Who's that beautiful girl helping to work up firewood late Sunday afternoon? Why, that's Sargie!

November 14, 2016 - Monday

41 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

It appears that another clear and warm day is on the horizon. What a way to begin the week. Actually, other than a rain shower or two, Carl the Weatherman says the entire week will be nice. Oops, I see more seasonal weather in the forecast beginning next weekend with highs barely reaching thirty degrees, lows in the low twenties, and that four letter word is mentioned more than once, snow.

Ho Ho Ho! The first Christmas picture of the season. Brother-in-law, Ross, sent this picture of their pyramid all decorated for the holidays. After dark, the planters appear to be perfect Christmas trees.

There was no snow or any thought of it on Sunday. I worked in the shop most of the morning finishing the current project. I painted, sanded, painted again, cut, and packaged. There were a few items not quite dry, so once they are packaged this morning, I'll be able to cross the project from my list and move onto the next.

While in the shop, I transferred the two new LED work lights that were purchased in Marquette on Saturday onto the stand that had held the halogens I'd recently bought on clearance via the internet. Both lights were defective and when I called the company, they said not to worry about sending them back and they gladly refunded my money. I was grateful they let me keep the stand. 

Each of the lights emit 1,000 lumens, yet use only 12 watts of power each.

I can now use the band saw with no shadows covering my work and slowly, but surely, I'm getting the shop set up like I want it. I imagine all the light would drive some people half crazy, but for me, it's almost perfect. Plus, I've been half crazy for well over six decades. I ain't gonna change now.

We bopped into town for fried chicken and to do a bit of shopping. Since we'd taken a road trip to Marquette on Saturday, our drive was kept to a minimum, plus the Packers played at noon. 

We should have taken a longer ride and not worried about rushing home to watch the game.

I'm fearful that we're at the beginning of a long and steep decline in the Packer Nation. The boys merely went through the motions of playing football. By game's end, I found a quiet corner, curled up into the fetal position, and rocked back and forth. We should have had a coaching change two or three years ago and I wouldn't be surprised to see a huge turnover after this season is over, wipe the slate clean and start over. 

Sargie helped me and we carried the last of the winter squash down the basement. The large fruits have a very hard shell and should store well into next summer.

We also tried the first of our hybrid squash, the large pumpkin-looking surprises that surprised us this past growing season. 

The fruits were supposed to be small and green. These turned out large, somewhat flat, and a dull orange.

To make a long story short, they are DELICIOUS. The meat is moist and very sweet. The next test will be to see how long they store. One thing is certain, one squash will provide multiple meals for the two or us. Once they appear to be going bad in storage, we'll bake each, peel the flesh from the shell, mash, and freeze them. We discovered last year that frozen squash is every bit as tasty as that that has been kept in storage.

Sargie lent a hand and we filled the inside wood bin for the beginning of the week. Last night was spent watching television and as usual, we found ourselves yawning long before bedtime. With the time change, the evenings seem to last forever.

Sargie opens today and will be bringing Hambone home with her tonight. She has tomorrow off and Macrea and Mel needed a baby sitter for a couple of days. Thankfully, the weather is to be nice on Wednesday so when Sargie's back at work and it's just Grady and PawPaw time, we can do man stuff outside. 

It's time to move along and get this day started. Since deer season begins tomorrow, I'm going to post a few no trespassing signs around the perimeter of the property. I don't need any city people walking up the main trail from the public land in the back, feigning innocence as has happened in the past. 

Meanwhile, it's time to pour another cup of coffee, listen to the news, and wait for the sun to light up the eastern horizon.

Yooper Brother Mark sent this photo last night. He and Sheri have been canning sauerkraut.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

This particular Hubbard weighs in excess of fifty pounds.