The giant pumpkin was moved from the garden on Sunday

October 10, 2016 - Monday

36 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It appears there's another nice day ahead on tap. I'm not sure if we're experiencing Indian Summer or an extension of the past four months, but we'll take it. Today's high is forecast to hit near seventy before the thermometer takes a nose dive down into the forties and fifties for daily highs.

I played outside for much of Sunday morning, gathering more squash, moving the smaller giant pumpkin, getting Sargie's fountain ready for winter storage, and other things.

At one point, I sent Yooper Brother Mark a text asking if he felt up to helping move the giant pumpkin out of the garden. Waiting for his grass to dry so he could mow it one last time, he said he'd be right out.

Moving 500 lbs of pumpkin can present it's challenges. 

Thankfully, I'd placed it on a piece of plywood when it was quite small allowing us to drill a hole through which to run a rope and drag it out from under the fence using the four wheeler.  

Even in four-wheel drive, low, the four wheeler was straining

Getting the beast up and over the drive required that we use ramps and it took some maneuvering to get it alongside the planter by the road.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the pumpkin weighs. It measures out to nearly 600 lbs, but the back is completely concave. In other words, rather than being flat or even rounded, it's sucked in towards the front. Still, even with Mark and I giving it our all, we could barely budge the pumpkin by hand. Almost everything we did to move it required the four wheeler or a long 2x4 to use as a lever.

I wanted to give this one to Nephew Derek in Iron Mountain, but Mark nor I could come up with a method by which to get it off the trailer and onto the stoop of his porch. We still have a while to come up with a solution, but for now, the pumpkin's sitting at the end of the drive. People enjoyed looking at year's and would often stop and take pictures of each other standing beside the pumpkin. I don't mind. It's fun.

With Sargie's help, we began picking seed pods from the nasturtium vines that have been growing in the pyramids all summer. The flowers were plentiful, a brilliant, deep, dark, red, with dark green leaves. 

Those are the seeds in the middle of the picture

As I remember, I paid around $6 for a packet of twenty to thirty seeds last spring and it took four packets to plant three sides of the four pyramids. I'll continue to gather more today then dry them to ensure there'll be plenty to plant next spring.

While Sargie picked seed pods, I began ripping the plants out of the dirt and disposing of them.

The area alongside the barn has been so rich and full of foliage and flowers all summer and with one hard freeze is suddenly looking empty and barren. At least I'll be able to install the new shop window alongside the solar heater without tripping over giant pumpkin vines!

It was time for our afternoon ride. After a quick stop at the grocery store, we headed west and enjoyed riding on mostly woods roads, those that wind through the national forest. 

We were almost home when the phone rang. It was Mark asking if we wanted to stop by for lasagna; that, along with bread and cheese sticks? Sheri's cooking? Lasagna, my favorite of all of Sheri's kitchen creations? Duh, Mama didn't have no dummy. Of course we accepted!

Jenna and Jerad stopped by later and the six of us had a wonderful time talking and laughing and eating some of the best lasagna in the world. That Sheri Girl can cook.

I watched the Packers/Giants game last night and along with Yooper Brother Mark, texting back and forth, we coached Green Bay to their third victory of the season. 

I texted Andy and asked if he were watching. He replied that he was trying to clear customs in Trinidad where they are currently drilling for oil. I guess when one is in the topics, off the coast of South America, Green Bay, Wisconsin, seems a long ways away.

Sargie opens today. I'm going for my walk then spend the rest of the day cleaning out the garden. There are at least two, possibly three days, of work to finish before the ground freezes and snow flies. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...