Happy Third Birthday, Isabella!

October 8, 2017 - Sunday

48 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I'm enjoying the pictures and videos Yooper Brother Grandpa Mark is sending back from Wyoming. Saturday was Isabella's special day and how better to celebrate than have a birthday party with all three and four year olds in attendance!

To say Saturday was a rainy day would be a gross understatement.

Two and four-tenths inches had fallen by day's end. Thankfully, the next several are to be dry.

After doing laundry and making a quick trip into town to take advantage of a one day sale at the grocery store, I came home and spent the rest of the day in the shop.

This piece was cut from a pine fence post

I've been thinking of making a covered bowl in a pumpkin head. Why? I think it's because I can.

Turning the bowl was fairly simple but time consuming due to the soft wood. It was the hat (lid) that took some planning and measuring.

I like lids to fit fairly snug which means I turn and/or sand a little, measure, turn, measure, and it goes on and on.

In the end, that phase was finished and I could add the basic layers of paint.

Since water tends to be wet and the air was filled with it yesterday, it took forever for the paint to dry.

The pumpkin was brought inside and I'll finish painting sometime today. I also turned another normal pumpkin blank. There should be enough Jack-o-lanterns to take to the consignment shop tomorrow.

The rain paused long enough so I could run to the garden and feed the goldfish. I noticed the Boston Marrow winter squash have finally turned a deep, dark, orange, and are ready to bring inside to finish curing. 

Each squash weighs in the thirty lb range

They taste best when the starch begins to turn to sugar making them very sweet and delicious. It will be Christmas or later before they're ready. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing absolutely nothing. I remember watching a rerun of something or the other, Hogan's Hero's, I think, when I made the mistake of sitting back in the recliner. The next thing I knew, it was an hour later. With the heat on in the shop and the rain hitting the metal roof overhead, it was difficult to keep my eyes open.

Sargie was home early last night. We enjoyed a supper of rainy day comfort food, fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. The rest of the evening was spent watching television and relaxing.

Sargie's off today. I think we're heading over to Iron Mountain later this afternoon to watch Grady play soccer. With plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures forecast, it should be a perfect day for watching a bunch of three year olds run up and down the field.

Time to get to the shop and paint faces on a couple of pumpkins.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...