A bear popped up alongside the road Wednesday afternoon as we were driving to Iron Mountain

June 30, 2016 - Thursday

52 degrees/ partly cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It's going to be a short one today as Mom and I will be riding back to Iron Mountain with Sargie this morning. We drove over last night, met her at the Vision Center, then rode home with her. Since I need some more lumber for the arbor at Home Depot, we will shop there this morning before coming home. 

My favorite optician at closing time.

There's not a lot to write about this AM. Jerry, the Direct TV man, arrived bright and early on Wednesday morning and after an hour and a half, had all the new equipment installed, up, and working. We are enjoying all the HD channels and the benefits that having a DVR includes, mostly taping our favorite shows to watch at our convenience. 

I went out to the garden and shop and messed around for a while, but came back inside by late morning and made the mistake of plopping down in the recliner. Mom was sitting in the sun across the room and before we knew what was happening, both of us fell sound asleep! My nap lasted an hour or longer.

I worked out in the shop yesterday afternoon, just long enough to make mistakes on two boards. I should have simply left well enough alone and written the day off to laziness. Oh well, twenty years from now, who's going to know?

Returning home last night, a wolf trotted out in front of us not far from here. One thing is certain, there are no lack of wolves in the UP. An outsider judge closed the hunting/trapping season a year ago due to the pressure of liberal city people, most living out of the area, who like to think they know what is best for those of us in the North Woods. Possibly if one of their dogs was brutally killed and carted away for supper they'd have a change of heart. That's not rare in the North Woods and happened recently just a few miles away. I'm sure the pup's owner understands that wolves need love too. 

Brutus seldom goes far into the woods anymore because of the wolves that travel the back part of our land. Since Brutus won't go and serves as my eyes, neither do I.

I'm not certain what lies ahead for today. I hope to finish the lattice by week's end. It's to rain this afternoon, so this might be the perfect afternoon to make a sprint to the finish line.

Failing that, maybe I'll invent a new product, call it Wolf Be Gone and make all those who know what is best for us ignorant, uninformed, woods people, happy. 

Oh, it's already been invented. It's called responsible hunting and trapping managed by educated, well-informed, state biologists, who are familiar with the UP and northern Wisconsin. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...