Our entire apple crop from the Wolf River tree 

September 15, 2017 - Friday

60 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

That's right, I can hold this year's apple crop in one hand. The seven year old Macintosh apple tree that was counted on to produce this year's bumper crop snapped in two during one of last spring's storms. The other two trees had few blossoms and produced little or nothing. 

There's also been a change of plans concerning the Wolf River apple tree growing alongside the greenhouse.

It was supposed to be a dwarf tree. 

April Fools!!

Turned out it's full sized and won't quit growing until it's twenty, thirty, forty (?) feet tall. 

As of last spring, I was going to use the backhoe and move the Wolf River to replace the tree that blew over in the storm. What I didn't count on was that it would double in size this summer. It ain't goin' nowhere.

There'll be some major changes happening this winter after the tree goes dormant. With some creative pruning, I'm planning on letting it grow over the top of the greenhouse. If nothing else, it'll be a conversation piece.

After riding back to Iron Mountain with Sargie Thursday morning, I ran several errands while in town. The first stop was at a ten minute Jiffy Lube type place to have the oil changed in the Kia.

After stops at Home Depot and the Vision Center, I finally made my way home.

 It was almost noon before I arrived back on Pentoga Road and immediately got busy trying to repair the drive. Work was done along one side, filling in some low places. 

Now that it's finished, I don't like anything about it. The blacktop patch doesn't match the surface of the existing drive at all. I'm not certain what the next step will be, but something different has to be done.

Next was to power wash part of the drive in preparation of applying sealer.

Once dry, I covered the neediest places with the thick gooey tar-like liquid first, those sections that suffered from a rash of frost heaves last spring. Unfortunately, the application came out in a patchwork fashion so I'll purchase another five gallons of sealer before cold weather arrives to make the area look a bit nicer.

I have the drive professionally sealed every other year and it's due next summer, but I wanted to cover the worst of the hairline cracks before snow and ice arrive. Better safe than sorry.

I remember several years ago when the pavement was new, smooth and evenly colored. As the frost goes out of the ground each spring, new cracks appear. If they aren't filled, snow melts and fills them with water, then freezes again, causing the cracks to open even further and eventually, the blacktop can break apart. That's not an option.

Sargie was home early last night and we enjoyed a quiet evening. She opens today but thankfully, has tomorrow off before returning to work on Sunday.

Today? I am going to play in the shop. First will come enrolling in Etsy, making my own online store. After, I plan to begin turning a bowl or perhaps work on a scroll saw piece... or I might just do both! 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

A blueberry bush is beginning to display fall colors