It must be the Easter season. Luke sent this picture of their black lab, Guiness, checking out Kevin, the rabbit.

March 16, 2015 - Monday

43 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Andy sent this picture from Seattle where he and a working buddy are obviously battling evil in the Star Wars mode.
Andy is on a work boat in Everette, Washington, and will be heading up to the new Shell oil rig in the Chukchi Sea off of Barrow, Alaska. 

It's a dark morning out there and according to Carl the Weatherman, it's to rain today then turn colder and snow. I guess our token bout of global warming is about over. 

The past two days have been busy. Saturday was much cooler and most of the activities were confined to inside. 

Sunday dawned sunny and much warmer. I headed out the door to finish the strawberry pyramid. It's amazing how quickly everything goes once the angles and cuts are configured and set. 

I soon discovered a way to make all the shelving at once, cut the angles and bevel them.

I spent almost one whole day building the basic frame. Then another was spent and with Mike's help, calculating the angles and setting the saw blades. Once that was done, the pyramid almost flew together. I did two sides on Sunday in less than an hour.

Little things, like laying it partially down, helped a lot to see what I was doing.

I'm going to make at least two, maybe three, more pyramids to replace the strawberry bed alongside the barn. It was planted six years ago and should have been replaced two to three years after. I'll try the pyramid method. If it doesn't work, I can always make flower planters out of each and go back to the conventional way of growing. There's also a large strawberry patch in the orchard.

I'll landscape along the barn, install some pavers, etc., then fill the pyramids with dirt, and plant berries. There's a solar light mounted on top of the planter.

I collected 11 gallons of sap from 16 bags on Sunday; a pretty good average. I was so grateful that I didn't have a hundred and sixty bags hanging like I did two years ago. I hope to do my boiling all at once this year getting possibly one or two gallons of syrup. 

Neighbor Mike wants to make syrup, but he's gone to Florida for the next three weeks. If it's still running when he gets back, we'll make more. 

Last night was St. Agnus's annual St. Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage feed. I think it was the best corned beef they've ever served and as always, there was plenty to go around. In fact, we brought some home. 

The next two photos by Art Arigone

You can tell, Sheri's hanging onto every word I'm saying.

We met Sheri at the church and Yooper Brother Mark, who was helping in the kitchen, joined us for supper. It was a fun time.

We went grocery shopping after supper and was home soon after to enjoy a quiet evening.

Sargie opens today which means she should be home fairly early tonight. I'm going to walk my five miles first thing, then after, who knows? I would like to get some more lumber and begin making the next pyramids. It all depends on the weather and how cold it gets. 

One thing is certain; it's time to pour another cup of coffee, listen to the news, and think some deep thoughts.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...