Thursday's big news? I ordered some new hiking boots.
I think I got my money's worth out of the old ones.

January 25, 2018 - Thursday evening
21 degrees/partly cloudy skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

Thanks to those who reminded me it was time for the quarterly hiatus to end. Other than being with Sargie, I'm by nature, a solitary guy, but it feels good to know I'm surrounded by the Pentoga Tales family, no matter how distant you may be. 

Well, there's that and the fact that I didn't want Freddie sticking pins in a voodoo doll in an effort to get me off my lazy literary behind. (Freddie and his beautiful bride are friends who live just down the road from Mississippi Brother Garry and Miss Jody.) 

So let's see, what's happened this past week? Honestly, I can't remember what happened ten minutes ago, let alone eight days past. 

With a large snowstorm promised last weekend, Sargie and I took advantage of a warm afternoon and worked to clear the drive of any ice.



The snowstorm turned out to be a bust. At one point, twelve to eighteen inches had been mentioned. 

Yeah, sure. 

Supposedly we received five inches, but I'm not sure it was that much. 

I spent the next day clearing snow off the greenhouse and pruning the fruit trees.



For whatever reason, I'd completely forgotten about this season's ice and snow build up sitting on the light poly panels. Thankfully no harm was done.



I've had to take some drastic measures in pruning the apple tree growing by the greenhouse. 



Of the Wolf River variety, it was supposed to be a semi dwarf tree, just large enough to throw some shade onto the greenhouse without covering it.

Someone lied. The Wolf River turned out to be a full size tree and at eight years of age, it's just now beginning to take off.

I've been pruning it yearly in an attempt to train the thing to grow away from the greenhouse. I don't want to brag yet, but it's looking as though I might be winning the arbor war.

Sargie's doing really well. After years of working five days a week and seldom five in a row, it appears that at her request, she is being scheduled to work just four. It won't always work out that way week after week, but after years of laboring for long and odd hours, we'll take any extra day off she can get. 

Neighbor Mike and I spent some time ice fishing.

I can't say we had bad luck, but be sure to ask Mike about the one that got away. I'm sure it's grown by several pounds and multiple inches this past week.

Several solo ice fishing expeditions were taken and I finally found the fish. (NOTE: I didn't say catch fish, but I found where they are hiding.)

I'm especially happy with my entire ice fishing set up. The Tundra and Clam fit side by side neatly into the trailer along with the auger. It's just a matter of driving to which ever lake I want to fish.

We installed Neighbor Mike's plow and the boy finally got the opportunity to push some snow.

With a high end Moose plow and electric winch, he has the perfect snow removal rig. There's not a thing wrong with my four wheeler and plow, but I'll admit, I'm a bit envious. My plow is raised and lowered manually, not at the push of a button. 

I've been working in the shop daily. My last project was to fashion something from the natural maple log I'd hollowed out on the lathe a couple of weeks ago.

What to make? What to make?

I began by turning flowers on the lathe, in this instance, zinnia-type blooms.

It took some practice and a very sharp chisel. In the end, I put a sharp bevel on an old screw driver and made my own flower turning tool.

Next came turning a bird. 

The body and head were turned separately and attached later. The biggest challenge was getting the beak just right.

Finally I turned a couple of mushrooms. 

In the end, I took paintbrush in hand and made Sargie a center piece, something that, I hoped, would remind her of the warm summer ahead.

Sargie just called on her way home from work and said she's in Alpha, just a few miles away. I'd better wrap up here and heat some leftover chili  for supper.

Although I was happy to be away from writing for a few days, I have to admit, it feels good to be back in the saddle.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Think Sargie is trying to tell me something? I wonder if she realizes the G is upside down?