Why mow the meadows and trails when I can paddle over them?

October 21, 2016 - Friday morning

35 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It was nice to wake up to the internet this morning, check the weather and take a quick look at the news before writing my usual emails and blog.

What made it especially sweet was savoring the Packers victory over the Chicago Bears in last night's game. We finally looked like the Packers of old in the second half. There's hope yet.

Most of the news from this past week is written below. Sargie opens the Vision Center this morning, but has the weekend off. I'm going to go for my walk, check the traps after, then spend the rest of the day either working in the yard or playing in the shop. It's a slippery slope I tread, but someone has to do it around here.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

October 20, 2016 - Thursday Evening

42 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I wrote earlier today (below) before the internet service was restored. Sargie and I went for our usual ride and it was on when we returned home.

I did a first today. I went kayaking to the back of our property. Weird, just weird. 

I was shocked to find three, sometimes four, feet of water covering the main trails and going deep into the woods. 

For those who have visited, water completely covers the front meadow and is especially deep in the back meadow and fills all the trails between. 

It seemed odd paddling deep into the maple woods

The back meadow where I dug fill dirt earlier this past summer

I grilled brats and a steak on the grill this evening. Those, along with fresh red baked potatoes made a fantastic supper. 

Time to watch the Bears/Green Bay game. I hope the Packers show up ready to play. They haven't so far this season.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Earlier Thursday   

October 20, 2016 – Thursday

40 degrees/cloudy/breezy

Pentoga Road

It’s day number three without the internet, but after talking with the provider a bit ago, I found it could be restored later today. She said they not only lost service, but also many clients’ emails. Thanks to those who have written and expressed concern. Sargie and I are just fine. We’re high and dry, fat and sassy.

We don’t have many choices when choosing a provider. It’s either go with who we have or install a dish and use a very expensive satellite internet service.

The company with whom we subscribe is small, underfunded, and often exasperating. I often find myself biting my tongue, but like ‘em or not, they’re ours.

Much of the UP is still in turmoil after Monday’s deluge. We topped out just short of seven inches of rain in less than twenty-four hours and Lake Pentoga hasn’t dropped a bit. I now find myself hoping that freezing weather will descent upon us while the meadow is flooded so Grady and I will have an ice skating rink outside the back door.

Taken Monday afternoon

Basically the same picture taken from the kayak on Thursday afternoon

The lake is not a giant puddle that appears mostly during the springtime melt, it’s the water table sitting on top of the ground. Some might remember the postholes I dug for footings when building the storage shed. After digging them, I retreated to the house for lunch and when I went back outside after, two of the holes had filled with water.

Right now, Lake Pentoga covers about fifteen of our forty-two acres. I haven’t lived on beachfront property since residing on my boat in Sitka. I expect HGTV will soon be offering to do some nifty renovations on the house and will feature our dwelling on Beach Front Property. Yeah… uh huh.

The local flooding hasn’t been without its inconveniences. 

Sargie had to drive around Alpha on her way to and from work for two days adding ten to twenty minutes onto her commute. The small community, through which the main county road runs, is located on a hill and was completely cut off from the outside world on all but one side. Sargie said the water had receded yesterday and was able to navigate her usual route.

Yooper Brother Mark had mentioned the other day that he needed to drive downstate in Wisconsin to pick up a large piece of machinery. Hearing that, I offered to ride with, do the boy a favor and be the copilot.

We left Wednesday morning around 4:30 AM and gabbed and laughed for the next twelve hours. Once at our destination, the Cyclone was put into our trailer and fastened securely.

It was the perfect day for a road trip. The sun was bright and the temperature in the fifties.

We made a couple of stops on our way home, one at Fleet Farm where I procured a ten-pound bag of popcorn along with some other goodies. The other stop was at my favorite man store, Harbor Freight, where I finally purchased a new air compressor.

I hadn’t thought about buying the compressor yesterday and had left a coupon good for a twenty-dollar discount at home. Mark thought he had one on his desk at the plant, so he called and asked Ann to copy and fax it to his phone, which she did.

Bing, bang, boom, the compressor was mine at a discounted price.

We arrived home before dark and I used the remaining daylight hours to check the traps. Nothing. I’m afraid Jerad is going to have to learn some good trapping skills from someone with better sight. I reset two last night, got down on my hands and knees and put my nose right down to the ground and honestly, it was a pretty lousy set. I can’t imagine any coyote with half a brain could be dumb enough to stick his foot into that trap.

Sargie was home early last night with a big ol’ family-sized pizza and you know what? We ate the whole thing!  

Sargie’s off today. I’m not sure what’s on the agenda. We’ve talked about delivering pumpkins to Iron Mountain, but she’s the boss, I’ll let her make the decisions.

Meanwhile, I think I’ll wander out to the shop and see if I can turn some more fancy kindling for the wood stove.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

 Meanwhile, written on Tuesday morning

Finally, after a summer of waiting, the lathe was turned on for the first time Monday afternoon.

October 18, 2016 – Tuesday morning

58 degrees/clouds/rain/breezy

Pentoga Road

It’s not surprising that we have no internet service this morning. I’ve never witnessed almost seven inches of rain falling in so short of a time, at least in this area. I thought Hurricane Mathew was history. As Yooper Mark said last night, it’s a good thing the rain didn’t fall as snow. That much precipitation would equal well over five feet of the white stuff.

Pentoga Lake is once again lapping at its banks. The front meadow didn’t bother to fill with water during last spring’s melt, but is full to overflowing this morning. Water is just feet away from the garden and it wouldn’t take too much for the entire thing to begin flowing through the culverts under the road.

According to the Rhinelander, Wi, weather station, we were over a foot above normal in yearly precipitation before this last rainfall. 

Trees are lying over the area roads, not because of wind, but due to the ground being so soft that the roots pull out and the tree topples over.

With the water table sitting on top of the ground, I’d venture to say that we don’t have to worry about the well running dry this winter.

Even with the plug pulled from the boat, water still poured out.

Monday was a laid back affair. It was warm, but very muggy and quite unseasonal. Temperatures were in the sixties with air so thick that it could be cut with a knife.

Sargie found this little guy crawling across the basement floor early Tuesday morning. I released him outside under a bunch of wet leaves.

A tree had fallen across the power lines during the severe early morning storms and we were without electricity. Sargie readied herself for work using the water already in the lines and Grady had to make do with fruit snacks, raisins, and Cheerios, for breakfast. 

Wearing PawPaw's hiking boots on the wrong feet, Grady was ready for a stroll first thing Tuesday morning, pajamas and all.

I built a fire and warmed up day-old coffee on top of the stove then rather than write, I continued reading a book on my Kindle. It was a dark, dreary, and really, wonderful, morning that reminded me of how I lived while at the cabin in the arctic.

I could have gone for my walk, but didn’t. It felt good to be lazy, to have no plans, and it’s been a long time since I piled into an overstuffed chair with a good book.

Once power was restored, I moved out to the shop and started the heater to take the dampness out of the air. I’d delayed in playing with the lathe since Sargie gave it to me for my birthday in June. It was time.

A short piece of two by four was ripped evenly down the middle and after much fumbling, it was centered in the lathe.

Which chisel do I use? My mind hurriedly raced back to the lessons Mississippi Brother Garry gave me last winter. All I could recall was that at one point, he said to use whichever one worked the best. I grabbed the largest one, rounded on the end, pushed my glasses hard onto my face, then the magnifiers, then finally, the face shield. It was like dressing a little kid in multi layers to go outside and play in the snow.

I tentatively reached down and turned on the power switch, took a big breath, placed the chisel on the rest, and began.

Garry told me it just takes practice. I’m pretty certain I did everything wrong. Either nothing happened, or huge chunks were ripped from the whirling block of wood. Another chisel was used after the wood was rounded with better success.

Eventually, all five chisels were used and in the end I made a… well, I made the fanciest, ugliest, spindle, bound for the wood stove, that’s ever been made on Pentoga Road. I can already tell that my education in various types of wood has just begun. Lumber grade pine just isn’t going to cut it, but with all the scrap lying around, I’ll use it to practice.

Feeling somewhat successful from my initial attempt at wood turning, a trip was made into town to purchase five gallons of heating oil. A quick squirt from a squeeze bottle onto unlit kindling helps to start a fire in a cold woodstove. The best thing about using fuel oil is that it doesn’t flare up. I learned that trick from the Inupiaq People in the arctic.

I stopped by to see Yooper Brother Mark at the plant. He mentioned that he had a road trip coming up on Wednesday to south central Wisconsin to pick up something for the plant. I asked if he wanted company, nothing like inviting myself. He perked right up and said sure, so we’re leaving around four Wednesday morning. I’m looking forward to getting out of Dodge for the day. I’ll guarantee you, we’ll have all the world’s problems solved by the time we arrive back home… if only someone would listen to us.

The rain began pouring down and as usual, Sargie had to stay and work over. The later the hour, the harder the rain came down. A banner began streaming across the bottom of the television saying there was a severe storm warning out for Iron and Dickenson Counties with the worst of the storm parked between here and Iron Mountain, directly in front of Sargie.

She finally left the Vision Center an hour and a half late. We talked on the phone several times and she had to pull over to wait out some of the worst, but my girl finally pulled into the garage weary, but safe.

Sargie closes tonight and won’t be home until 9:30 or later, another solitary drive in dark, nighttime hours, through the remote north woods.

I’m hoping we’ll regain our internet service sooner rather than later so I can get this uploaded and my usual emails written. Otherwise, I’ll go for my morning stroll then return home to play… I mean, make something useful on the lathe. You know, maybe another fancy spindle for the wood stove.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Sons, Matt and Luke, were playing "Red Belly Ping Pong" earlier this week.
Don't even ask.