Jerad "Crash" Stauber, my little buddy and Yooper Brother Mark's son, getting ready to enter the arena for the 2017 Iron County Fair's Demolition Derby

August 13, 2017 - Sunday morning
57 degrees/high clouds/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Our hearts are still racing after watching Jerad race and the rest of last night's demolition derby, but more about that in a bit.

Saturday was an active one on Pentoga Road. First came several loads of laundry.

With the washer gently swishing back and forth, I gathered an ice cream pail and made my way to the blueberry patch.

I always think the current harvest will be the last for the year.



Someone must be going out in the middle of the night and super gluing more berries onto the bushes. I've picked between six and seven gallons so far this summer from fourteen plants.

After almost two hours of picking, I moved my attentions to mowing the lawns and the front paths.

It's absolutely crazy how green everything is for this time of the year. Usually by mid August, the grass is brown and has quit growing. Not this year.

Yooper Brother Mark had said he'd be out mid afternoon to pick me up for the evening's demolition derby. There was still enough time to begin working on the large pile of sand and gravel that was delivered on Friday.

I cleared a path with the backhoe large enough so the Ford tractor can be used to push some of the fill forty feet back to the rear of the area.



Rain is in the forecast for a couple of days this week and I'd like to get the area leveled as soon as possible.

Mark arrived like clockwork and our first stop was at Jerad's where the last minute touches were being made to ol' # 88.

Jerad and his buddy, Kyle, working on a gas tank. Very little gas is allowed in a demolition car for obvious reasons.

NASCAR has nothing on this beauty. Stripped to the bare essentials, Jerad had his little compact Chevy looking pretty, primed, and ready.

Once in the pit area at the fairgrounds, I took over as supervisor of the pit crew. Since Jerad was the driver, our crew consisted of two, Mark and me.

My crew chief's main duty was to cook the brats.

I kept my finger on the pulse of the activities by sitting under a portable canopy and swigging pop or water, mostly talking and checking out the competition.

I heard one of the drivers, upon exiting an adjacent porta potty, proclaim that it smelled so good he could "hunt deer and use it at the same time." 

In the UP, that's the ultimate porta potty compliment.

The various heats began. I walked into the track area and observed one car being towed away.

You can tell this is logging country. While most derbies use a wrecker, we utilize a skidder.

I received a text from Sargie. She'd made good time getting home from work and was sitting with Sheri in the stands. It was time to rock n' roll.

Time was drawing nigh. Though he put on a brave face, one could see that our driver had laid all his cards on the table.

It was go big or go home. 

Last minute words of wisdom from Dad which were, "Have fun!"

Entering the track to the roar of millions

 Jerad delivered a crushing blow at break neck speed.

He didn't need that plastic cover on his back bumper.

Jerad did really well until some sneaky son of a gun rammed him in the right passenger side. 

Part of the electronics in the dash fell onto Jerad's lap and the car shut down. His derby was over for another year.



I could tell from our post race talk that Jerad is already making plans for next year's demolition derby. Though disappointed, his eyes lit up when talking about the future. 

Sargie's off today. She has plans to paint the downstair's bathroom. I'm going to get this uploaded then begin picking green beans. Since there's rain in the forecast for a couple of days this week, I'd like to finish getting the fill spread so I can order the storage container.

But first, I'm off to eat one of Joanne's famous chocolate chip cookies for breakfast that arrived in yesterday's mail. 

Joanne does a lot of things really well, but quite possibly, what she does best is bake chocolate chip cookies. Famous Amos has nothing on Aunt Joanne!

Enough talk. Time to sneak a cookie!

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

One of the few pumpkins that, due to the cold weather and rain, actually pollinated this year.
The variety is Big Moon.