Neighbor Mike's wife, Germaine, and Sargie

February 2, 2017 - Thursday
1 degree/partly cloudy/breezy
Pentoga Road

I awakened early this morning with hot air blowing directly on me and my nose feeling as though it was filled with wet concrete. Seems I forgot to turn the thermostat to the furnace down last night before we went to bed. 

I kissed any chance of more sleep goodbye way too soon this morning.

Generally, the thermostat is turned up the first thing in the morning so the house is warm for Sargie. Once a fire is going in the wood stove, it takes over as the main heating source and the oil furnace doesn't run again until the next morning. 

The fire burned down during the night, the furnace took over, and the rest is history.

Wednesday was a good day on Pentoga Road. My morning walk was a brisk one as the temperatures were in the single digits and the headwind was blowing at a pretty good clip.

A family of deer crossing the road ahead of me

I returned home and began emptying the cabinet under the kitchen sink in preparation for replacing the faucet.

I'm not certain how any more cleaning products could be stuffed into one small area. There were enough bottles and other goodies to fill two totes.

Undoing the hoses and pipes of the old faucet proved to be challenging. Our home is three years shy of being a hundred years of age. I'd be willing to bet that the old fixtures have been here for at least a third, if not more, of that time. 

I came up with a new invention, one that will, no doubt, make us rich and famous. While lying belly up, half of my body on the kitchen floor, the other inside the cupboard, my back felt as though it was going to break in two. I tried working on my side, but I couldn't see what I was doing, plus I needed my hands to reach up and connect the hoses.

We had an old pillow, one possibly bound for Brutus's dog house. Hmm. Why not?



I'm certain Brutus didn't care if I borrowed it and certainly, my back was extremely grateful.

All went quite well until I ran into a washer, the wrong size, that had been included. Try as I may to make it fit, it wouldn't.  In the end, I went out to the shop, found a thinner one, cut it to size, and the rest is history.

The lever used to turn the water on has since been moved to the right side.

Sargie inspected her newest fixture upon our arrival home from Iron Mountain last night and was delighted. Check another one off the list.

I may not have had to drive to town for parts while installing the faucet, but I made plenty of trips to the shop for one tool or the other.

Neighbor Mike called from Marquette during the late morning and asked if I would start a fire in the stove at his camp and get the place warmed up. They were on their way from Marquette.

While there, I saw a piece of maple in his indoor stack of firewood and my mind began to turn. It was tiny, but perfect. Hmm, how about a mini bowl? It looked perfect.

I returned home with the stick and headed to the shop. It wasn't long before I was back at Mike's with the miniature bowl in hand.

I set it on their dining room table for Germaine with a note telling them that a mere hour and a half before, the wood from which the bowl was turned had been bound for their wood stove. 

I left mid afternoon for my eye appointment in Iron Mountain. I really didn't want to see the eye doctor. Personally, he's a wonderful guy, but I wasn't too anxious to hear what he had to say after the examination.

In the end, it wasn't that bad. In fact, the news was pretty good. There's still enough vision in one eye that I can legally drive, at least during the daylight hours, and Doc said, considering it all, I'm holding my own in the vision department.

The right eye has deteriorated somewhat, but the left eye hasn't greatly changed. There are some issues with this, that, and the other, but then I knew that before going in. After dilating the eyes and a thorough exam, I learned the macular degeneration has advanced somewhat, but it's mostly being held at bay, probably because of the large regimen of AHRED vitamins I inhale daily, the only known thing to slow down the advance of the disease.

I got a new prescription for glasses. These will have progressive lenses rather than trifocals with lines. He prescribed the progressive so that the strongest magnifier can be ground into the glass for reading. I don't understand it, but Sargie does so that's all that important. 

So, the long and short of it all, is that the exam went well. Life is good!

We grabbed a burger on the way home and made a detour to Mike and Germaine's for a quick visit. They were down for the night and will be returning to Marquette later today.

We're especially excited that, beginning tomorrow, Sargie has three days away from the Vision Center. After only one day off in the past eleven, she'll have the opportunity to take some time for herself. 

Plans? Other than going to Ross and Holly's to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, we have none, just as we like it.

I think I'll head back up the steps and snuggle in with Sargie for a while before it's time to officially get up for the day. I'll be riding to Iron Mountain later with her to get the Blazer and plan to have the oil changed while I'm in town. 

Otherwise, it'll be a day like most the others, doing laundry, fiddling around in the shop, and of course, thinking deep thoughts.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Neighbor Mike and me