"These are the times that try men's souls...."
Thomas Paine

October 28, 2017 - Saturday

33 degrees/intermittent snow/rain/windy

Pentoga Road

I just received an email from my Pennsylvania  friends, Norriene and Jim. She sent a hastily written note from the Washington DC airport saying they are on their way to Cancun for a couple of weeks then will fly further south to experience even more fun in the sun. Geesh, that girl sure knows how to rub it in, especially when I'm sitting here by the wood stove, looking out the window, watching the rain and snow blow sideways.

I don't mind rain and really, snow doesn't bother me. It's the rain and mist accompanied by temperatures barely above freezing that can be irksome. The current conditions are much like Sitka's rainy, wintry, weather. At this stage of the season, I'm grateful it's in the liquid form, but what we've been experiencing the past few days  can only be described as miserable. 

In my younger days, I lived and traveled on snowmobile above the arctic circle and endured months of frigid temperatures, often caught out for days on end when the thermometer registered forty below zero or lower. I remember being cold, to the point of having to be treated several times for frostbite, but I can't recall being chilled to the bone.

There's a difference between being cold or chilled. I prefer the cold, preferrably stirred, not shaken. It's not nearly as miserable.

Hey, we're luckier than many. If Sargie or I feel either, we only have to throw another log on the fire. It ain't all bad!

Friday was, indeed, a cold and rainy day. The last I checked, 1.6 inches of liquid precipitation had fallen over the past thirty six hours.

I spent the majority of Friday in the shop. The first item on the agenda was to finish the cover for the air conditioning unit. 

Assembling the top and painting it wasn't overly difficult, just time consuming. I'll take it to Holly and Ross's the next time I go to Iron Mountain.

The rest of the day was spent simply piddling around. I painted pieces of a puzzle meant for one of the grandbabies.

Painting is my least favorite part of making puzzles. Seems no matter how careful I am, paint ends up going everywhere, mostly on me. Another fifteen pieces or so and this puzzle will be finished and ready to ship out.

The late afternoon was spent surfing the internet, looking for patterns to use in the shop, coming up with ideas for Christmas presents, and once, maybe twice, I might have closed my eyes for a few minutes. Sitting next to the warm stove with the wind howling and the rain beating down on the metal roof overhead, it was easy to occasionally doze off.

That's what grandpa's are supposed to do, you know, on cold, wet, miserable days. It's written somewhere in the Grandpa Handbook.

Sargie was home early Friday evening. We had leftover stew for supper and caught up on some of this past week's recordings on DVR. 

Sargie's off for the next two days. Other than wrestling the spikes and other plants down the basement steps, I'm not sure what, if anything, is on the agenda. The backhoe needs to be wrapped and the fishing boat turned over. Maybe I'll do those tomorrow. Today's weather is to be windy, rainy, and cold... again.

I just heard the coffee pot beep which means it's time to pour that all important first cup of the morning. It's one of life's many small pleasures that I've come to appreciate... well, that and taking the mandatory, rainy-day, grandpa nap.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...