Patterns and projects are laid out all over the shop

 July 23, 2018 - Monday morning
57 degrees/clear skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

That was a short hiatus. Problem is, I love taking pictures and when I write either Mom, Garry, or Aunt Joanne, their daily emails, I like for them to see what I've been doing. 

This whole online blogging thing started way back when Dad was so sick and I was living in the arctic. Dad was unable to travel, so the internet was the easiest way to share pictures with him and Mom. Digital cameras hadn't been out that long and the folks had just bought their first computer along with dial-up internet. 

Garry and I have written each other daily since BEFORE email became common. We left each other messages on a sheet music company's bulletin board meant for band directors. That was well over thirty years ago. 

Aunt Joanne, a close family friend since the boys were small, and I, have written daily for twenty years or more.

Then there's Uncle Bert and Eileen, Susan in San Diego, Scotty in Atlanta, Fay in Australia, Norriene in Pennsylvania, Freddie who lives on Meador Road in Mississippi, all friends and part of my digital family. It's easier to upload images than to attach them with individual emails. 

I can't forget Marion over in Iron Mountain who becomes this person I don't know if she doesn't get her daily fix of pictures and writing online. I swear her head turns around eight or ten times as she spews green pea soup across the room. 

The problem with being retired and writing a blog is that it's so darn hard to come up with something new, different, and exciting, to write about each and every day. Let's face it, I lead a pretty ho hum existence. There's only so much a guy can blather on about when he and his bride live alone out in the boonies with only the ticks and skeeters, lions, and tigers, and bears, for company. 

Though my political and spiritual values are fairly well known, I don't want this to become a contentious website. I much prefer it remain the visual writings of a retired school teacher who loves life.

I enjoy taking pictures and love to go back through the years and look at them, compare one gardening season to the next, the seasons, friends and relatives. They and the writing have become a public diary and I guess that's not a bad thing. 

So maybe if I get tired of it all or have no pictures and nothing to say, I'll just skip an occasional day to get recharged. 

Sunday was a busy one. Sargie sat high atop the mower for almost four hours while I trimmed the yard using the push mower. 



I later moved to the garden and picked peppers and more cucumbers.

There should be enough cucumbers by week's end to make another batch of pickles and peppers for the first batch of pickled peppers. I can only hope Peter Piper will be available to help.

While Sargie was cutting away on the mower, I used the leaf blower to clean the drive then spent quite a while repairing cracks in the blacktop from this past spring's frost heaves. The major ones are filled and I'll soon be ready to seal the entire drive, not a small chore. My intention is to do half in the next week, then the other half next month.

I worked in the shop late in the afternoon and finished the first stickman.

I had a lot of fun with this guy and his pup and hope to make an entire series of stick people. Of course, I have no idea what I'll do with them, but they are fun.

Sargie seems to think I should write a series of stories around each. We'll see what the deep, dark, cold, days of winter bring in the writing department.

The fish and frame are made from aged, raw, hickory, that Yooper Brother Mark brought back from his plant in Kentucky. I've cut steel with a hack saw that was softer than that wood, but the effort was worth it. 

Sargie and I both slept well last night. She had every reason to be tired. I didn't work nearly as hard as she did yesterday, but slept every bit as good. 

Sargie closes the Vision Center this evening, but has the next three days off. Hambone will be coming home with her tonight as tomorrow will be a special day. Isabella and her mommy are coming out to play for day. We have a trip to the park and a picnic planned, plus there may be a blueberry or two to pick and some goldfish to feed. It's a wild life we lead here on Pentoga Road. 

I'm going for my usual walk this morning then I need to pick blueberries before returning to the shop. I also need to fill the wading pool with water and I told Sargie I'd sweep, wipe, and vacuum the floors today. Seems there are more than enough projects on the agenda to stay busy for quite a while.

Time to get this day started.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...