It's looking like fall in the Upper Peninsula

September 5, 2017 - Tuesday

48 degrees/cloudy/windy

Pentoga Road

If the colors are any indication, we're going to have an early fall and winter.

Lush, plush, green is quickly being replaced by fading yellows and vivid orange and reds. We're entering a beautiful time of the year.

For the most part, Monday was a lazy affair on Pentoga Road. Neither Sargie or I felt the need to do anything useful. I spent most the morning just piddling around, finishing putting odds and ends away from Sunday's gathering, and really, not doing much of anything constructive.

Pointing the car towards a large lake west of Iron River, we went for our ride shortly after lunch, stopping several times along the way to take pictures. It was a cool and beautiful day.

It's too bad a camera can't convey the real beauty of still life. Of course, my little pocket camera's not made to produce professional results, but even my high end Nikon can't match the real thing.

It was interesting to observe how the other half live. After seeing some lake homes costing in the upper hundred's of thousands of dollars, we wonder where people get all their money. Iron County is the poorest in the Upper Peninsula, yet there are those who magically come up with enough money to purchase ultra luxury lake homes. 

Sargie and I must be doing something wrong. A retired school teacher and an optician just don't make that kind of money. Oh well, I'd be willing to bet we're happier than most who live in their mansions around the area's lakes.

Back home, I began working on the red four wheeler. My first chore was to finish repairing the windshield. 

It's quite old and has grown brittle and prone to cracking.  I used the arctic fix, drilling small holes on each side of the crack, then using thin, yet flexible, wire to bring the two sides together. The final step is to smear epoxy over the entire break. I did the same on my Tundra snowmobile while living above the arctic circle and the repair was still good when I left several years later.

I next turned my attentions to the brackets that hold the snow plow. Evidently someone had run up on a boulder at some time. 

Try as I may, I couldn't get the brackets bent completely back into place. After much fuss, pounding, and swearing, I hoisted the ATV onto two wheels so I could take a better look.

Two C clamps were snapped in an attempt to bend the heavy steel. In the end, I used the maul and some hefty swings, also a new bolt or two, and even some wire, to put everything back into place.

I still need to change the oil and filter before cold weather sets in and the machine should be ready to plow snow.

Last night was another lazy one. As always, Sargie's two days away from the Vision Center flew by entirely too quickly.

After she leaves this morning, I'll wait for a delivery of fuel oil. The two-hundred and fifty gallon tank is over half empty. At $2.99 a gallon, it's not going to be cheap, but I can't complain. Since we use mostly wood for heat, it took four years to burn that half tank of fuel oil. 

I should also call the furnace man and make arrangements for him to get our furnace going. Even after adding the conditioner to the existing fuel oil, it still shuts off on its own. I think the fuel filter is clogged. It's never been changed in the eight years since I bought the house. I'll have him go over the whole system to be sure it's safe and reliable.

What I really should do today is crawl up on the roof and clean the flue. Assuming it's not raining, I may do that. With a high of 52 forecast, it's time to get the wood stove fired up.

There's one thing of which I'm certain. Before anything happens, I'm going to refill my coffee cup and listen to the news.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Mommy sent a picture of our girl, Isabella, enjoying a big ol' ear of sweet corn.