Wild violets growing along our front stoop

May 19, 2015 - Tuesday
28 degrees/clouds - snow/windy
Pentoga Road

Ok, so help me on this... is the dusting of snow that we woke up to this morning left over from last winter, or have are we already beginning next winter? This global warming thing is about to freeze us to death. 



Thankfully, I covered all the delicate garden plants last night and with forecast lows in the mid-twenties, I'll do the same tonight.



Monday began by firing up the old Man Truck and driving to the neighbor's who gave me a load of white birch. For whatever reason, he doesn't burn birch in his stove. 



I was grateful for the wood and probably could have fit everything into the truck in just one trip, but the old truck is like the old tractor and both are like their old owner... they are showing signs of age. I played it safe and made two lighter trips.



It was a tired boy who, when finished, loaded, unloaded, and stacked, the wood before noon. I decided to do something a bit less physical and turned my attentions to re-screening two window frames.



I'd just laid out the first frame when Brutus decided he was tired of watching and lay down in the middle of the screen material. No amount of coaxing would get him to move, so I finally rolled him over several times until I could begin work again.



Both screens came out in good shape and fit perfectly back into their windows. It was time for lunch and after... why, there's seldom a bad time to take a grandpa nap. 

I worked into the late afternoon moving more fill for the side yard beyond the garden.



The old truck was filled with dirt, then brought to the front where the fill was shoveled into any low places and raked over smooth.



The sugar maples had a brief "bloom" the past two days. I think they are called catkins and are the equivalent to flowers on trees. Whatever the name, they sure are pretty.



Poor Sargie didn't get home until late evening as she had to close the Vision Center. I watched Dancing With the Stars and read the first of this summer session's assignments with my class. It's already started.

You've heard of frost on the pumpkin? This is snow on the rhubarb.

Sargie's back to work early this morning. As for me, I'm not sure what today will bring. I want to paint some window trim on the exterior of the house, but that's going to have to wait until a warmer day. I promised Sargie I'd sweep and steam-clean the laminate floor in the dining room. Grady's coming to visit for a few days beginning Wednesday afternoon and since he crawls everywhere, the floor needs to be made Grady clean. Other than that, I'll probably haul more fill today.

Time to get the morning's first cup of coffee and think some deep thoughts.

These delicate wildflowers occasionally grow so thick that they make a meadow look as though it is lined with blue carpeting.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...