Tales from Pentoga

A view of the garden from our bedroom window. That's the giant pumpkin in the foreground.

August 16, 2016 - Tuesday

58 degrees/clear/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I'm feeling a little extra manliness flowing through me this morning. Seems I trapped our first mouse of the season. Jeremiah Johnson had nothing on me. Uh huh.

Sargie noticed some droppings the other day in the kitchen, prompting me to set a trap. I must still have some trapper's mojo. Baited with peanut butter, I found the remains of the varmint early the next morning.

I wonder if city people can judge the change of seasons by local mouse activity. Those of us who live in the more rural areas, surrounded by woods and fields, certainly can. As winter gets closer, it seems they make a mad dash for the house. Last year, we caught only one or two the entire winter. Hopefully, it will be the same this year.

Meanwhile...

I took my daily walk first thing yesterday morning. On days that Sargie opens and leaves early, I do the five-mile route. The three mile stroll is saved for those times she closes and departs later in the morning. Yesterday was a shorter version. Today will see me walking the full five miles.

The remainder of Monday morning and early afternoon was spent unloading the firewood from the trailer.

I took my time and stacked all the pieces tightly, then covered each pile with tarps to protect them from the upcoming rain and snows.

The pile behind the wood sheds will be burned the year after next. The other will be used this coming heating season until heavy snow forces me to use that in the sheds.

The rest of the day was spent just fiddling around. The garden has been kick started following last week's three inch rain and there are so many vines and overgrown plants that walking down the aisles is almost impossible.

I do enjoy my pictures and took plenty.

The Big Moose pumpkins

My biggest accomplishment this year is the culmination of several years of developing a certain sunflower. I've been breeding a strain for height, yet wanting multiple smaller heads that might last longer into the season without bending the stalk completely over. So far, this one has remained perfectly upright.

If my geometry is correct (measuring the shadow from the angle of the sun) this sunflower is approximately fourteen feet tall with multiple heads. Also, it appears there are flowers forming partway down to its base which has also been my goal.

It appears I FINALLY have a plant from which I'll carefully save the seeds this fall.

You can see the difference between the conventional giant sunflower and that that has been bred for multiple, smaller, heads. The larger plants with only one big flower will eventually bend over and touch the ground. Hopefully the new variety will remain upright and blooming.

I'd like to develop a new variety and possibly market it commercially. I doubt it will ever happen and even if it does, I'll never get rich, but hey, a guy can dream.

Sargie was home around 7 last night and we spent the evening watching the Olympics.

After this morning's walk, I think I'll work in the barn. I want to rearrange some things along one wall to make room for the welder (that's currently in the shop) and also for the nut and bolt bin. It's getting time to make a bench for the lathe that Sargie gave me for my birthday. I'm getting anxious to try my hand at turning something or the other.

Baby bush winter squash

I have a doctor's appointment in Iron Mountain this afternoon. Though nothing appears to be wrong with me at this time, I want to question why I had the extreme weakness on the left side of my body two weeks ago. I also want to make sure I don't have Lyme disease caused by one of the multiple tick bites I received earlier this summer. Better safe than sorry.