Mommy (Mel) shared this picture of Grady.
Wonder if he'd answer to Ham Man?

June 30, 2017 - Friday
58 degrees/rain/calm winds
Pentoga Road

I'm up early this morning as we're expecting Isabella to arrive shortly after 7 AM. Though I offered to drive to town to get her, Sheri said she'd probably settle into the idea of spending the day on Pentoga Road if Grandma brought her out. We're ready.

The majority of Thursday was spent in the shop. I rode with Sargie first thing to Iron Mountain so I could have the oil changed in both the Kia and Blazer. We're fairly religious about keeping regular oil changes in both vehicles as each has well over a hundred thousand miles showing on the odometer. In fact, the Kia will turn over two-hundred thousand before summer's end. 

I stopped to see Sargie before leaving town. With the Vision Center short handed, she worked alone until 11 Thursday morning.



I noticed a new sign in Walmart. It's pretty self explanatory.

My question is where are they going to find someone who works at Walmart in Iron Mountain, Michigan, to speak Punjabi? I doubt they'll have much more success with Farsi or Vietnamese. No doubt, the translation would be conducted by phone or video from a central office.

Once home, I did a quick spot check on the garden between rain showers and was overjoyed to see that one of the remaining giant pumpkin plants has the beginnings of a female blossom!

The little yellow dot is the start of a giant pumpkin. Only 699 pounds, 15.5 ounces, to go before the first frost!

It's extremely unusual for a female blossom to be the first on a plant and now I'm worried there won't be a male available to fertilize it when the time comes. Oh well, we have a week, possibly ten days before it will be ready for pollination. Hopefully some young male flower will step forth and volunteer. Isn't that what every young guy dreams about? 

The rest of the day was spent in the shop. My first task was to work on the plate/bowl... whatever it is. I spent quite a bit of time turning over the course of the day, something I really enjoyed.



The wood cleared the bed of the lathe by a mere fraction of an inch and is the largest piece possible that can be turned on that particular machine. 

I especially love the grain. Hard to believe that I fished the piece of birch out of the junk wood bin and saved it from being burned in the wood stove. It's been sitting on my work bench for the past several months and I grew tired of moving it.



I still have several layers of polyurethane to apply, more buffing, etc., but otherwise, I think I'll call the piece finished. It'll either get sold or be someone's birthday or Christmas present.

Most of the day was spent sitting in front of the scroll saw working on a Fourth of July piece.

 

The letters will be accentuated and carved by hand and then the entire piece mounted over a red, white, and blue, background. 

Sargie walked in last night with Hambone in tow. He ate a big supper and was happy to watch a dance show on DVR along with his old grandparents. He even told us he when he had to go potty, so to celebrate, we had bowls of ice cream. Grady chose to have both chocolate AND vanilla. The kid leads a wild culinary life.

Later, just before bed, he demonstrated his dance moves to Sargie and me. One thing I'll say, the kid can shake, rattle, and roll. His favorite dance tune before saying his prayers and going to bed is now the Beer Barrel Polka. 

Isabella's due to arrive within an hour. Grady was excited last night that he'll have someone to play with all day.

Supposedly there's only a 20% chance of rain, but some type of liquid is hitting the roof as I write and I don't believe there's a flock of birds flying over. Armed with trikes and sidewalk chalk, trucks and toys, we're ready for an action packed day. Now if the weather will only cooperate.

Time for another cup of coffee and get this munchkin-filled day on the road.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Our evening snack after supper was popcorn. Hambone told me his daddy also makes really really good popcorn.