That's right. In our spare time, Sargie and I have a large booth at a farmer's market in Applegate, Oregon. I raise the produce, Sargie makes the jams, and bakes the pastries and pies.

June 10, 2018 - Sunday

54 degrees/sunny/breezy

Pentoga Road

Thanks to Jan and Uncle Bobby for sending today's opening picture. The two are taking a break away from Sitka and enjoying a road trip in the Northwest. Hopefully, they'll point their car to the east someday and make it to the upper Midwest!

Brother-in-law, Ross, sent a picture of some activity happening in their back yard located on Crystal Lake in Iron Mountain. Seems Mama Goose has built a nest nearby and has a clutch of little ones that follow her everywhere she goes.

Talk about exciting, Saturday was a thriller. I spent most the day prying rocks from the front yard.

A neighbor asked if I was digging potatoes this early in the season. This one would have been a blue ribbon winner at our county fair.

The yard is looking so nice that I didn't want to use the backhoe and make a big mess, so I opted to utilize the pry bar/shovel method.

I enjoy the garden, but growing rocks is my specialty.

Since just a bit of each boulder was showing above the ground, I originally hoped they might be small. That was wishful thinking.

Rather than kill myself trying to lift and move the giant rocks, I opted to dig an adjacent larger hole and bury them below ground level. It worked.

I was a tired boy when the last had disappeared. I'd already walked five miles earlier in the morning and this old body needed to sit down for a bit.

A big ol' Tom turkey struttin' his stuff

With the recent rains, the wildflowers have really flourished. I'm not sure what this is, but the white, contrasting against the dark green, is beautiful.

Rested and refueled, I set my sights on the shop. My goal, to finish cutting out the letters for the current project.

It felt good when the last one was freed from the wood stock. I set them on the background to get a feel for what the sign will look like. 

Now, all must be sanded and painted. After the background is finished and a border carved, they will be permanently mounted. As I told Mississippi Brother Garry, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but it's getting closer.

I hadn't cleaned the shop for a couple of weeks. It's become a habit that after (or during if need be) each project, the shop be cleaned, vacuumed, and every tool put away, even if that means resuming work and seeing sawdust fly right after.

It took two hours to clean everything and sure enough, five minutes later, sawdust was flying everywhere.

Sargie was home early last night and brought me an early Father's Day gift, a garden wagon. She had noticed this spring that I occasionally have difficulty with large loads while using the wheel barrow. The wagon has a five hundred pound capacity and a dump feature. Perfect! Thanks, honey!

Sargie's off today, her last day away from the Vision Center for quite a while. With the sun shining and the temperatures warming, I wouldn't be surprised if we go fishing this afternoon. I'm sure the master angler in the family can teach me a trick or two.

Time to get the day started and head to the garden, see what grew overnight.

The "balls" in the stem of this weed are caused by insects. Dad and I used to cut these open and remove a small worm that was used as bait when ice fishing.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Kind of reminds me of Edith Ann, Lily Tomlin's character of forty years ago.