Yooper Brother Mark hosted a group of high school students during a forestry products field trip on Thursday.

October 14, 2016 - Friday

30 degrees/cloudy skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I just scratched my nose and got a whiff of trapping, those smells that bring back memories of when my sons were growing up. In this case, it's the odor of logwood dye, a natural ingredient used so an animal doesn't become suspicious. 

Boiling and dying traps Thursday morning

The three younger sons and I used to spend a lot of time getting our traps and lures prepared. It was an exciting day when the UPS man delivered the bottles of lures we'd ordered and plans were made for the upcoming season. 

Good memories, just a lot of good memories.

I finished dying my traps Thursday morning. The half dozen foot holds were hung to dry and will be dipped in hot wax later today. Saturday is the first day of the season. It's that time of the year.

The rest of Thursday was spent preparing to install the new window in the shop.

What a job.

I'm not going to miss that little, single-paned, leaky, barn window.

The first chore was to reroute much of the electrical wiring and conduit. It took well over an hour to make a groove in a 6x6 beam so I could slide the conduit out of the way.

When I initially removed the first piece of wall covering and insulation, I discovered a hibernating lady bug colony. Needless to say, it didn't take long to grab the shop vac and make them go away. I tolerated lady bugs the entire day and will until I can put the shop back together and fumigate it with a bug bomb.

It was late in the afternoon before I stopped work and will begin again first thing this morning. I want to have that window in by the end of today. 

It appears I lucked out by finding two horizontal braces along the walls of the barn that are the exact size on which to fasten the top and bottom of the window. The 6x6 beam mentioned earlier will form one side, so all I have to frame is the other side. At least that's the way it looks on paper. We'll see if it really works out that way.

Grady called last night to visit and we decided that we'll hang out on Sunday. His daddy's going to the Packers game and Grandma Sargie has to work in the afternoon, so we'll have some quality Grady/PawPaw time. First thing on the agenda is to dig potatoes. Of course, later in the afternoon, we'll put on our Packers jerseys and watch the game.

It's time to awaken Sargie and get this show on the road. That window ain't gonna install itself.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

There should be a new window alongside the solar heater by day's end. First thing to do this morning is to clear out all the old pumpkin vines.