Isabella helping her Grandpa Yooper Brother Mark with some lawn chores.

June 22, 2016 - Wednesday

44 degrees/clear/calm winds

Pentoga Road

We're a bit sad on Pentoga Road this morning. This is Sargie's first day back to work after taking a few days vacation. The good thing is that she's off the week following the Fourth of July. 

It was a busy one yesterday. I began the day in the garden by working on the last bed that I'd not yet attended to since the monsoon season ended. The peas were weeded and the Siberian tomatoes were pruned.

I'm always torn whether to prune the tomatoes. All determinate varieties, none grow very tall, but can become bushy and unruly. This year, I pruned all twenty plants.

The beets were also thinned. 

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I turned my attention to resurrecting the trellis upon which the black cherry tomatoes are fastened alongside the barn.

I used 1x2's last year and found them too weak and wobbly to support the heavy plants. The big guns were pulled out for this season. I painted and attached the trellis to 2x4's.

It seems hard to believe that given normal growing conditions, the plants will reach the barn roof by summer's end. We occasionally used a ladder to pick tomatoes last September.

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The three of us enjoyed our usual afternoon drive around the area yesterday. We toured the thriving metropolis of Gaastra, a small berg of 338 people located eight miles away. Most of the homes and yards are neat and well kept. The folks I've become acquainted with who live in Gaastra are also some of the nicest I know. It's one of the many undiscovered gems located in the Upper Peninsula.

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Back home, I hopped on the old Ford tractor and lifted the bush hog, the rotary mower, out of the woods.

I haven't used it in a couple of years and remember thinking when I put it in the woods that a bearing had let go after hitting one too many rocks. 

After flipping the mower over, I discovered that one blade had come loose. It took some doing, but everything was taken apart, the blades sharpened, and hope to reassemble it this morning. 

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Once again, Mom and Sargie pulled out the lawn chairs and between loads of laundry which Sargie hung on the line, supervised my activities.

As mentioned earlier, Sargie's back to work today. I'm going to work in the garden first thing, thinning the carrots while plucking a weed here and there. Otherwise, it will take some time to put the mower back together and shear the popple woods. 

Does anyone know what kind of bush this is that grows along our back deck? Bridal Wreath?

We're enjoying Mom's stay so much. She enjoys putzing around, reading a book, doing a crossword puzzle, watching the action, and often helps where she can. I keep telling her to save her strength, that we have a lot of wood to split and carry to prepare for the cold months ahead. She just laughs.

It's good to be Brutus when Grandma visits.

It's time to get busy packing Sargie's lunch and preparing breakfast. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Appears as though Grandpa is taking a break and letting Isabella do the driving.