Sargie and Andy. Taken at the Vision Center after buying a new dryer on Friday.

November 29, 2014 - Saturday

19 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

That's correct, you read it right... after we bought a new dryer. What the heck?

After drinking coffee and gabbing on Friday, Andy and I decided to switch dryers, the bad one in the basement for Sargie's old, but supposedly good one, in the storage unit.

Out with the old

Our's is a typical old farm house basement. It is narrow with steep steps, features a low ceiling more suited for people who must have been four feet tall back in 1920 when it was first dug, and was originally intended more for storage than convenience.

In with the new... or used.

The broken machine was wrestled up the steps and into the garage with the other dryer installed downstairs. We soon discovered that due to years of sitting in a leaky storage unit, it was badly rusted and many of the moving parts were simply too far gone.

We worked on some of the innards in the shop and soon came to the conclusion that the machine was more suited for scrap metal than to dry clothes.

Andy and I browsed the internet and found Home Depot in Iron Mountain was having a Black Friday sale. In the end, we drove over and I purchased a unit for about 60% of what other stores in town were selling the same thing for.

And so our day went. I was too tired to even snap a picture of the new dryer after we got it installed, but take my word, it's white and looks like every other dryer I've ever owned. Even with the discount, it still cost a few hundred dollars, but hey, it's only money. Between medical bills and breakdowns, any cash I once called my own seems to be flowing in the wrong direction these days.

Andy's modeling his arctic wear coveralls, those he'll be wearing when he's in Alaska working on the Shell Oil rig later this winter. He'll be debuting his new winter wear at the Packers/New England game on Sunday.

Jessica arrived ahead of schedule last night and she and Andy were home by 11 PM. We had a good late evening, but everyone was soon heading upstairs for a good night's sleep.

I'm not sure what today will bring. Sargie's off and sleeping in, as are the kids. Brutus and I are the only ones up and around.

Let me rephrase that. I'm the only one who seems to be moving this morning.

But then, I'm not surprised. A man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...