Thanks to Yooper Brother Mark, I'll now be able to hike year 'round!

November 20, 2014 - Thursday
3 degrees/clear/windy
Pentoga Road

It's a short one this morning as I have a dentist's appointment at 8 AM. This is the same doctor that Yooper Brother Mark goes to and is supposed to be a good guy. I've had a wisdom tooth that's been bothering me for the past six weeks and truth be told, I think it could have been at the root of my sinus infection a couple of weeks ago. The prescribed antibiotics seemed to take care of any pain and infection, but it's beginning again. Time to get it taken care of. I pay $70 a month for dental insurance through my Alaska retirement plan, darn good insurance, so I might as well take advantage of it. I haven't been to a dentist in two years. It's time.

My five mile walk on Wednesday morning went well. It was comfortably cold and I didn't do much sweating along the way.

Turkey tracks alongside the road

Once home, I changed into heavier clothes and began working on remodeling the fish shack. So far, I've got most the roof removed. The next step is to cut the building down to size and with any luck at all, will finish it in the next couple of days. Of course, like everything else, it all depends on the temperature. Tomorrow's high is forecast for 13 above with gusty winds. The shack may wait until this weekend when temperatures are to get above freezing for the first time in weeks. (Thirty-five degrees is the normal high for this time of year.)





Neighbor Mike's son had borrowed his car and Mike needed to go to town. It worked out perfect. He drop me off at Yooper Brother Mark's plant so I could pick up the truck filled with firewood.

One of next summer's projects is to build yet a third wood bin. Firewood is like ice cream, you can never have too much.

Back home, I started transferring wood from one half-empty bin to the other that had the same amount. I'll burn the one that has the older wood and put that that is unloaded from the truck in the other. By the time the older bin is empty, the newer wood should be dry enough to burn.



I told Mike I really wanted to go to the lake and check the condition of the ice. Since no one's been on the lake, it's something that is best done with someone else incase one person falls through.

I've made the trip through the ice several times in my life, especially in the arctic, and didn't relish the thought of going swimming yesterday.

I took the hand auger, crept out fifteen feet and drilled. Five inches! I walked another fifteen feet and did the same. Still five inches. And finally, I walked quite a ways away from shore. Five solid inches. Ice fishing season was declared open.


It took a while to find all my winter heavies, but within an hour, I was back at the lake. The going was slow with only a few small bluegills caught, but who cares? I was ice fishing on the earliest date in the lower 48 ever in my life... November 19th. I'm in no big rush to go back, but simply wanted to say I'd gone this early.

Inside the Clam (tent); the homemade fish finder Luke constructed several years ago, a propane heater, ice skimmer, and the rod.

This evening has been a quiet one. Sargie arrived with a pizza in hand after work. We enjoyed that and watched tv.

The university for which I teach, the University of Alaska - Southeast, was just named the fifteenth best teachers college for online programs in the country. Since I teach one of their courses online, it made me feel mighty good and very proud of the university that has treated me so well. 

Sargie opens on Thursday and should be home early. After my dentist appointment, I hope to work on the firewood and fish shack, but again, it all depends on the temperature and wind. Worse case scenario, I'll stay inside, work on my upcoming class for next semester, and take a nap. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road... 

That's an Arctic Sun. Though it's visible, the sun remains somewhat clouded by blowing snow.