Look what the Fed Ex man delivered yesterday afternoon! A new lathe, a birthday present from Sargie.

June 23, 2016 - Thursday

54 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It appears we're going to get a shower in a little bit and that's a good thing. Despite all the rain of the past six weeks, we could use a "freshener," a nice several-hour long easy shower that would soak into the ground.

Page One:

After seeing Sargie off to work early Wednesday morning, I headed to the garden where I worked for a couple of hours. The carrots were thinned and I, well, I'm not sure what all I did... plucked a weed or two and just fiddled around in general. Seems when I'm in the garden, I get lost in my own little world and the time flies. It's my happy place.

The garden looks good, but it appears to be running about two weeks behind last year. That's not bad except it means there'll be no super giant pumpkin this year unless we have a late fall. As far as the vegetables go, we should be okay.

Page Three:

Under Mom's tutelage and supervision, I assembled the rotary mower. 

I'll brag, the old machine ran like new. What wasn't a good thing was that I hit a rock in the popple woods that broke the end of a lift arm on the old Ford tractor. 

Tommy P wasn't a happy boy, but another one can be ordered from a used tractor parts place for $50, plus shipping. 

The old Ford will live to mow another day.

I finished about half of the popple woods before the arm broke and will try it again when the part is installed, probably in a couple of weeks.

Page Three:

Andy got me a new Packer's flag to hang alongside the drive. The only problem is that it is 6x4 feet, a real flag. 

Most of the afternoon was spent crawling up and down the extension ladder moving the pole.

The new flag is now proudly hanging on Pentoga Road proclaiming our allegiance to Packers Nation. 

Page Four:

Mom and I were about to leave for Iron Mountain to meet Sargie when the FedEx man pulled into the drive. He was hoisting a heavy box and when I saw what it was, I about fell over backwards; a variable speed wood lathe that Sargie had ordered for my birthday.

I'm still flabbergasted and can hardly wait to set it up. I'll leave it alone until I finish redoing the shop later this summer. Thanks again, honey, I love you too!!

Page Five:

We picked Sargie up after work and headed to the local Mexican restaurant in Iron Mountain where all of us ate until we were ready to bust. Mexican cuisine is one of Mom's favorite food groups.

After supper, we stopped in Spread Eagle, Wisconsin, and watched the Bad Water Ski-ters perform.

Mostly high school aged children, they put on a free water skiing show twice a week all summer long. 

The Ski-ters are known nationally and last year, the jumpers won the national title. 

It's fun to watch high schooler's want something badly enough that they will take time away from their smartphones and other conveniences to practice and work hard for the sake of doing what they love. 

We'll go back later this summer and watch another show.

Page Six:

Back home, I headed to the garden to feed the giant pumpkins and plug in the electric deer fence. I also picked a hat full of strawberries and when walking by the old Man Truck, thought I'd try starting it one last time. I'd put the battery charger on it a couple of days ago and wondered if the engine turning over quicker might make a difference.

It did! After a quick plea to the God of Man Trucks Everywhere, the ugly old beast fired to life. I'll be hauling more fill dirt and wood later this summer!

Page Seven:

I played with the lathe last night in the living room, looking at it and discovering all the features. I think I've forgotten everything that Mississippi Brother Garry taught me last winter when he introduced me to his lathe and gave me a few lessons. That's okay, giving me more will be a good excuse for him and Jody to visit!

We'll be heading back over to Iron Mountain this morning with Sargie. I need to get some wider trim for the kitchen window at Home Depot and also look at digital tape measures. There are a ton of strawberries to pick later and with that, comes stemming, sugaring, and freezing. It's going to be a busy day.

Are we surprised? Never! After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...