The fall colors are quickly fading

 October 13, 2017 - Friday
51 degrees/cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

There's not a whole lot to write about this morning. Thursday turned out to be cloudy, misty, and chilly. Basically, it was a miserable day.  

The morning was spent running errands locally and the afternoon in the shop. I stopped to do some banking and who did I run into? The Vice President of Wells Fargo in the UP, Macrea.

One thing that made me proud, in front of several tellers and the bank manager, Macrea interrupted his meeting, rose to his feet, and greeted me with a big hug. 

I like that. I like that a lot.

My sons are the same. It matters not who might be around to see them hug me or someone they truly care for. 

Real men aren't afraid to display their feelings and yesterday, Macrea showed himself to be just that.  

The majority of Thursday was spent working on the bluegill in the shop.

Each inside cut required that I loosen the blade on the top clamp, thread it through a hole from the underside, then fasten it back into place. It's time consuming to say the least.



I used a wood burner for the first time in my short woodworking career to emphasize the gill covers and some of the fins.

The piece is still a work in progress and needs to be sanded and stained before it's mounted onto a background.

I also took some time to sand the pine bowl/Jack-o-lantern and began turning a lid which will be the hat. The jury's out on this woodpile project with the distinct possibility that it could still wind up in the stove.

Though the container looks fairly nice in the above picture, in reality, it's turned from an old chunk of pine that was full of flaky resin and filled with cracks. I've spent twice the time gluing and sanding as I did turning. Thankfully, it will be painted so most the imperfections should be covered... and that's if the thing doesn't fall apart in my hands first.

Sargie was home early last night and we enjoyed grilled pork steaks and winter squash from last year's garden. Unfortunately, Sargie and I both agreed that we ate entirely too much. As Mom says, it was a stick-to-your-ribs type meal.

Sargie opens this morning. Depending on what the weather is doing, I'd like to go for my walk, either three or five miles, enough to get the blood flowing. After, I plan to spend the day turning, sanding, painting, and sitting in front of the scroll saw. If it's not raining, I might try to get some growing beds cleaned in the garden.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...