Going over the list of materials needed for this coming week's projects. 

April 10, 2016 - Sunday

26 degrees/snow/windy

Pentoga Road

I've got about as much drive this morning as a dead rock in frozen ground. I think the weather has a lot to do with it. I need to transplant flowers into six packs, but I'm holding out for warmer temperatures so it can be done in the outside greenhouse rather than at the kitchen sink. Warm weather is forecast by week's end. So close, but so far.

Sargie's sleeping in this morning. Though she never complains, I can tell the shingles are wearing on her. She's quieter than usual and often shifts from one position to the other in an effort to get more comfortable. Hopefully, this thing will run it's course and she can get on with life. 

I was going to get vaccinated last week for shingles, but discovered my insurance didn't pay for the shot which costs in excess of $265. I decided to play Russian Roulette and wait another year and let Medicare pay for most of it. I sure hope I don't get the darn shingles. Sargie is much tougher than I am. 

Page two:

For a lazy day, Saturday was a busy one. I worked in the shop most the morning and completed laminating the first of two large beams that will frame the top of the garden arbor.

The beams will snap over the tenons on the outside 4x4 posts to make the front outer edges overhead. The cross pieces, those that sit atop the braces to form the pergola-type roof, were also cut. I'm anxious for warm weather so I can begin to assemble the arbor in place. It will probably be late summer before the gates and connecting wooden lattice are finished. It's a project. Oh boy, is it ever a project.

I assembled the new pantograph, with Brutus's help that is. The machine will enable me to carve lettering into wood using the router. I had one that got lost over the years and enjoyed it a great deal. Hoping to use the new one to carve letters on the grave marker gave me the perfect excuse to buy another.

It's difficult enough to read instructions and get everything assembled. I really didn't need help from a 125 lb puppy. You can't beat bulldog love.

Sargie and I left for Iron Mountain in the early afternoon. I was undecided whether we should take the trailer, but in the end, I opted to leave it home and fit everything into the Blazer... barely.

I'm grateful the Blazer has a truck chassis. The following was loaded into our little SUV:

20 landscape timbers

60 dog ear fence boards

2 - 8' 2x12's

4 - treated 8' 2x6's

2 - regular 8' 2x6's

1 - 8' treated 1x6 

And oh yes, a 20 lb propane cylinder.

I thought we might have to strap Sargie onto the roof, like what was done with Grandma in the movie Family Vacation, but she managed to squeeze into the passenger side front seat.

There must be a new sheriff in town at Home Depot. After tolerating a less than desirable attitude from many of its employees over the past several years, they suddenly can't do enough for their customers. For the past three visits, rather than stand around watching me sort through piles of lumber in search of a straight piece, someone has volunteered to do it for me, on their own, without any prodding. I had help outside getting the dog ear fence and landscape timbers and the two fellows who assisted actually thanked me. I don't know what's happening, but it's good to see some sort of work ethic, manners, and professionalism return to the big box store. Had they not been the only game in town, I'd have left them long ago.

The computer system that allows purchases to be paid for with debit/credit cards went down while we were at the store and I was told they could only take cash or a check. I carry little cash and almost always use a debit card. 

After telling the manager that we'd driven an hour, she told me there was no problem, that I should go ahead and shop, they would ring my purchase up, keep the receipt, then call me later at home when the system was back up and running to get my debit card number. I shopped, they called, and we all lived happily ever after. There's hope for Home Depot in Iron Mountain, Michigan. Oh yes, there's hope.

It took an hour to unload the Blazer and carry in firewood. I later grilled pork loins outside and we enjoyed those, cut up into pieces, on a huge salad for supper. It was a relaxing evening spent in front of the television.

I'm going to head out to the shop and start the heater. It takes about twenty minutes to get warm enough for my delicate self. I'll also dial in the music on Pandora and listen to Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Patsy Cline, Reba and Patty Lovelace with a bit of Alan Jackson and Dolly thrown into the mix. 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's country music... it doesn't get any better. Give me a generic sodi pop, a little shop in the back of a barn, old country music blaring through the dusty speakers, and the opportunity to make some sawdust, and I'm as happy as a pig eatin' slop. As Tammy Wynette warbles, "After all, he's just a man." Yep, that's me.

Need an icicle? We have plenty.

Time to get the day started. After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...