October 28, 2016 - Friday
33 degrees/cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

As you can see, our niece, Sasha, has created her yearly pumpkin artwork and sent a few pictures last evening. The Minion, on the left, is a huge children's favorite and who doesn't love the howling wolf on the far right? The white pumpkin perfectly outlines the BOO! Now it feels like Halloween.

Thursday was a catch-all day on Pentoga Road. I vacuumed and swept the rugs and floors before Sargie left for work. She closed last night and didn't have to be at the Vision Center until 11 AM.  I rode with her five miles down the road and hiked back. After a day off, it felt good to get the blood flowing once again.

I was walking along Thursday morning when I felt a sharp pain in my foot. Seems I stepped on a porcupine quill that went through the sole of my hiking boot.

A trip to town was made to purchase a new battery for the Ford tractor. I'll hook it up today.

Strange, I didn't realize how much I use that old tractor until the battery went dead (and stayed that way) a week ago. There's been several times I wanted to use it only to remember that I was tractorless. It's not a good feeling when one is by himself and doesn't have a set of spare muscles to help lift and carry. That old Ford does the work of six or eight men.

The rest of the day was spent in the shop where I cut out nine more game pieces and rough-sanded six. 



I typically carry my Macbook Pro to the shop as I keep most of my shop patterns/plans on the hard drive, plus I look at various turning (lathe) instructional videos online. It's hard on the computer, carting it back and forth. One screw that keeps the lid tight is stripped and after years of traveling in bush planes, boats, and on snowmobiles in Alaska, just like its owner, the old Mac is showing some age. As the saying goes, we've both been ridden hard and put away wet... literally.

I remembered an old laptop, a PC Windows Vista, from my Alaska days. Hmmm.

I worked on the laptop computer off and on for the rest of the day. It didn't take long for me to remember why I don't like PC's and the Windows format. I was either defragging or updating, condensing, finding missing registry lines, downloading a new anti virus, or otherwise mumbling. In the end, I was saying words that would have depleted Mom's soap supply from washing out my mouth. The mini machine from hell was downloading more stuff last night when I went to bed and has started doing it again this morning. 

At one point, I was reading "how-to" instructions from the Mac so I could apply them to the PC.

I think that little laptop is going to belong to Grady. He can pound on it all he wants and believe me, anything he does, including break the thing, will be an improvement.

I'm going to purchase another Chromebook, similar to the ones I got Sargie and Mom. There's a newer model that features a fifteen inch screen, one large enough where I can see the fonts, and it's certainly much cheaper ($175) than a Mac or even a new PC. It's nothing I'd care to have for my main machine, but should work just fine in the shop. Since Chromebooks have no hard drive to speak of, I'll keep my plans on an external flash drive and watch the videos online. The Chromebook can be kept in the desk in the shop or carried back and forth to the house. Either way, it will alleviate the wear and tear on my old Mac.

Sargie's been decorating a bra for the annual "Bras for a Cause" banquet to be held on November 5th. Held in honor of Sargie's sister, Susy, who passed away from breast cancer a few years ago, the annual event is a major social occasion in Iron Mountain and is headed up by sister-in-law, Debbie. Bras for a Cause brings in major money from not only donations, but also an auction where the bras are sold one by one.



Sargie was home late last night, opens today, then closes again on Saturday night. I'm beginning to think we're the two ships that meet while passing quietly in the night.

I have an early dentist's appointment this morning then hope to continue cleaning out the garden. The new battery needs to be installed in the tractor and if there's any time left in the day, I'll work in the shop. 

It's a busy life we lead on Pentoga Road, but as everyone knows, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

My little bunny rabbit, Ivy