Grandpa Pennington and Grady out for a four wheeler ride (Grady's first ever) Saturday morning

April 6, 2015 - Monday
37 degrees/cloudy/calm
Pentoga Road

I thought I'd write this evening while waiting for Sargie to get home from work. 

It's been a welcome break from writing. After sending my Mac computer back a few days ago for some additional repair, I thought it would be nice to quit writing for a while. It was, but old habits are hard to break. I guess recording my thoughts has been such a part of my life for the past thirty years that it's difficult to stop. 

I wonder why anyone would want to read what a retired school teacher is doing in the UP of Michigan on a daily basis, but I quickly found out after a few days. I heard from people who live all around the US, Ukraine, Australia, Great Britain, Russia, Brazil, and China. I like to write and if people want to read it, I guess that makes it a good fit.

Easter weekend was a good one. The Mighty Milligan Easter Holiday was celebrated on Saturday this year so everyone could visit or do their own thing on Sunday.



 Holly and Ross hosted the gathering in Iron Mountain and if anyone, absolutely anyone, drove away hungry, it was their own fault. 



We talked, laughed, socialized, and ate the afternoon away. Sargie and I finally bade the family goodbye around dark, driving back to Pentoga Road.

Sunday was a wonderful one for us. It was quiet and reflective and after all of Saturday's activities, very relaxing.

We took a long drive Sunday afternoon, finally ending up in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. We purchased several things, the most important being a new atomic clock that displays the indoor and outdoor temperatures. I especially like it because the numbers are quite large and I can more easily read them.

I also purchased ten pounds of Red Norland seed potatoes. All that's needed are warmer temperatures.

The falling snow (from the roof) had destroyed our flag bracket earlier this winter. A new one was found on Sunday and the Stars and Stripes are once again flying on Pentoga Road.

It was amazing... most of the lakes located an hour south, in the Rhinelander area, have broken open and are ice-free. We drove by our local lake before arriving home and saw several people ice fishing. What a difference a few miles make!

Sargie's taking a break from power shopping on Sunday afternoon

We awakened this morning to four new inches of snow on the ground. Just when we thought spring was in the air, winter reared its ugly head just a bit to remind those of us who live in the North Country that we shouldn't get too comfortable with warm weather thoughts.

The first robins arrived Saturday morning

Sargie had to work today and should be on her way home fairly soon. After my usual early morning hike, I cleaned the drive and patio, then worked all day on a box to hold the batteries used with the solar panels. 





I needed something that was exactly 49.5 inches to fill the gap between the homemade barrier on the south side of the house and the corner. The box filled the gap perfectly. 



A large critter, mostly a skunk, porcupine, or bunny rabbit, will have to work hard to get into the crawl space under the living room. 



As a side note, the lattice/barrier and box were made completely out of scrap material left over from building the four strawberry pyramids. After everything was completed, I had exactly one board left. 

The four strawberry pyramids piled high with last night's snow. 

I see the first of the tomato plants are beginning to poke through the potting soil in the indoor greenhouse. I waited two weeks longer than usual this year to sprout the seeds in damp paper towels placed inside plastic sandwich bags. Usually, I plant them too early and end up with long, leggy, plants. I'm going for short and stocky bedding plants this year.



Sargie opens Tuesday morning. No doubt, I'll ride with her five miles down the road and hike back. After? I'm not sure. I have a heavy-duty lawn sweeper than needs to be assembled, a couple of lights in the barn to move to be ready for building in the new shop, some shelves to hang, and a weekly test to write and upload for this semester's class.

I might continue my never-ending work on solving perpetual motion. Otherwise, I'll simply think deep thoughts, or maybe, take a grandpa nap. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

If it was good enough for Sargie, it's good enough for me