Sasquatch? Nope, it's Yooper Brother Mark in the early 1980's.

January 17, 2016 - Sunday evening
-8 degrees/clear/windy
Pentoga Road

The past two days have been cold and windy ones in the UP. According to Carl the Weatherman, we have at least one, possibly two more before temperatures climb to a more seasonal norm.

Look who visited us 

Saturday started in the ice shack. I'd just settled in, started the propane heater, and was enjoying fishing and listening to the radio when Sargie called. She was on her way to work and said that the car was shimmying, rattling down the road back and forth, and asked what she should do.

Sargie made it to work, but something had to be done before she attempted to drive home after. I stowed the fishing gear, closed up the shack, and drove to Iron Mountain. A local tire dealership was open until noon and said if I could get there by 11, they'd be happy to look at the car.

A long story short... there was hard ice packed into the back of the rear wheels on the Kia, so much so that the small compact car was completely thrown off balance. As soon as it was scraped away, the car drove smoothly once again.

The entire job of diagnosing the problem, raising the car into the air, removing both rear wheels, cleaning them, and checking the air in all four tires, took around twenty minutes. I attempted to pay the bill, but was told there was no charge and was waved away. I insisted and in return, received a thank you and was told to have a nice day. With that, the huge overhead door lifted so I might drive from the service bay. End of conversation.

Who does that any more? In this day of a horrible economy, what business performs a service, then waves the customer away with a smile and no charge? To put the icing on the cake, one of the two technicians actually thanked me for stopping in. 

I don't care if Sargie and I live on the other side of the universe, we'll buy our next set of tires from those who treated us so good. Regardless what's happening in other parts of the country, hard work and real American kindness are still alive and well in the UP. 

I took the opportunity to visit Home Depot and as usual, it took some effort to find two straight sticks of wood from a pallet of several hundred at the big box store. The rest of the day was a lazy one, spent inside keeping warm.

Sunday was a carbon copy. Macrea and Grady stopped by and we had a wonderful day of watching football, eating, talking, and of course, playing with Grady. 



The guys left a bit ago for home. Macrea is off Monday due to the holiday and I think he's looking forward to having some guy-time with Grady.



I heard from the people who had the electric piano for sale saying they had sold it today. I guess it wasn't meant to be. I'll get a piano one of these years.

Sargie's back to work on Monday. With the cold and wind, I think I'll skip going fishing and spend the day building the next ice fishing sled in the shop. I have so many projects going that I'd better get started. The way I'm going, spring will be here and I'll still be working inside when I should be tapping trees or planting a garden.

I'm not surprised. After all, a man's work is never done.

I wonder if Macrea is feeling watched?

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...