August 6, 2014 - Wednesday

52 degrees/partly cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

The past two days have been almost carbon copies of each other. Both included working on the storage shed, doing the same in the garden, and landscaping in the side yard.

Boy, talk about feeling stupid. I learned last night while double checking my back country reservation that I don't leave for my hike through Pictured Rocks until the 18th, not the 11th as I've been planning. Then, to REALLY screw up, all along, I thought I was leaving this coming Friday when I should have been on Monday. I was doubly wrong. When one applies, he fills out a first, second, and third choice. My first was the 11th and I thought I'd read it correctly. Well, I didn't! Other than feeling stupid, it doesn't make a bit of difference. I'll leave a week from Monday.

For whatever reason, the middle part of the floor in the storage shed decided to sag a bit. Nobody would ever know, but it bothered me after Mark pointed it out. What to do? I loosened the 2x6 and jacked the floor, then screwed it back in.

I finished the rafters on Tuesday. It seems like a huge step and I'll now wait until Yooper Brother Mark can come out and help me fasten the far ends to the exterior wall. Soon after, we should see the 4x8 sheets attached and the window being installed. It's coming... slowly but surely.

I hiked both days and am enjoying all the colorful flowers that are growing alongside the road. It's like walking through someone's flower garden.

Mark texted on Tuesday afternoon saying the truck was full of wood. I drove the Blazer to the plant, brought the Man Truck home, unloaded it in less than an hour, then drove back to the plant, left it and brought the Blazer back home.

I entered the last of this summer session's grades today and am officially finished teaching for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to the break.

I worked for another couple of hours in the side yard. About the time I think I'll be finishing one particular section, I find something else. Right now, I'm grading a sharp drainage ditch so that it can be mowed with the rider. It's a pain and takes more time, but I think I'll be glad I did it right in the long run. The old ditch was about two feet deep and very sharp, so much so that it would have had to be trimmed by hand after each mowing. 

What takes the most time is moving the excess dirt and rocks. I turn off the backhoe then hop on the tractor and take the fill to low areas elsewhere on the property. That process is repeated over and over. What I need is a tractor operator! Where's Mom? Good free help is so hard to find these days.

Today should see me doing more of the same. I need to put in more lag bolts into the sill that is holding the rafters and of course, there's always the side yard.

The blueberries are just beginning to ripen

But first, it's time to get a cup of coffee and listen to the news.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

After a washout last year, the first of the jalapeño peppers are almost ready to harvest.