September 2, 2017 - Saturday

49 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It looks as though the pattern of rain is going to continue later today. Almost half an inch is forecast, but thankfully, it's to end tonight and Sunday is predicted to be a nice day.

The garden endured some frost/freeze damage in the wee hours of Friday morning, but overall, escaped in fairly good shape. The pumpkin plants have a few leaves that are wilted, but it appears they will live to grow a few more days. At this juncture, the pumpkins and squash need every frost free day that can be squeezed from this growing season. Three or four pumpkins look to be in the twenty to thirty pound range with several much smaller. I'd estimate the giant pumpkin weighs around seventy-five pounds, not much of a giant.

I'm having to work hard this year to get little Sasha the perfect pumpkin to carve. Our niece is a pumpkin carving artist and always produces a piece of art fit for a gallery. There's no mere mere snaggy toothed Jack-o-lantern for that girl.

Speaking of Sasha, I just happened to think that she and Alex will be getting married at the end of this month. Both are great kids. The world could use a few more just like them. 

After a quick trip to town Friday morning to purchase a can of fuel oil additive, I returned home and began trimming and mowing the lawn.

Ordinarily, I'd have waited a few more days, but with rain forecast for today and the Mighty Milligan Family Labor Day Celebration tomorrow, I decided to mow. 

I'm glad I did. The weather was perfect, 65 degrees, breezy, and sunny. 

The yard, meadows, and trails were all groomed.

Fresh back from his corporate office in New York State, Yooper Brother Mark stopped by for a quick visit on his way home from the airport. As Vice President of NEPCO, the corporation he works for, the boy has been all over the eastern half of the US... splitting his time between the UP and their facilities in Kentucky and New York.

I finally finished mowing late Friday afternoon and don't mind telling you, Tommy P was a tired boy. 

... just sitting here thinking in these predawn hours.

I used to secretly laugh at the old guys when they'd complain of being tired after a day of work. I was never going to be like them. Somehow, in my foolish youth, I elevated myself to physically be something above a mere mortal. Becoming exhausted and wearing out at the end of the day was what others did, certainly not me.

Secretly laughing at old, tired, guys at the end of a long day of work isn't nearly as funny as it used to be. 

The only person I'm laughing at is myself.

Mississippi Brother Garry and I were talking a couple of days ago about it and we both agree that it's too bad youth is wasted on the young. 

Amen.

I received wonderful news Friday morning that my near infrared eye treatments should begin sometime next week. Needless to say, I'm excited. Put me in coach, I'm ready to play and let's face it, I got nuthin' to lose.

Sargie closed last night and opens this morning. It's been a long haul for her. Thankfully, she has Sunday and Monday off.

Today is an inside day. I told Sargie I'd scrub the wood floors and do some other goodies to get ready for Sunday's gathering. One of the more important chores is preparing the pork loin for the smoker. I'll coat it with a layer of my secret herbs and spices (in this house, we pronounced the "h" in herbs, a professorial thing that I do to make other's want to correct me) and then there are eighty-jillion hamburgers to make. 

So, I guess I ought to put the computer away and get Sargie's lunch packed and breakfast ready. It looks to be an action-packed day.

A bit of time was spent Friday arranging the storage container so the bigger machinery can be removed without taking out everything in front of it. On dollies, the snowmobile was brought towards the front. 
You can tell where my priorities lie!

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...