Well, look what came strolling over the top of Milligan Mountain! It appears sister-in-law, Nancy, was standing inside taking this picture. Some hostess she is!

May 21, 2016 - Saturday

38 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

It appears it's going to be another near-perfect day on Pentoga Road. We could use a day or two of nice steady rain, but none is forecast until next week and then, it's just a chance. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Page Two:

Mississippi Brother Garry sent this picture of granddaughter Abby receiving a certificate for outstanding grades at an end of the year ceremony at her school.

That's Abby in the middle with her Principal's Award. Congratulations! Uncle Tom and Aunt Sargie are SO proud of you! 

Page Three:

Friday morning began bright and early in the garden. I planted broccoli, more cabbage, flowers of every variety, fertilized it all, watered, sang, and danced the hootchi coo. 

Gladiola bulbs

Okay, I didn't sing or dance, but it was a busy morning.

Black cherry tomato plants that will be trellised up the side of the barn.

I also filled the planter by the road with sun gold sunflowers, geraniums, pansies, anemones, double ruffle petunias, and a bright red dinner plate dahlia smack in the middle. We'll see how they all develop.

Page Three:

I moved into the shop late morning and other than fill a chipped corner in with wood putty, finished the cross.

I also made the form in which I'll pour concrete to anchor the cross.

 Metal rods will be inserted into the bottom and placed down into the wet cement. The concrete can then be buried at the head of the grave, keeping the cross upright and in place.

Page Four:

Yooper Brother Mark called in the early afternoon saying he was almost home from his doctor's appointment. We spent a few hours working on his deck and towards the end, he mentioned something about the possibility of getting their hot tub set up for the year. All that is left is a bit of railing and the steps.

Actually, Mark did most the work yesterday. I held boards and kept the conversation lively.

Page Five:

As mentioned above, it's dry and we need rain. With the strawberries beginning to fully blossom, I set up the sprinkler and watered for a full hour last evening. 

We had a total failure of last year's crop due to a night of extreme cold while they were in blossom. I don't believe we'll have that problem this year and hope to freeze thirty to forty quarts of berries for next winter's use.

Page Six:

Talk about dumb and stupid. You may recall that I closed out a small savings account last week due to the bank's inability to keep their book keeping straight and their new policy of charging five dollars a month to "service" my savings account.

This is what arrived in yesterday's mail. They'd neglected to pay me the interest on my huge savings account at the time of withdrawal.

That's right, you are reading it correctly. It's a cashier's check for exactly one cent. Just think, we bailed some of these institutions out several years ago. All I'll say is it's no wonder Grandpa Pennington buried his savings in his back yard following the Great Depression. I'm about to do the same.

What's a stamp cost, forty nine or fifty cents? What great banking practices.

Sargie worked almost twelve hours on Friday and didn't arrive home last night until 9:30. Our time together was short, especially since she has to open today. Thankfully, Sargie's off tomorrow. Hopefully, she'll recharge her batteries for the week ahead.

Sargie's fountain was also set up and filled on Friday.

I'm going to power wash the deck first thing this morning, a job that takes half a day. I'll coat it tomorrow with Thompson's Water Seal and we'll be ready to put the patio furniture out for the year.

Other than that, I hope to finish planting the garden this weekend and have that out of the way. It's a busy busy time of the year, of that there's little doubt.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...