laying plastic between the floor joists and flooring to protect it from moisture.



The floor is over 2/3rd's completed and should be finished later this morning. Next will be a trip into town to purchase enough 2x4's to begin building the walls. 



Sargie had said she wanted salad for supper on Thursday night. Armed with that knowledge, Mom and I invaded the raised beds and picked everything from broccoli to peas to baby zucchini squash. I also pulled enough beets to ensure everyone would have a good bowlful smothered in butter, salt, and pepper.

Mom's a pea pickin' machine

I spent a couple of hours last night reading and grading the final projects that are beginning to pour in. The class officially ends August 8th.

Today looks to be a busy one. Finally, the temperatures are more seasonal and I need to wade into the giant pumpkin patch and pluck off all but one fruit per vine to grow until frost halts this year's gardening season. 

The blueberries are ripening

Sargie closes tonight so it will be a long day for her. Mom and I will do our thing and no doubt, the day will fly by.

After all, time passes when one is laboring hard and as we all know, a man's work is never done.



So are the tales from Pentoga Road...