It's ice fishing season in the Upper Peninsula

January 4, 2017 - Wednesday

-2 degrees/partly cloudy/very windy

Pentoga Road

The brief respite from cold temperatures we experienced for a couple of days has disappeared in the rearview mirror of life. We're back into that arctic vortex thing where the winds howl and temperatures struggle to get above zero. 

On a positive note, I went outside early this morning and didn't get one mosquito bite!

It's been a habit of mine for the past twenty years or more that I step outside in the early morning hours. Usually, I'm clad only in a pair of undershorts, but this time of the year, I've been know to also wear my fifi robe.

So I stepped outside this morning to visit the area behind the woodshed. (Ladies, no comment needed, it's a guy thing. The men will understand.) With frigid conditions, I hustled back towards the house. 

When coming to the deck, I evidently forgot there was a step or I didn't see it. Whatever. I tripped and fell flat on my face. The only damage done was to my bruised ego, otherwise, the deck and my body survived to see another day.

Early is the key word today. I awakened at 3 AM to the sound of the furnace running and the wind howling. Since nature was calling and I had to get up anyway, I decided to go downstairs and fill the stove with wood. 

Evidently, Wood Boy, who is in charge of filling the stove and banking the fire before going to bed, forgot to do so last night. The draft was left wide open and there wasn't a coal in sight. To make a long story short, I had to rebuild a fire from scratch early this morning. 

At least I wasn't alone. Wood Dog didn't remember either.

By the time there were sufficient coals to throw off heat, I was wide awake and have been up since.

Mike called early Tuesday morning asking if I might start a fire in his stove, making the camp warm for when they arrived. His flue is two stories tall and the draw inside the stove makes starting a fire easy.

I also did a bit of plowing in his camp yard. Mike has a project or two and needed to get some materials out of an old garage.

After cleaning our drive and Mike's, I hopped on the snowmobile and zoomed up the road and out onto the lake.

Fishing has been frustrating to say the least. I know the fish are down there as they show up on the sonar, but getting them to bite is another story.

After two hours of nonstop frustration, I locked the shack and came back home to take down the outside Christmas decorations. They are in their totes and put away for another season.

The beauty of having a snowmobile, an ice shack, and a lake a mere mile and a half away, is that I can leave the house and be fishing in a few minutes. I decided to try my luck again.

The fish were still there and biting a bit more aggressively. As I'm nearly 100% night blind, I had to be home well before dark. 

I caught this large bluegill in the forty minutes I spent fishing. 

There were other bites, but even utilizing a strong head lamp, I missed most of them. It's tough to see the other end of a two-foot ultra light ice fishing rod.

I later spent time in the shop. My original intention was to clean and put away tools, but I came across a small piece of birch, the same wood I made Mom's bowl from last week. 

A forstner bit is used to make a hole in which to fit the chuck that will, eventually, allow the piece to be attached to the lathe. 

The grain in the birch was simply too nice not to use. I really wanted to clean, but I guess I wanted to turn even more.

At this time, the mini bowl is turned, sanded, and has a coat of poly applied. I'll return it to the lathe today for a coat of polish, then will cut off the piece that holds it in the chuck. 

Sargie worked most of last evening taking down the Christmas tree. The last of the totes are stacked in the living room, waiting for me to take them to the storage shed. After that, any sign of Christmas 2016 will be gone.

Sargie opens today and will be bringing Hambone home with her. She's off for the next two days so I imagine that's how long Grady will be with us. I'm looking forward to seeing my little buddy and though frigid temperatures are forecast, we always find something to do. 

I need to go into town this morning to purchase propane for the heater in the shop. I promised Sargie I'd do the laundry and the vacuum needs to be run over the floors. After that, it will be out to the shop where I'll clean and put away tools. I just hope I don't see another piece of wood with beautiful grain that demands I drop whatever I'm doing and begin turning it into something or the other. 

Arg, if only you had my life.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Well darn, after looking at an enlarged picture, I can see all the mistakes I made. I turn by mostly touch and feel, but obviously, my fingers need some sensitivity training.