Filling the strawberry pyramids with dirt

April 30, 2015 - Thursday morning

31 degrees/partly cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Whew, I was snoozing hard this morning when the alarm went off. There's something about sleeping with the bedroom window open, snuggled all nice and warm beneath the covers. Mmmm. I think we'd have slept another hour or more if Sargie didn't have to work today.

Wednesday was a quick one. The day was started by riding with Sargie back to Iron Mountain. I didn't shop while in town, visit, or do anything other than kiss her goodbye, hop in the Blazer, and drive back home. 

The next order of the morning was to fill and plant the second strawberry pyramid. I'm taking dirt from one of the raised beds in the garden. Most are being redone and I've made arrangements to get more topsoil, hopefully this week.

Thankfully, using the bucket on the tractor, I only have to shovel the dirt, not push a heavy wheelbarrow uphill across the backyard .

The plants look okay after their forced dormancy in the refrigerator. It appears most will make it and this year, it's a matter of getting them established. 

 

I FINALLY began working in the garden this afternoon. The cucumber trellis was moved and construction was started on two new raised beds. 

I was sure a happy boy playing in the dirt on Wednesday afternoon. The sun was bright and the temperatures were warm enough to be comfortable without being hot. 

A few nightcrawlers that were rudely awakened when I began moving a raised bed. They were put into a container and will be kept for bait.

All I needed was a Tonka truck or two and it would have been perfect. 

I usually use the bed on the small four-wheeler as a saw horse when away from the shop. Failing that, the front end loader on the tractor works well.

Sargie wasn't home until late last evening as she had to close the Vision Center and was originally supposed to have Thursday off. Plans change, but in this case, for the good. She's working today, but will have the following three days off in a row. The forecast is to be warm and sunny and Sargie won't be working. Life's good!

Speaking of Sargie, it's time to pack her lunch and think about getting some breakfast for both of us. I can't expect that girl to work all day without eating!

The asparagus began to show Wednesday afternoon.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

A friend of Neighbor Mike got his first-ever turkey early Tuesday morning. It's a big Tom.

April 28, 2015 - Tuesday evening

63 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

This has been another action-packed day, but not doing anything of what I'd planned. 

Neighbor Mike called last night saying he and his friend, Mike, were down from Marquette to go turkey hunting. I told him I'd be up today after arriving home from my morning walk. 

Mark sent a text early this morning saying the trailer had been filled with wood. I skipped my walk as I knew I'd more than make up for the lost exercise working up an entire trailer full of firewood.

I took two barrels of left over wood chips from my terrace project to Neighbor Mike's after arriving home. He's going to use them as mulch around some of his small apple trees.

I started working up the firewood at mid morning and didn't quit until late afternoon. Tired? I was exhausted.

In my younger years, I'd have split the wood and put it away without a thought. I guess I should be content that I can still do it all in one day, but it was a tired boy who finished the trailer filled with next winter's fuel. 

I love being retired and honestly, I wouldn't turn back the clock for love nor money. My mind is active and has all kinds of ideas of what I'd like to accomplish, but I'm finding my body has a mind of its own. 

Until ten years ago, I bragged that I could still outwork any eighteen-year-old kid. Five years later, I revised it to any thirty-year-old. After today, I think I'll raise the age to forty and that's okay. I'm still almost twenty-three years ahead of the game. 

I've been waiting for the trailer to be filled with wood before I could use it to take the four-wheelers to town to have the new tires mounted. As soon as the trailer was emptied this afternoon, I loaded both ATVs and tires and took them Larry the Mechanic's. They should be done in the next two or three days.

I'd decided to drive to Iron Mountain this afternoon and ride home with Sargie, but first, I wanted to rest for a while. Brutus had other ideas. He'd been the perfect pup all day, lying near by while I worked up wood. I made the mistake of asking if he wanted to go to the lake. That's all it took. He ran to Blazer and stood, waiting for me to open the door.

So, much of my rest time was spent pitching a tennis ball into the water and playing fetch.

Sargie and I had a good ride home. I grilled bratwursts for supper and we later enjoyed watching Dancing with the Stars. Bedtime, at least for me, will come early tonight.

I'll ride back over to Iron Mountain with Sargie Wednesday morning. After, I hope to spend the day working in the garden and planting more strawberries in the pyramids. 

A few papers will no doubt trickle in. There's a couple of students under whom I've had to light a fire. If they want their Alaska teaching certificate, they'd better get busy. The semester is almost over.

It's time to let the dog out before bedtime, bank the fire, and quit thinking deep thoughts for the day. Okay, I lied. I haven't had one all day. I was too busy working up firewood.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Always the best. The first brats of the summer.

The first wild flower of the spring - a yellow violet

April 27, 2015 - Monday evening

62 degrees/clear/breezy

Pentoga Road

I'm waiting for Sargie to arrive home and thought I'd write tonight. 

It's been a busy day. I walked my usual five miles first thing this morning. For the first time this year, I speed walked most of the distance in record time. The surgeon who fixed my knee two years ago cautioned against jogging or running for any distance, but said that as long as the heel hits the ground first, I should be okay, thus the speed walking. 

My four-wheeler/pick up truck ready for another season of projects

I started working in the garden, ripping out the first section of a raised bed.

The wood on many of the raised beds is rotten. Some will be replaced and other beds will be moved.

  The dirt was shoveled into the bucket on the tractor.

From there, I filled the first strawberry pyramid and soon after, planted the first of the strawberry plants I'd dug almost two weeks ago.

The plants appear to be healthy. They were stored in a refrigerator in the garage, packed in moist dirt at 32 degrees to keep them dormant.

It was past noon and my body was telling me to take a break. I came inside, fixed a sandwich for lunch, and graded several final projects. I thought about closing my eyes and taking a short nap, but it was just too nice outside to be snoozing the day away.

Fill is needed in several areas around the garden. I'm trying not to fall into a routine this summer, that of focusing on one major project and letting everything else slip. Last year, I was so busy with the landscaping and building the storage addition that I did little else. 

With that in mind, I left the garden and went to the back of the property and began digging more dirt for fill. Five loads were brought where it was needed and I spent quite a while raking. 

I was about all done in by late afternoon. A shower felt like a million dollars and I've been grading final papers since.

Sargie works early on Tuesday. I plan to walk my five miles then continue on with what I started today. I plan to move the cucumber trellis to the area where one end of the raised bed is being removed. It's all a process, but we're not surprised.

The trellis towards the back, on the right, needs to be restrung. It will be brought across the aisle and to the front where I began removing the raised bed earlier today.

After all, a man's work is never done

So are the tales from Pentoga Road... 

You saw it here first... a possible line of new men's clothing.
Pentoga Fashions.
It features a t-shirt full of holes, shorts, very white Big Bird legs, old loafers complimented by high socks, sun glasses, orange work gloves, and of course, a Packers ball cap.

The garage is clean... at least for a day or two

April 27, 2015 - Monday morning
33 degrees/clear/calm
Pentoga Road

It's a quick one. Down and dirty. Final projects for my class are due in today and naturally, there were more than a few students who waited until the last minute. Several came in overnight and no doubt, there'll be a flood pouring in today as my graduate students hurriedly pull their research together in an attempt to fulfill the requirements of the course. 

As always, there will be one or two who will stretch the time limit to the very last moment... as in later this week. It always happens and I'll worry right up until I get their papers into my hands. 

I swore when I went from teaching high school to the university level that I would never again worry about a student's inability to get his homework in, but I've found that my concern never left. I think it's called being a teacher.

We spent the majority of Sunday cleaning the garage. Sargie volunteered to help and let me tell you, the dust flew. Things either were put or thrown away. 

Even the coolers were pressure washed and made ready for another summer of use. Totes? Sure why not. 

When by myself, I tend to piddle around while cleaning, rediscovering a tool or often, basically forgetting what I am doing and starting a new task... much like a child does when sent to clean his room and finds a toy he received last Christmas and begins to play with it all over again.

Sargie knows how to clean. There is no corner too dark, no amount of nuts, bolts, screws, or nails, too insignificant to ignore. Items, those that I'm not sure where they belong, tend to be shoved neatly out of the way. Sargie makes sure they find a permanent home.

We ended the cleaning session well after lunchtime when I got out the big guns and pressure washed the floor. It's now almost pristine, beautiful, clean... too nice a place in which to park a mere automobile. Now if only I could find that guy who sneaks in and insists on making a mess and not putting things where they belong.

We took our usual Sunday afternoon drive. The weather was perfect and we just ambled around the local area.

Last night we raked around the wood sheds and hauled pile after pile of leaves and sticks into the woods. The place is beginning to look almost presentable!

Sargie is back to work today. I'm going to walk my five miles this morning, grade some papers while cooling down, then get started working in the garden. The boards used on the raised beds from three years ago have rotted. All were salvaged from a pile that was sitting in the back yard when I bought the place and were well on their way to crumbling then. They will be replaced with new, treated, 1x8's that should last much longer. I also want to begin hauling fill to those places around the yard that are too low. 

It's going to be another busy day on Pentoga Road which goes to prove one thing; that a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

It must be the bulldog who messes up the garage. I'm pretty sure that's a guilty look plastered on his face.

The terrace by the barn was finished on Saturday. I hope to fill the planters with dirt this coming week and we'll be back in the strawberry business.

April 26, 2015 - Sunday morning

19 degrees/clear/calm/cold

Pentoga Road

It's another cold one this morning with highs reaching into the mid-fifties predicted for later today. I see temperatures are forecast to reach into the seventies next week. We'll take 'em!

Yesterday was another busy day on Pentoga Road. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Requiring two trips, twelve trash barrels of wood shavings were filled at Yooper Brother Mark's plant. 

The area south of the barn was raked and made smooth.

Landscape material was stretched over the entire terrace to serve as a weed barrier.

After spreading the shavings, I went around the perimeter with a putty knife and tucked the black material between the edging and fill.

The strawberry pyramids and vegetable planter were moved to their new places.

So that was my day in a nutshell yesterday. I rode with Sargie five miles up the road first thing in the morning and walked home. That got the blood flowing.

The rest of the day was spent, non-stop, on the terrace. 

Late in the afternoon, I took Brutus to the lake for a bath. He was afraid of the waves that were lapping at the shore and wasn't wild about swimming, so I hurriedly scrubbed the little guy with doggie shampoo, rinsed him off, and we ran up the boat ramp to the parking lot.

Brutus tried to get into the Blazer (with my help,) slipped, and fell onto his hind right leg. Cry... oh golly, he bawled like a human baby. His leg hung limp and he looked at me with those saucer-sized bulldog eyes and had me convinced he'd broken a bone.

Dollar signs began flipping through my brain. I couldn't imagine what a broken leg might cost, but first things first, how to get him into the Blazer. I ended up wrapping my arms around his belly, right behind his front legs, hugged his wet and dog-smelly body close to my chest, and hoisted his 125 pounds into the SUV.

We arrived home. I opened the back door where he sat as if saying, "I'm injured and you expect me to let myself out?" I felt so sorry for him. What to do?

There wasn't room in the door opening for both of us, so I placed an old kitchen chair from the barn next to the SUV, making a step down for him. With some coaxing, he delicately walked onto the chair, then bounded down on the pavement, ran across the yard, grabbed his tennis ball, sprinted back, and begged me to play fetch.

To make matters worse, completely forgetting his, supposedly, injured leg, he made a running circle around the yard and found a bare spot and dove head-first into the dirt in an attempt to remove any scent of the doggie shampoo. When he was finished rolling and frolicking, he was dirtier than before his bath.

I could have killed the mutt. Talk about a drama queen. My next project should be writing a new children's book entitled, The Big Fat Dirty Ugly Con Artist Bulldog Who Cried Wolf.

So that was my day. Sargie was home early last night and we had a very quiet evening. In fact, both of us were fighting to keep our eyes open long before bedtime. 

I'm not sure what today will bring. I know Sargie wants to clean house, so no doubt, I'll be Floor Boy and run the sweeper.

The garage has to be cleaned. It's so bad that even I can't stand it. The list goes on and on.

But then, as we all know, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

I can hardly wait until the barn is painted "barn red" with white trim.

The finished raised vegetable planter

April 24, 2015 - Friday evening

41 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Friday was a busy one on Pentoga Road. With plenty of sunshine and warmer temperatures, it was time to make hay while the sun shown.

The day started by riding with Sargie five miles towards Iron Mountain, then walking back. The temperature was only 16 degrees, but plenty of sunshine and calm conditions made walking enjoyable. 

I watched as this Tom turkey performed his dance for a group of nearby females.

I spent the rest of the morning alternating between washing laundry and working on the new raised planter. 

The base was moved outside and the sides were built.

I finished by building both ends and hope to eventually put casters on the legs so it can moved when full and on a hard surface.

I like the idea that whatever is grown in the planter will be closer to eye level and much easier to see.

Plenty of mistakes were made, but since I had no plans and was merely copying a picture, I'm happy. Also, it is made out of 100% scrap lumber and landscape timbers, all left over from previous jobs.

Yooper Brother Mark stopped out later in the afternoon. We were sitting on the deck talking when I randomly checked the DNR's website to see if open burning was allowed on Friday. It was! I've been waiting all spring to burn the brush pile in the front meadow.

Mark and I stood, mostly talking, and watching for errant flames to spread into the dry grass. 

The wood was quite dry and immediately caught fire. Within an hour, much of the pile had become mere ash.

Sargie was home early tonight. I'd ordered a loaf of ciabatta bread earlier from the bakery at our local grocery so Sargie and I made a quick trip to town to pick it up.

Sargie works early in the morning. I'm planning to walk the usual five miles then begin work rebuilding some of the raised beds in the garden. I may take some empty trash cans to Yooper Brother Mark's plant and fill them with wood chips to cover the terrace. No doubt I'll stir the ashes in the burn pile and try to get anything that didn't burn to catch. It looks to be another busy day.

Bedtime is quickly approaching. Since Brutus is afraid of the dark, I need to take him out one last time for the night, fill the wood stove, and make Sargie's lunch for tomorrow.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Flock after flock of geese continued to wing their way north on Friday.