The birdbath fountain, the one dedicated to those children who passed much too early in life, was set up Monday afternoon. Let summer begin!

June 6, 2017 - Tuesday

40 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

What's this? According to the calendar, it's supposed to be summer. I have the small heater running and will turn the oil furnace on half an hour before Sargie gets up so the house will be warm. Meanwhile, I'm sporting a heavy flannel shirt while wearing shorts and am barefoot, but have a blanket covering my legs. 

Hey, this boy's making a practical and functional Pentoga Road fashion statement with just a dash of perkiness that displays a bit of spunk and early summer fun. 

Neighbor Mike and I left for the lake on Monday morning as soon as Sargie pulled out of the drive for work. 

The lake, due to inches and inches of rain, is about three to four feet higher than normal and we were able to fish coves and other places that are normally high and dry.

And fish we did!

 The jumbo bluegills are moving onto their spawning nests and using fly rods and/or light spinning tackle, the action was fast and furious.



We were only gone for a couple of hours and returned home with close to our limit of fish. 

Mike and Germaine.
I didn't realize there was a big water spot in the middle of the lens that blurred most of the pictures throughout the day.

I spent well over an hour cleaning fish, but it will be well worth it when Mom, Sargie, and I, sit down for a humongous fish fry this next week.

The rest of the morning and a goodly part of the afternoon was spent cleaning the front first floor windows. One needs a degree in mechanical engineering to remove the storm windows and screens, clean everything, then fit them back into the frames. 

Windows finished, I moved my attentions to getting the patio furniture down from over the shop. Each piece had to be pressure washed and wiped.

The wooden swing and chairs were brought out from in back of the barn and washed. 

 

I'd purchased a new fountain for Sargie late last winter, one that needed to be assembled.

I swear that I'm going to apply for a job as an instructional writer. I have no idea who the Chinese get to write their assembly directions, but for a nominal fee, I'd be happy to translate them into some sort of English that a native speaker can understand. 

In the end, Sargie's new fountain was assembled and water is now pouring from the pump into the underneath buckets.

Sargie was home by mid evening last night and we had a quiet evening. She closes tonight making it a long day.

I'm going to wash the bedroom windows upstairs this morning then retire from the window washing business. I'm tired of pushing my nose onto the panes of glass in an effort to see places I missed. 

The lawn, mowed just last Thursday, is once again ankle high. It's time to get out the trusty/rusty Cub Cadet and cut the grass. I'll leave the trimming until next week, just before Mom's party, so everyone will think our lawn looks like a well manicured golf course 24/7 all summer long. Doesn't everyone's?

I leave tomorrow morning, Wednesday, from Iron Mountain International for Minneapolis then onto Indianapolis and will eventually end up in Terre Haute, Indiana. My sister, Barb, will meet me at the airport and take me to Mom's. 

I wish I'd get in early enough to see the girls, members of Mom's girl gang, those who I dined with nightly and made me feel so much at home while Mom was in the hospital earlier this spring. They are sweethearts, each and every one. 

As of now, we're planning on heading north early Thursday morning and should arrive back on Pentoga Road well before dark Thursday afternoon. It's going to be a Tom/Mom road trip!

Coffee's done and it's about time to wake Barbi Blaze up for the day so she might don her super hero optician lab coat and go save the eyeballs of America.

After all, a man's work (and seemingly that of an optician's) is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...