It was a long day of arranging and rearranging, but in the end, the living room is ready to be decorated for Christmas.

November 29, 2015 - Sunday
7 degrees/sunny/calm winds
Pentoga Road

I'm enjoying sitting in the living room, writing this morning; the sun shining on my back, allowing me to soak up all its heat. It would be so easy to close my eyes and take a nap... to drift off into Never Never Land. I have a galloping case of the lazies. 

Saturday morning was, indeed, a lazy one. Sargie and I fiddled around in the house, not really doing much. It took a while to carry everything related to Grady (mostly his toys, high chair, and fire gate) back out to the storage shed.



I caught word that there might be a Grady/Grandpa day in the near future, so everything will be hauled back in at that time. On the other hand, if the weather is decent and there's enough ice, we might just go ice fishing. Stay tuned on that one. 

Speaking of ice, we have a good base that has frozen on many of the area lakes.

There's at least an inch of ice, but it formed so smooth and the water is so clear that if it weren't for the natural cracks, one would never know there was ice covering the water. 

I tried to crack the ice by throwing a fairly good-sized stone onto it. The rock merely bounced off and skidded away.

My ice fishing hormones reawakened after eight long months. It's getting to be that time of year!

Above the dam at Clark's Landing in Crystal Falls, Michigan

Sargie and I took a wonderful drive Saturday afternoon. 

Other than checking on ice conditions, we purchased a loin and a turkey breast at our local grocery, all on sale, to be placed in the smoker later today or tomorrow. I'm going to smoke this meat entirely over hardwood, forgoing the use of any charcoal. It's so much easier to smoke the meat and put it in the freezer, then take it out when needed and warm it; convenient for Sargie's late working hours.

We've been talking about rearranging the living room for quite a while. It's a nice size, but we've often wished it were two feet bigger all-round. Someday, we plan to add a bedroom and den onto the first floor, basically pushing the dining room and living room towards the garden another twenty feet and adding a wrap-around porch around that side of the house, from the front porch to the back deck. For now, we'll make do with what we have.

My old recliner was the first thing to go. I purchased it several years ago thinking that bigger meant better. What it meant for me was more uncomfortable. Though cushy and large, it always hit my back and neck in the wrong places giving me a back and headache and was so large that my feet couldn't touch the floor when sitting upright. The recliner was carted to the barn and will be put on Craigslist this coming week. It's still in great shape and I think for a larger person, it would be good. Someone is going to get a great deal.

The moving of furniture began. How about putting the couch here. No? There? No? Back here again? You sure? No? Okay? Back?

We lifted, we hoisted, I verbally held my tongue a few times... and then there were a few times I didn't. I didn't have to sleep in the barn last night, so I must have done okay.

In the end, the living room was rearranged and Sargie even got the Christmas tree put up. She'll decorate it in the near future.

We spent last evening watching a Bruce Willis shoot-'em-up movie, my kind of flick. It was going on midnight before we called it a day.

Sargie works from noon to five this afternoon. I'm going to work in the shop, replacing the fan on the solar heater. The small one I purchased a few weeks ago has already broken. Hopefully, the hardware store will exchange it or give me a refund. Neighbor Mike gave me one he had and never used it. It will be installed today.

Oops, time for breakfast. Guess I ought to get moving and start my day.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

I hope my ice shack will be sitting off that point on the left in another couple of weeks.