Mom sent this picture of a wonderful day spent with the girls on Saturday.
L - R. Christy, my niece, my sister, Barb, Mom, and Sophie, my great niece

February 5, 2017 - Sunday

18 degrees/snow showers/breezy

Pentoga Road

Can you believe this? It's 9 AM and I'm just now getting around to writing. It was past 8 before I even crawled out of bed. Bedtime was at 10 last night and I got a full ten hours of sleep.

I wonder what's going on? I slept almost as long the night before and now this. I wonder if Sargie is drugging my food? She made a wonderful new soup last night for supper, a white bean, white sauce, chicken chili that tasted like what one would enjoy for an appetizer at an upscale restaurant. Hmm, wonder what other ingredients she might have added?

Yesterday was pretty much a nonevent on Pentoga Road. I headed to the shop after writing and began the morning installing a new overhead light.

It's kind of a homemade affair really, something that I cobbled together after finding a couple of clearance bargains at one of the big box lumber stores in Marquette.



The actual fixture, a kitchen wrap around florescent light, was a returned item on clearance for $6. On another shelf, I spied an opened box with two LED lights meant to replace the old long florescent tubes. Those were $16. 

So for $20, I got a new VERY bright light, 4,200 lumens, to help brighten that end of the shop. Energy-wise, both lights combined use only 18 watts. 

I was a bit saddened to take down my past inspiration, my initial foray into the field of LED lighting from last summer. 

I felt certain that one of the larger lighting manufacturers would see my reflector and want to buy the idea, making me a millionaire. That didn't happen. I put the light and disposable pie tin, I mean reflector, in a cabinet to be used after the planned addition to the shop is complete. 

The rest of the morning was spent working on projects. The crappie picture was sanded, signed, the last coat of poly applied, and will go out in tomorrow's mail. I spent time on another scroll saw piece and finally, began turning a miniature tea cup made from wild cherry.

I rounded the rough piece of wood and began shaping it into a cup. 

Do you think I could remember what a tea cup looks like? It was like being able to recognize one's best friend then being asked to draw his face. I simply couldn't shape the tea cup. 

I finally came inside and removed an ancient relic from the China cabinet. With a stern warning from Sargie to NOT break it, I gently carried the centuries-old cup to the shop. Eventually, the wild cherry wood began to take shape.

The inside is now hollowed, but I quit when a small crack began developing. Glue was applied and clamped and I hope to continue today.

Sargie and I took our usual day-off ride to town for sale item groceries. The drive after was cut short when a sudden storm blew into the area severely limiting the visibility.

Saturday afternoon was a lazy affair spent watching Netflix and eating. Sargie spent time making the chili and supplemented that with grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread. Her now famous chocolate ice cream topped with cashews and caramel sauce rounded out the evening. If I keep eating all of Sargie's cooking, you'll find me rolling down the road every morning rather than walking. I'm beginning to get to the Tommy Tubby stage.

We're going to Holly and Ross's later today to watch the Super Bowl. I've been assigned popcorn duty so I'll begin performing popcorn kitchen magic an hour or so before we leave.

It's time to head out the door and clean the drive of yesterday's snow. After, I'm going to try to spend a bit of time in the shop, working on a granddaughter's little tea cup. It's just the way I roll while in the fast lane of life.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...