Mom's going through security to begin her flight home.

December 31, 2014 - Wednesday
-17 degress/clear/breezy
Pentoga Road

I'm up way too early this morning, but after hearing the oil furnace kick on at 3:30 and coming downstairs to rekindle the fire in the wood stove, then having to tend it, I decided to stay up for the day. I need to check on the price of heating oil. With the cost of gasoline plummeting, perhaps heating oil might be inexpensive enough to burn. I had the tank filled two years ago in April and still have over three-quarters left. At that time, home heating oil was pushing $4 a gallon.

Monday was a beautiful day in the North Country. I began by taking my usual five-mile walk.



Mama spent part of the day packing and getting ready to fly home on Tuesday. 



I filled the afternoon by working on next semester's class and other than last-minute additions, am ready to teach.

Mom arrived home in Indiana safely last evening. She called around 8:30 saying my sister, Barb, had met her at the airport and the two had safely made their way to Terre Haute. I know Mom has a committee meeting or two this morning, so she's hitting the floor running. No grass grows under my mama's feet.

Tuesday dawned a bit chilly... 23 degrees below zero. Sargie didn't have to work and the three of us had a leisurely late-morning drive to Iron Mountain. 

It's a good thing we weren't in any hurry to get to the airport. 

We sat and talked while waiting for Mom's flight in the terminal and she was soon winging her way to Minneapolis and onto Indianapolis.



Yesterday afternoon was spent reading, watching television, chucking wood into the stove, and taking the Christmas tree down. I started bringing up boxes from the basement and with both of us working, the living room was soon devoid of the tree and most of the decorations. Sargie's off today and we should finish putting everything away by day's end.



It's cold, just plain out-fashioned cold outside. Actually, it's kind of cold inside too. Thankfully, I can rectify that situation by throwing more wood on the fire. The ten day forecast calls for far-below normal temperatures, a repeat of last year's record-breaking cold. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm ready for a bit of global warming... just enough to raise the temperature above zero.



Sargie and I are going into town this morning and look at a set of shelves that are on sale at the hardware store. She'd like to store some of her finer Christmas decorations in the basement, but keep them off the floor. The rest will go in the storage unit.

Otherwise, I think we'll take the rest of the decorations down and get those put away. Since Sargie has to work on New Year's Day, our celebrations will be early ones tonight. Basically, it will be business as usual.

Meanwhile, it's time to load the stove with wood then get a cup of coffee. Oh yeah, I guess I should think a deep thought or two along the way.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...