The winter squash and peppers were harvested on Tuesday afternoon.

September 30, 2015 - Wednesday

28 degrees/clear/calm winds

Pentoga Road

The heavy frost on the ground makes everything look as though it snowed during the night. Summer's over. Of that, I'm certain.

Tuesday was a busy one. Neighbor Mike was a no-show, so fishing was out. I'm really going to give him a hard time when I see him next. I was all dressed up with no where to go. No muskie fishing. 

I did work the entire day in the shop and can say that it is done, but not without a bit of muttering.

Trying to wrestle this several hundred pound band saw through the door. It fit... barely.

In the end, everything found it's place and other than a few nuts and bolts to eventually get into the right bins, I officially pronounced the shop finished!

The next phase will be to build the solar heating system, but that won't happen for awhile. There are more pressing things to do outside before snow falls.

Yooper Brother Mark asked if I'd seen the freeze warning issued by the National Weather Service. It was time to pick the garden clean. I told him to come out and get all the tomatoes he and Sheri wanted. I spent over two hours doing the same for us.

These black cherry tomatoes are some of the sweetest I've ever grown. They'll be in next year's garden.

A wheelbarrow was filled with various types of winter squash... butternut, delecata, and buttercup.

Butternut bush squash

The peppers were also picked clean. These were the biggest I've ever grown.

I spent a bit of time after Mark left sitting on the bench, looking at what had been so beautiful just a month ago. The plants are dead or dying and it's time to put the garden to sleep for another winter. This has been the best growing season I've ever had. 

The various beans will be picked (dry) in the next few weeks to be used in soups this coming winter. We had a bumper crop this year.

I even found one last ripe ever bearing strawberry

The final act was to cover the giant pumpkin with a heavy quilt so it wouldn't freeze overnight. If we have many freezing nights, I'm going to have to move it sooner rather than later.

Our garage looks like a terrarium with all the outside plants overnighting inside. We're going to stretch the growing season just as long as we can.

The local grocery had split chicken breasts on sale for $1.49 a pound a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't resist. Sargie was home early last night and I made pan fried chicken strips while Sargie whipped up a batch of mashed potatoes. It was chilly outside... comfort food!

Mark texted last night and said they had shredded three of the four heads of cabbage he'd gotten from our garden the day before yesterday. They ended up with 27.5 pounds of cabbage cut up and had run out of room. The fourth head will be cooked in a regular manner. 

Sargie works early today. After the usual morning walk, my goal is to get the barn cleaned and ready for winter. The grass needs to be cut and replacing some poles in the deer fence is the next major project on the agenda. There's too much to do and not enough hours in the day. 

But then, we're not surprised, are we? After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Red asparagus berries over the strawberry plants

Fall colors along the Apple Blossom Trail

September 29, 2015 - Tuesday
47 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

A badly-needed .3 on an inch of rain fell yesterday keeping the lawn green as well as the majority of the tree leaves. 



I think that's about to end, however, as the tonight's low is forecast to dip into the twenties. I think summer may be coming to a close.

The geese had just taken off and were heading south

Mississippi Brother Garry and Jody are due to arrive on October 8th and one of our activities will be to look at the fall colors. I was initially afraid they might be too late, but I think this year, their timing might be perfect. It all depends on how much wind and rain we get between now and then.

Monday was a busy one. Knowing I'd walk into town later in the day, I skipped my usual morning stroll in favor of an early start in the shop.

Finally, my new man-room is beginning to look like I envisioned it. The cabinets that hung in the barn were moved inside along with hand and power tools.





 I keep saying "one more day," but I really think that if I can put in a good, hard, day of moving, arranging, and work, things will be where they belong and I can finally move on.



I left for town at 4 PM and had a wonderful hike. According to the hiking app on my iPhone, I trekked 8.6 miles in two hours and 18 minutes. 

It's like this the entire length. Just like walking through a city park.

I think that averaged out to just shy of 4 mph. I'll take it, especially for a man who is often told every ache and pain on his body is "age related." (Those are the doctor's words, NOT mine.) 

The old Gaastra, Michigan, Fire Hall. I don't believe you'd fit too many of today's fire trucks through that door.

I sometimes think the health professionals would like me to grow older than I feel. 

Towards the end of my hike. Caspian is in sight.

We had a ball last night at Mark and Sheri's. Sheri fixed her world renown homemade pizza. Mark and I coached the Packers to victory and we ate, cheered, and of course, gabbed and laughed. Sargie arrived after work and Jerad stopped in later in the evening.

Neighbor Mike called yesterday and wants to go muskie fishing today. I guess I'm going to have to take an intermission in working on the shop in favor of putting meat on the table. I've never officially been muskie fishing, so this will be a new experience for me. Hey, we're taking his boat and he's driving. He didn't have to ask twice!



Sargie's working early today and hopefully will be home early this evening. No doubt, we'll watch last night's performance of Dancing With the Stars.

Time to get Sargie up for the day, pack her lunch, fix breakfast, tote that barge and lift that bale.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Even Brutus's old bed was moved to the shop.

The beginning of Sunday evening's full eclipse of the blood moon

September 28, 2015 - Monday morning
59 degrees/partly cloudy/breezy
Pentoga Road

It appears Indian Summer is going to depart with a vengeance later today or tonight. Tomorrow's highs are forecast in the mid to low fifties while the lows flirt with below freezing temperatures. We can't complain. It's been a beautiful late summer/early fall.

I was working in the shop Sunday morning when Yooper Brother Mark called and asked if we wanted to ride to Rhinelander with them for the day; no particular reason, just a nice day to knock around, do a bit of shopping, and a great excuse to enjoy the beautiful weather. Sargie was in and out of the shower in a jiffy and we were soon on our way to town to meet Mark and Sheri.

Looks like a meeting of the minds over a bin of cast metal cars. I think Sheri was purchasing some to be used as Christmas presents for her nephew.

We laughed and talked and talked, then talked some more. But mostly, we laughed.

You're seeing it right. That's Sargie pushing Mark in a kiddy-cart.

I was shocked to see that several stores already have out their Christmas decorations.

Sargie's registering to win a new side-by-side ATV. Somehow they missed our names in last month's drawing for a new Ford Mustang.

We arrived home last evening with a truck full of groceries and other valuable goodies like a couple of ice fishing clearance items left over from last year. 

When in Packer Country...

It's been a while since we've had such a fun day of doing nothing.

Sargie opens this morning, but since it's a doctor's day, it will be 7 or later this evening before she walks out of the Vision Center. 

I'm going to continue in the shop. Rain is forecast and the temperatures are to drop throughout the day. The Green Bay game is on ESPN tonight and we don't get that with our television satellite package, so I'll be hoofing into Mark and Sheri's later this afternoon. Sargie will drive directly there after work and Sheri said she's going to make pizza. As I told Mark, I'd walk ten miles any ol' day for one of Sheri's homemade pizzas. 

A new walking/biking path, the Apple Blossom Trail, was just completed last week that begins a mile from here and stretches all the way into Iron River. It's paved, landscaped, and eight-feet wide. The funny thing is that it lies just one block from Mark and Sheri's house. I've been meaning to walk the trail in it's entirety. Tonight's game is the perfect excuse!

Time to get Sargie's lunch packed and breakfast prepared. After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Cabbage anyone?

September 27, 2015 - Sunday

60 degrees/sunny/calm winds

Pentoga Road

The following picture was sent to me from my good friend, Eileen Cyr, who had seen it published elsewhere. 

On the left is my home town of many years, Madawaska, Maine, population 4,000. Edmundston, New Brunswick, lies on the other side of the river. Both are quite remote.

I wanted to start out this morning with an aerial shot of Madawaska, Maine, the most northern community east of the Mississippi River. Madawaska, a French Acadian Community, is located on the St. John River which borders the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It is two-hundred miles north of Bangor, Maine, and until the advent of the internet, was considered quiet remote. When I taught there, 80% of the students still spoke French in the home. I taught in Madawaska before leaving for Alaska and all four sons went through school and graduated from there. We lived ten miles east of town in the consessions'. (cun sess' eee ownz. French Acadian for boondocks.)

Page two

Friday was a busy one on Pentoga Road. Arriving home from my usual three-mile stroll, I threw a load of laundry in the washer, then headed to the garden to pull enough carrots to fill the dehydrator. 

The next hour was spent washing, slicing, and filling the drying trays.

About half of this year's crop will be dried to add to soups and stews. The rest will be put in a box of sand in the basement to eat raw or add to roasts or for cooking during the winter months.

The rest of the morning and most the afternoon was spent working on the shop. The first priority was to move the music system and mount the speakers. Naturally, I assumed it would take twenty minutes to hook up the system. In reality, it was early afternoon before I finished.

I'm an eclectic listener. During the day, I danced and hootchie coo'd to everything from AD/DC to the Carpenters and even spent half an hour air conducting Dvorak's New World Symphony.

And so the process began of putting up peg board, carrying in tools, hanging a sign here and there. I did it with such care that I half expected HGTV to show up with their cameras to record my interior decor prowesses. 

It's beyond me why Sargie didn't want the turkey tail fan, a gift from Neighbor Mike, with the dangling beard hanging in our living room. Hmm, now that I see it in the picture, it looks as though it's hung a little high.

By late afternoon, I'd barely scratched the surface of moving, but I did get more pegboard that was previously hanging on the barn walls moved and mounted.

Originally, I thought I might be done by the end of the day. In reality, it might be closer to this coming Tuesday or Wednesday. I look at decorating and moving into my shop as an art form and as we all know, such creativity can't be rushed. 

When Sargie and I first got together, this was hanging in my living room. Somehow, it found it's way to the barn soon after, but now has a permanent place to hang.

Yooper Brother Mark stopped by to visit for a while. I sent the cabbages home that I'd been growing for him and Sheri to make sauerkraut from. Mark sent these pictures last night. They were canning a previous batch that had been processed and aging.

Mmm, can't beat the smell of aging cabbage; that that has been sitting around, bubbling, for a couple of weeks.

Sargie had to close last night, but walked in the door carrying a huge, family-sized pizza. We had a fun evening of pigging out, talking, and watching television.

Today's Sargie's first day off in the past six, so we'll do whatever she wants. I imagine we'll head to town later for a bit of shopping and no doubt, chug around the countryside enjoying our weekly drive. Maybe we'll go fishing towards evening.

Me? I'm going to pour another cup of coffee before heading out to the shop and working until Sargie is up and around. But then, there are carrots to finish drying and other's to pull and slice. Decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll simply sit here a while and think deep thoughts until I make up my mind.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

All electrical connections were completed in the shop on Friday and the moving-in process started.

September 26, 2015 - Saturday

50 degrees/fog/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I was awake early this morning, I mean early. My eyes popped open at 3:30 and for the next hour, I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, mentally planning where/when/what should go in the shop. Today's moving day.

This new shop has been a project and after completing and testing the last electrical outlet Friday afternoon, I muttered a "thanks" and did a small victory shuffle. 

Taken on Friday morning's walk. Early morning fog covers the valley ahead. Note the trees are beginning to change colors.

Friday was indeed a busy one. After arriving home from my usual three-mile jaunt, I went to the garden and picked a large, plastic, grocery bag full of ripe tomatoes. The next hour was spent washing and slicing each and putting them into the dehydrator. Another batch will be going in later today or tomorrow.

I made a quick trip into town to purchase a 20 amp electrical outlet and returned a few things purchased previously that I didn't use. 

The rest of the day was spent in the shop. Other than moving in, I can now begin to turn my attentions to other projects that have been ignored for the past month.

Yooper Brother Mark stopped out Friday afternoon for a visit. It was good catching up on the news. 

Sargie pulled into the drive shortly before sundown and we decided to enjoy the beautiful evening by going for a short drive.

A thundering herd of wild turkeys walking through a yard in the hood of downtown Pentoga.

It was the perfect opportunity to catch up on the day and wildlife was everywhere. 

Deer grazing in a neighboring field

As mentioned above, this is moving day on Pentoga Road. I look forward to getting my tools put away, shelves mounted on the walls, and making the new shop my own. It's a long-held dream that has finally come true.

I've wanted my own shop for the past forty years, but there were higher priorities; raising a family and working. I've always had a work bench in a garage or a corner in a barn. Now, I finally have my own shop, a man room, a heated sanctuary where I can carve, cut, paint, spit, whittle, hang 1950's auto parts calendars featuring Jayne Mansfield, alongside wild turkey tail feathers, fishing pictures, deer antlers, and animal hides. I finally got my shop. 

Sargie is working today and closes tonight. It'll be another long day for her. Thankfully, she's off Sunday.

It's a short entry today, but there are only so many ways a person can describe hooking up electrical outlets and keep it interesting. Oh well, I doubt I'll be an electrician when I grow up, but I'm still considering becoming an astronaut... as long as I can have a shop in my rocket ship.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Friday night's sunset over a neighboring lake