That's my little buddy, Gus, Mandy Jo's son, coming into the harbor after a day of crabbing aboard the Summer Girl, in Sitka, Alaska. I well remember when Gus was in grade school, a little butter ball of a boy. He's grown into a strapping young man. 

June 28, 2016 - Tuesday

44 degrees/clear/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Whew, it was tough looking at the above picture and I'll admit that I initially became a bit misty-eyed. There's no place more beautiful than Southeast Alaska on a sunny summer day. I used to be up early and motor out of the harbor for a day (or days) of world-class fishing and exploring. I truly love Pentoga Road, but there are days that the heart strings pull heavily to the far north, back home to Alaska. I still miss the ocean, the mountains, and my good friends, Mandy Jo and her family, Uncle Bobby, and having coffee with the grandpas each and every morning. Oh well, nothing stays the same. Some of the grandpas have relocated to the lower 48 to be closer to family, Mandy Jo and Marty have purchased an acreage in Montana and plan to move there someday, and Gus is growing to be a man.

Page One:

Monday was a cool and windy day on Pentoga Road. Mom settled in with two large bowls of strawberries, the puppy at her feet, and watched daytime television while working up hundreds of beautiful berries.

Now before someone accuses me of elder abuse, I told Mom over and over she doesn't have to work while visiting, but she insists she's having fun and would much rather help than simply sit.



As you may have figured out by now, Mom's not the type to sit for more than two minutes at any one time. 

In the end, another eight quart bags of berries went into the freezer Monday afternoon.



Page Two:

I worked most of the day on one side lattice of the garden arbor.

The first thing was to make a few test dado cuts on a scrap piece of 1x2. All the lattice will be interconnected and snapped together.



I had to mark parallel lines across the frame. The only problem was that my dry wall t-square was only four feet long, the frame ran five. The problem was solved when I attached a thin straight edge with clamps.



Boards were measured and cut, dados made. What has taken the most time has been the router work, making the slots in the frame for the various boards to sit. 



I would work for a while, then take a break and let my eyes rest, then do two or three more.



The horizontal boards were completed late yesterday afternoon. My next step will be to cut dados (notches) and install those that run at right angles, completing the lattice.



Since the top rail is curved, I've encountered all kinds of angles I don't normally work with, but so far, so good... I think. Ask me in a few days and I'll let you know.

Page Three:

Macrea pulled into the drive with Grady in tow. Since he has to work in Iron Wood, eighty miles to the west, today, he decided to make the drive and stay overnight, dropping Grady off along the way.

Hambone had been sound asleep in the car and when waking, threw an absolute hissy fit. He cried and milked it for all he could until PawPaw summoned his best administrator/teacher's voice and told him that was enough. Mere seconds later, we were once again BFF's (Best Friends Forever.)

They don't call it The Terrible Two's for nothing.

Sargie was home shortly after and we played and played, laughed, sang, and did all those things that Grady loves doing.

Brutus considers Grady his best friend and greeted the pint sized munchkin with big slurpy licks on his face.

Grady and Mom had a lot of fun and Grady calls her, Great Grandma. 

It's amazing at the amount of vocabulary a two-year-old can amass. There was a phrase that came out of his mouth that I thought was hilarious after the boy tooted, obviously having passed gas. Unfortunately, Mom and Sargie didn't think it was funny, so we had a PawPaw to Hambone talk about our vocabulary. I guess I won't be teaching him to say, "Hey, pull my finger," at least not yet.

A moth was fluttering around the overhead chandelier last night and Grady was fascinated. I didn't know a moth could be so entertaining.

I'm unsure what today will bring. Grady will be with us until his daddy comes through this afternoon to have supper with us then both will head back to Iron Mountain. Sargie's off, so I'll let her, Mom, and Grady decide the agenda.

Until then, I think I'll head out to the garden and work on the cucumber trellis. The vines are beginning to climb and there are a few last-minute fixes that need to be completed.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...