Wednesday evening's supper: Smoked pork loins, roasted peppers and zucchini (from the garden) on the grill, and baked potatoes.

July 16, 2015 - Thursday

53 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

Wednesday was a mixed pot of activities on and off of Pentoga Road. The day began by riding over to Iron Mountain with Sargie, picking up the Blazer, then driving to Jiffy Lube to get the oil changed and the tires rotated.

I must be getting old, fat, and lazy. In the days of yore, I'd have done it all myself and saved the money, but it only took twenty minutes and there was no mess.

It was close to noon before I arrived home. I turned my attentions to the garden, pulling a few weeds and picking my first zucchini of the year.

But most importantly, the first female pumpkin blossom on the giant pumpkin opened. I was tempted to turn down the lights and put on some soft music as I delicately plucked a male blossom and rubbed his pistil onto her stamen. 

Since the single seed of this plant came from the world's champion pumpkin weighing over 1,500 lbs, I wanted to maintain genetic purity and not have a mere common, trashy, pumpkin with no morals from across the garden interact and produce some sort of mongrel fruit. This lady has remained pure right up until her pollination day.

After the deed was done, I tied the blossom shut to prevent any bees from carrying outside pollination. The next few days will see how successful I was, but I'm feeling good about it. I was tempted to lay back and light up a cigarette, reflecting on how good the experience was. Since I don't smoke and there were other things to be done, I skipped the last part. 

Closed for business

It was time to return to the side yard. Mississippi Brother Garry mentioned something the other day about how I keep moving my completion dates back for when I expect to be finished. Originally, it was the first of June, then the middle. After, I forecast the middle of July. I'm thinking I should be done with it in the next week... or two, but no longer than three, unless it rains, then we could be looking at the middle of August.

These are just a few of the rocks and boulders that have been dug from the area on the other side of the garden.

I think (hope?) most of the rocks are dug, those that would stick up and be hit by the mower blade. It's a matter now of leveling everything, carting away the remaining boulders, and picking up the hundreds of tennis ball-sized rocks lying on the ground. I use a garden rake to pull them into a pile, then haul them away.

I started the charcoal smoker late in the afternoon and put on several pieces of pork loin. Later, I put in fresh green peppers, zucchini, and baked potatoes. Needless to say, we ate like royalty last night.

While the meat and vegetables were slowly cooking, I spent the next two hours watering the garden by hand. I started picking sugar peas yesterday, but noticed they were not as crisp as they should be, a sure sign they needed water. They got it along with the rest of the garden.

I also spent time tying garden twine from the pole bean trellis upwards, onto the large pole sticking twenty feet into the air. Hopefully, the beans will find their way along the twine and climb to the clouds, up to where the giant lives, along with his goose that lays the golden eggs. The giant can stay up there. I want the goose.

Sargie works early today. I'm going to fire up the Ford tractor first thing this morning and use the front end loader to move some heavy boulders. There's a bit of backhoe work to do before I haul it to the rear of the property to dig fill, then I'll begin hauling dirt to the side yard, filling in the low places and raking.

There's also a base I need to make for an inexpensive chest in the basement. The old plastic one, on casters, simply gave out.

Yooper Brother Mark sent a text yesterday saying the trailer is full of wood. I'll sneak into town sometime today to bring it home. Brutus is out of anti-inflammatory medication, so I need to call the vet's office first, then stop by for a refill.

It appears as though it'll be a busy day, but then I'm not surprised.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...