April 18, 2016 - Monday
55  degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

For whatever reason, we lost power in the early morning hours. Thankfully, it was restored early enough that Sargie is able to go through her usual early morning routine and will leave here scrubbed and beautiful as always.

Page Two:

Signs of early man? How about raccoons visiting the burn barrel? 

We saw signs of raccoons everywhere Sunday morning. They had been in the burn barrel looking for anything edible, then walked through the backyard, past the garage, and down the driveway to the road.

Sunday was a busy one. I began the day by carefully digging out the last stump. I went as far down on three sides as I could with the backhoe, keeping away from the living spruce tree growing a few feet away. I later resorted to using a spade, then when I came across several large tap roots, used the chain saw to cut through those.

It took several hours, but in the end, the stump was freed and removed. Success!



It was early afternoon and the day was warm and sunny. I was ready to take a break, so Sargie and I hopped in the car for a drive. After making a stop in town, our mission became one to see if several of our area lakes were ice free.

My favorite bluegill pond was not only ice free, there were people laying on the beach soaking up the sun.

Clark's Landing on the Paint River in Crystal Falls was completely open and flowing.

Backed up by a hydro-electric dam, water was gushing through the turbines, producing electricity.

Our own little lake at the end of the road is almost completely ice free. There was still a bit that had drifted to one end.

Sargie and I had been talking about the area at the end of the garden where I'd dug the stumps. There were plenty of roots, but amazingly, the dirt was black and most surprisingly, rock free.

Hmm, was expanding the garden in that direction a possibility? I'd planned on making it wider, but longer had never entered my mind.

I consulted with my Vice President of Gardening Operations, Sargie, and she thought it might be a good idea to further test the ground.

But first, it was time for dinner. It was summer, the temperatures were in the upper 70's, why not a summertime meal?

I put some mozzarella brats on the grill. 

We had our first picnic of year, enjoying our meal on the back deck. Though we've not gotten our usual outside furniture out of storage, we sufficed by using plastic lawn chairs and TV trays. They worked like a charm.



With dinner over, it was time to get to work. I began tearing up the ground behind the garden.



By the end of the evening, I'd worked most of it up and found few rocks. My new garden addition is approximately forty-five feet long by sixteen feet wide. Finally, a place to grow my pumpkins and other vine crops.

Mark and Sheri stopped out last night for a visit. As always, it was good to see our friends. 

Sargie's back to work today. I'm going to finish working up the new garden area, then take the tiller over the entire surface. That could be quite the chore as there are so many small spruce tree roots. They are the size of a small piece of rope and I anticipate many will become wrapped in the tines. Should I finish that task, I'll begin expanding the fence to include that area.



Time for breakfast! We're a bit off schedule this morning with having lost our power. It's a race to get Sargie out the door and to work on time.

That doe (in the middle of the picture) stood and watched me for the longest time.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...