Old fashioned single petal peonies just like Grandma Reinhardt grew in her yard over sixty years ago.

June 26,  2017 - Monday
47 degrees/cloudy skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

Mom is officially 90 years old today! Though we celebrated last weekend, I wish Sargie and I could be with her today and take her out to one of her favorite restaurants, Red Lobster. 

S'cuse me for a moment.

Maestro, please....

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to youuu
Happy birthday dear Mamaaa
Happy birthday toooo YOOOOOUUUUU!!!!!

Again, happy 90th birthday Mama. We love you!

Let's see... almost 3.5 inches of rain has fallen in the past thirty-six hours. Anybody need an inch or two of precipitation? I'd be happy to give you some of ours.

Despite poor conditions and muddy ground, I was in the garden first thing Sunday morning. It's been a long time since I've pawed around in the mud pulling weeds. It wasn't fun, but I couldn't let them take over my garden.

Half of the Jack Be Little pumpkin plants were washed away in last week's flood. 

The potatoes are certainly thriving. I've never had tops as large as these and can only hope the plants have bottoms to match. 

A giant pumpkin plant is finally sending out a runner. The condition of the surrounding soil makes me sick. The running water carried away all the top soil and compost I've worked so hard to develop over the years leaving little other than gravel.



 It's a challenging growing year, that's for sure.

Seeing Sargie off to work late in the morning, I moved into the shop where I finally figured out a way to mount the cup I'd made on Saturday.



The jaws (left) on the lathe open and close and can be used either way. I merely opened them into the cup so it could be held, then turned the base down small enough that it too could be clamped into the jaws. 

I worked for sometime on the bowl/cup and turned the walls down and made the base much thinner. In the end, I was much happier with the outcome than the work of the day before.

I've been fiddling around on a natural birch... stick (for lack of a better word) and finished it yesterday. The biggest challenge was turning the inside even though the exterior wasn't round. Doing so made the walls uneven, but hey, the entire piece is anything but even.



Another challenge was to let the piece sit for several months for the wood to shrink and dry, then apply glue and let it run between the bark and wood so it wouldn't peel away.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with this thing, but it was a great challenge and fun to make. It would make a great pencil holder for a person who wants a piece of the North Woods sitting on his desk.

The grass was finally dry enough to mow. I could hear thunder rumbling off in the distance, but I didn't let that stop me.

Thankfully, the rain held off long enough that the yard could be finished. 

It rained and rained and rained. There's 3.4 inches of water sitting in the rain gauge, the amount that's fallen over the past thirty-six hours.

Sargie was home early from the Vision Center. I popped huge bowls of popcorn and we enjoyed an evening in front of the television doing absolutely nothing other than chomping, watching, and talking.

Poor Sargie closes tonight. I have some errands to run in town today, but otherwise, I imagine I'll be back in the shop. It's what we old retired guys do on rainy days.

Peonies surrounded by asparagus fronds in the garden

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

I wanted to get the side yard mowed before water begins to flow through again.