Look who's coming to Grandma and Grandpa's. Why, it's Emerson Pennington!!

June 18, 2015 - Thursday
60 degrees/cloudy/calm
Pentoga Road

Now I'm in a dither. The forecast low for tonight is for 38 degrees. That's only six degrees away from freezing, four from frost. Should I cover the plants? I probably won't need to, but after all the work, and time spent, and everything is growing so well. 

I was talking to a tourist the other day about gardening. I told him that if one can grow a garden in the North Country with our yoyo'ing summer temperatures, he can grow it just about anywhere. Amen and amen. 

We received some exciting news yesterday. My son, Matt, along with daughter-in-law, Jessica, and granddaughter, Emerson, will be visiting from July 1st to July 5th next month. We're so excited, especially that they'll be here at the same time as Mom. It will be Mom's first time to see her great-granddaughter, Sargie's first time, and only my second. What fun!

I'm especially excited that they'll get to meet Sargie's family, the Milligan's, on the Fourth of July. It's going to be a wonderful time.

I went fishing early Wednesday morning. Conditions were perfect; cool, calm, overcast. The only thing missing was the fish. I worked hard for two hours with little to show for it. Everything in the tackle box was thrown in an attempt to entice something, anything, to hit. In the end, I caught four little bluegills. I chalked the experience up to an exercise in breathing fresh air and came back home. 



Showers were forecast so I didn't dare paint the barn. Ah, thistles... if the rain would hold off for a couple of hours, I could continue my mass eradication program.

Already wilting after being sprayed just a few hours before.

Almost three hours were spent spot spraying the prickly weed with another two needed to finally have covered the acreage. I'm seeing great results from my previous sprayings. Thistles that have died and turned an ugly black aren't hard to see and with each one, I think that maybe I might be breaking their growing cycle. 



I went to town to purchase a few groceries and stopped by the plant to visit Yooper Brother Mark. Ann, his secretary, is on vacation this week, so Mark is filling in at both roles in the front office. As much as I love that man, I do have to say he's not a very attractive administrative assistant. 

The rain failed to materialize, but it was too late in the day to power wash another section of the barn and begin painting, but there were boulders and rocks to be moved from the last digging in the side yard.



With the assistance of the front-end loader, I managed to haul some pretty good-sized rocks and hopefully, once the fill is brought in and the area is raked, we'll be able to cut the entire area with the riding mower.



I felt sorry for Brutus yesterday. He wasn't allowed to be with me when I was spraying for thistles, then could only watch from a distance while I was on the backhoe or tractor. 



He finally gave up trying to assist me and decided to roll over and take a nap.



Sargie was home early last night. I fixed chicken salad for supper and we had a nice, quiet, evening. She closes the Vision Center tonight so it will be a long day for her.

According to the weatherman, there's 0% chance of rain today which means I'm going to pressure wash the south side of the barn first thing this morning so I can begin painting as soon as it's dry. I especially want to do the area behind the black cherry tomatoes that are growing in the raised planter as I intend to built a trellis for them in the next few days to grow up the side of the barn. 

With that being said, it's time to get a cup of coffee and think deep thoughts while waiting for it to become fully light outside. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Emmie's specialty... making duck lips. I wonder who taught her to do that?