The garden as seen from the air

June 22, 2017 - Thursday

60 degrees/high overcast/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It seemed kind of strange on Wednesday to have the entire house, yard, and garden to myself. None-the-less, I had no trouble finding plenty to do and the day passed quickly.

I started pulling pictures from the drone footage shot last Monday. They give a different perspective to the place.

I was most interested in footage of the garden. Josh was good at flying the drone overhead and getting what I wanted.

Opposite the garden is the orchard

Who'd have thought just a few years ago that a person would have the capability of taking aerial shots of his own home and surrounding area.

Unreal.

Speaking of garden, I worked in mine until well after noontime.

Everything needed weeding with some beds worse than others. I also spent quite a bit of time thinning the beets and rutabagas. About half of each is finished and that chore should be completed tomorrow.

I'm not the only person having garden problems this year. Luke sent a picture of one of his raised beds that is in shambles. Seems a snapping turtle crawled up from the nearby river and decided to lay her eggs in the soft soil.

Luke said there were turtle eggs everywhere, poor substitutes for fresh summer vegetables.

To digress: We ate turtle eggs years ago when the boys were small. The eggs were delicious and tasted much like chicken eggs only were all yoke with little or no whites. We were poor then, really poor. My teaching salary was well under five figures and if it walked, flew, or swam, it was fair game for the table. 

Meanwhile:

Luke also sent a picture of Coleman in his lacrosse uniform. My oldest grandson scored the first goal for his team this season and also the last goal in the final game of the year.

With lacrosse over, Coleman will be attending football camp next week. He's a busy boy, but Mommy and Daddy are even busier keeping up with their munchkins' activities.

Yooper Brother Mark and Isabella came out for a visit the night before last. Sargie and I took the liberty of shooting a few pictures while they were here.

Isabella loves her Uncle Tom and Auntie Sargie...

... but Grandpa's Number One!

I was delighted to discover that Mom's car, our new one, fits in the barn. A couple of hours were spent late Wednesday afternoon rearranging and planning on how to make enough space so we can keep the car under cover, especially during the winter months.

We plan for the Equinox to be our Grandma/Grandpa traveling car, to take us to far away and exotic places so we can visit our grandbabies, relatives, and friends. Who knows, someday it might even head south during the winter season for a few weeks at a time.

Barely 30,000 miles are registered on the odometer and other than an occasional Sunday drive or short jaunt to keep the gas and tires fresh, we intend to keep it that way until Sargie's finished working and we are able to travel.

As of now, I'm planning on erecting a portable garage to house the four wheelers, mower, lawn sweeper and chipper, enabling the Blazer to also be kept in the barn.

I also spent some time measuring and calculating how much lumber will be needed for the addition to the shop. I hope to begin building in the next couple of weeks.

Poor Sargie didn't arrive home until almost 10 last night. I'm afraid it will be the same today. Working short handed and without a manager, the Vision Center reminds me of a ship without a rudder. It's operating, but seems to be occasionally floundering, even in calm seas. 

I'm going to finish weeding the garden today and thinning the beets and rutabagas. Some serious work needs to be done on one side of the waterfalls of the pond where erosion has taken place. That will require removing all the heavy rocks, filling in the empty areas, then laying black plastic before replacing the rocks and boulders. I may wait until Sargie's off to help as it could be a two person job.

Meanwhile, it's about time to wake Sargie and get her going for the day.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Lupines, with peonies blooming in the background