Quick, run! Save yourself. The deer are invading Pentoga Road!

September 30, 2016 - Friday

40 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Suddenly, there are deer everywhere and they're attempting to eat us out of house and home.

They even pruned the new dogwood bushes in the back of the house, those that we've been so proud of.

I had a nightmare last night that the four-legged, hoofed, jumping rats had gotten through the 9,000 volt electric fence and kicked open or eaten most of the garden. Thankfully, it was just a bad dream.

Other critters are invading. A raccoon has obviously been in our flower beds and on, or near, our porch. He left his tracks on the driveway.

Neighbor Mike didn't fare nearly as well. He returned to his camp and discovered he had forgotten to plug in his electric garden fence and paid dearly.

This was a lush garden a week ago. The deer ate everything including ripe tomatoes. Most of his squash and pumpkins are gone as are the carrots. They even kicked the dirt away and ate a few potatoes.

What was a Waltham Butternut Squash

Neighbor Mike did salvage most of his potatoes and wasted no time in harvesting what was left. He had a bumper crop.

I completed my five-mile walk Thursday morning in record time. The leaves are beginning to turn much faster and reds, yellows, and orange colors are becoming more prominent against the backdrop of green.

Once home, I headed to the garden to begin pulling strawberry plants and worked there for most of the day. About a third were pulled with many more remaining.

Anyone need strawberry plants? 

I mowed the tops first than began. The entire end of the orchard has been taken over by the strawberries even though they are growing on porous black mulch covered with wood chips. It all started with twenty five plants three years ago.

I'll save twenty five new ones from runners and begin again.

Time was spent harvesting seed. This is from a huge Teddy Bear sunflower.

I want to have plenty for family and friends.

I'm still puzzled with the one squash plant. This is what they are supposed to look like.

Yet, next to the small green fruits on the same plant, this is what is growing.

I'm anxious to see if it's fit to eat. If not, I may have created a new hybrid pumpkin. Hmm, a new variety? How about calling it a squashkin?

It appears as if today will be a repeat of yesterday. I'm going to ride with Sargie partway towards Iron Mountain then walk home.

I hope to spend most the day in the orchard pulling strawberry plants. With the radio playing and plenty of sunshine accompanied by cool temperatures, it's not a bad job, just tedious and dirty.

After having to close and not arriving home until late last night, Sargie opens the Vision Center this morning. She'll be dragging when she finally pulls in the drive tonight.

A dahlia that escaped the fiery jaws of the monster deer

It's time to get moving. There is a walk to take and strawberry plants to pull.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Come on buddy, try walking through my back yard six weeks from now.

September 29, 2016 - Thursday
50 degrees/clear skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

It just dawned on me, I didn't have my camera out of my pocket yesterday. For the first time in... years... I didn't snap one picture. 

Some think I take so many pictures because I enjoy photography. I do, but that's hardly the reason. In fact, I've cussed at that camera banging around in my pocket more than once. 

I take so many snapshots because I can unload them on my computer and 1) see the details of what I'm working on, and/or 2) see, up close and personal, what I missed in real time earlier in the day, flowers, the garden, lawn, people, places, etc. Rather than look into a haze with a fuzzy hole in the middle, I can enlarge each picture on the computer screen and see faces, lots of color, and intricate particulars. Since I have enjoyed writing for years and already have the pictures at hand, I include those. Today's writing will just have to be sans pictures.

Wednesday was a pleasantly relaxing one. After arriving home from my walk, I washed and scrubbed the little freezer in preparation of taking it to the neighbor's. It cleaned up really nice, especially after I'd gone over the entire exterior with a Mr. Clean Eraser, one of those sponge-type things that makes hard-to-remove scuffs magically disappear. 

Convinced that it was as good as it was ever going to be, I loaded the freezer and hauled it to Marion's, our neighbor. She was tickled with the trade as are we. 

After all the rain and chilly weather, I wasn't in any hurry to delve into a project, but it was entirely too nice of a day to stay inside. I felt lazy and enjoyed sitting in one of our old plastic lawn chairs in front of the barn, enjoying the sunshine and warmth. 

I turned on the radio that is part of the sound system in the shop and grew frustrated when only one local station was clear enough to listen to and even that had some static. 

Radio signals don't penetrate the walls of a metal pole barn very well. I needed some sort of external antenna. It was time to spring into action. 

So much for sitting in the sun.

Initially, I was going to mount an old car antenna on top of the barn and thread a wire back into the shop. I was up and down the ladder several times, measuring, looking, estimating, and muttering, when it occurred to me that I was about five feet short of having enough wire.

Hmm, if only there was a way to tap into the cable that ran from the outside TV antenna into the shop.

I studied, I ciphered (as Sargie is fond of saying) and I experimented. The inside antenna box had two cable connection points. How could I could utilize one of those?

The flimsy radio antenna wire was bent and fashioned and finally fastened into the cable box. SUCCESS! 

I now receive several stations, some from as far away as Iron Mountain and one from Marquette.

Sargie was home early last night. We enjoyed left over chicken and chili for supper and had a quiet evening. She closes tonight, another long day for her. 

I'm going to walk up to Neighbor Mike's in a few minutes for coffee then be back in time to ride with Sargie down the road a few miles so I can hike back. After that, who knows? It's to be a nice day and maybe I'll just plop my backside in the old plastic lawn chair in front of the barn and enjoy the sun hitting me in the face while listening to the radio.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

As their leaves begin to die, large Hubbard squash are appearing. The smallest weigh around ten pounds, the largest close to fifty.

September 28, 2016 - Wednesday

50 degrees/clouds - rain/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It warmed enough during the night that no fire is needed this morning. That's a good thing, but for the third day in a row, rain is hitting the roof. I'm not sure it will ever stop, but Carl the Weatherman, the guy who is known for telling the occasional fib, says that we're in for a stretch of warmer temperatures and sunny skies. We'll see. Hopefully he didn't have his fingers crossed behind his back.

The leaves are beginning to turn and if the rain ever stops and the sun shines, I'd guess they'll be at their peak in a week, possibly two. Of course, all it takes is a big wind and rain storm to bring them all down.

As you can see, there is still plenty of green showing in the woods.

I worked in the shop Tuesday morning while Sargie slept in. Actually, I did little work, but managed to clean the machinery and put away any tools that were left out. I find if something isn't put back exactly to where it belongs, I can't find it later. It's an exercise in self discipline and common sense, but a good one I think.

The creative side of me emerged while I was cleaning. A place was constructed alongside my recliner in which to put the remote controls for the television and accessories. 

After a quick peek through the scrap wood/burn bucket, this particular remote holder took at least thirty seconds to design and build. I offered to build a couple for our living room, one by Sargie's chair, another by mine. Yeah, that didn't happen.

Sargie and I went to town Tuesday afternoon for groceries, her Coke, and later took a ride around the countryside looking at the leaves.

Intermittent rain made viewing less than perfect, but we still saw some pretty impressive colors.

Once home, Sargie began making a large pot of her famous Pentoga Road chili. She sent me to the garden to find a few fresh tomatoes while she browned several pounds of hamburger and opened ten cans of kidney beans. 

Needless to say, we ate like royalty (or pigs - often one in the same) last night and will have another big meal of chili tonight. The rest will be frozen for a quick meal or two later this fall.

While waiting for supper, I walked around the garden. It appears there'll be a good crop of Jack Be Little pumpkins to give away and use as fall table decorations. 

The other pumpkins are also doing well. With the leaves dying down, more and more are appearing that I didn't know were growing.

The giant pumpkins are about finished growing, although there is still a goodly amount of greenery. I'll be severing all from the vines in the next couple of weeks in anticipation of freezing weather. I'd like them to finish ripening in garden if possible and develop a hard shell.

The nasturtiums growing in the pyramids are just crazy. They had a brilliant display in June and July, but this fall's bloom is even better with more flowers.

Last night was a quiet one. We ate chili until we were ready to bust, then complained we'd eaten too much. Typical.

Sargie's back to work today and opens this morning. If it's not pouring rain, I'm going to go for my walk then return home and wash the small chest freezer in preparation of delivering it to the neighbor's. After, I need to remake a shelf in the garage so the new upright freezer can fit tight against the wall. Right now, it's sitting in front of a window and sticking out about eight inches.

It's time to get Sargie's lunch packed, breakfast prepared, and this show on the road.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Brutus isn't allowed on the cooking side of the kitchen counter, so he gets as close as possible, then sits and watches the action. Despite his best efforts, he never did get a bowl of chili... thank goodness, or we'd have been up all night. He's been known to toot an entire symphony and never once wake up.

September 27, 2016 – Tuesday

46 degrees/clouds/mist

Pentoga Road

I see that once again, the internet is out and I’m fairly certain it’s on the carrier’s part, not ours. As some may remember, for the longest time, we had difficulty receiving a signal from the tower a couple of miles away until a half man/half monkey climbed the tall tree alongside the house and mounted the antenna at the top. 

Since then, service on our end has been good.

Look closely towards the top of that tall tree.

For the first time this fall, I wore a coat and jeans during my Monday morning walk. The temperature was in the low forties accompanied by mist and gusty twenty mph winds. It wasn’t pretty or necessarily enjoyable, but I did what anyone would do, hunkered down and just kept on walking.

There was several days’ worth of laundry in the basement. I hung the sheets outside, hoping they might dry between showers. It took multiple clothes pins to keep them from blowing off the line and most snapped like a whip in the air with the fitted sheet billowing out like an out-of-control mini parachute.

I didn’t use the large wood chipper this past year, just had no need for it. Though I wrapped it in tarps and drained the gas last fall, I wanted to do some fall maintenance and let the engine run for a while.

It was impressive. After dragging it out from under the trees using the riding mower, once unwrapped, the beast started quickly and ran perfectly. I let it idle for over half an hour before closing the gas line and allowing the engine to run dry. Fuel stabilizer was added to the gas tank and the high-pressure washer used to thoroughly clean the nooks, crannies, and exterior.

I’ve thought about selling the powerful chipper. Though it’s six years old and has been used regularly until this past year, it’s in great shape and I think of how I could put that money towards something else. On the other hand, when I need it, it’s here. The chipper is the best for reducing limbs and branches, even those quite large, down to wood chips used in the garden paths and around the property. Best of all, it’s paid for, free and clear, and is all mine. I’ll wrap it again for the winter months and see what next year brings.

I was thoroughly chilled and wet by the time I came in the house. The thermometer showed the outside temperature to be hovering around 50 degrees and it was only 59 inside.  I hesitated, but finally struck the match. It seems once a fire is lit, the next time it truly dies is after a long, cold, winter has passed. Sargie and I, both, have been hesitant to concede that summer is over. There was little doubt yesterday.

It’s amazing how much a small fire, burning a bit of left over scrap lumber from this past year’s projects, can warm not only a home, but also the spirit. I later brought in a few pieces of firewood and kept the flames burning throughout the evening.

The turning chisels that were ordered last week arrived in yesterday’s mail. Hopefully they’ll be used to fashion bowls, ornaments, pens, or other woodcraft in the years to come.  I've always been curious about the workings of a wood lathe and after Mississippi Brother Garry gave me a few rudimentary lessons last winter, I was hooked. Also, much of the artistry requires touch and not so much sight, right up my alley. There’s nothing wrong with my fingers.

I could have ordered a larger set of chisels for less money, but I wanted those made from honest to goodness American steel, a metal that is known to keep its edge. These are Craftsman, manufactured back when “Made in America” meant something, and were originally sold sometime in the 1950’s or early 60’s. 

The seller said they’d been in his barn, untouched, for decades and came in their original box with the original instructions. I honestly hate to use the chisels, but I purchased them to use, not look at.

Last evening was spent watching the debate. Since this isn’t a political blog, that’s all I’ll say, but those who know me, know exactly where my feelings lie.

Sargie’s off today and what a wonderful day to be lazy. Once again it’s windy, rainy, and chilly. The fire’s burning in the stove and one large mug of coffee is already history.

I’m going to sneak out to the shop and start cleaning the mess from my last project. I’ll leave it up to Sargie what the rest of the day will bring. I doubt we’ll be in too much of a hurry to do anything. Really, it’s a good day to snuggle on the couch under a blankie with a big bowl of popcorn between us and watch a movie. I bet that can be arranged.

Time to listen to the news, think deep thoughts, and enjoy a second mug of hot, steaming, coffee. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Yooper Brother Mark and I are ready to head into Lambeau Field in Green Bay to do battle with the Detroit Lions

September 26, 2016 - Monday

47 degrees/partly cloudy/windy

Pentoga Road

I'm running late this morning and there are lots of pictures of yesterday's win over Detroit, so I'll knock off writing and simply post a few. They tell the story.

Note a die hard Packers fan in the early morning hours on game day with his Packers hat, jersey, and mandatory coffee mug. I was going to wear my Packers pajama bottoms, but Sargie wouldn't let me.

Our seats were fifteen rows up to the right of the entrance and we had a close view of all the players as they entered and exited the field.

There were almost 80,000 fans in attendance

Jordy Nelson

Eddie Lacey ran for 103 yards on the day

In the end, we were victorious and have a bye week next Sunday, giving some of our better injured players a chance to heal and get ready for the season ahead. 

Sargie and Sheri shopped while we were at the game and from what I heard coming out of the back seat on the way home, a few treasures were found and purchased.

We stopped at a cheese outlet then later, for an all-you-can-eat fried chicken dinner. I think Sargie knew everyone in the restaurant.

It was later in the evening before we arrived home. It had been a wonderful day with good friends.

Sargie opens the Vision Center today, but thankfully, has Tuesday off. I'm going for my walk first thing this morning then probably fiddle around in the shop. The temperature has dropped dramatically and today's high is forecast only to reach 52 degrees. Another .4 of an inch of rain fell, so it's probably too wet to clean the garden.

One thing I know for certain, it's time to pour another cup of coffee and think some deep thoughts before beginning the day.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...