Tales from Pentoga

I'm getting closer to my goal. For years, I've been doing selective breeding to develop a tall sunflower that will have multiple large heads and a base thick enough to support the blooms without falling over. I'm almost there.

August 24, 2018 - Friday

57 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

This business of breeding plants in the North Country is a painstaking process, one that demands a lot of patience. It all began several years ago by crossing one particularly large sunflower with a much smaller multi-headed variety.

Problem with breeding plants this far north is that it takes an entire year to see the results. Hopefully, I'll have the desired sunflower before I turn a hundred years old. Then, I can sell the seeds, become wealthy, and Sargie and I will live the next fifty years among the rich and famous.

I spent most of Thursday morning trimming alongside the drive. The grass had grown over the pavement and has been difficult to remove. Weed killer was sprayed a couple of weeks ago and I'm using a flat shovel to dig down alongside the pavement. I'm about two-thirds finished.

I hope to seal the drive come the first nice day this next week and have it finished before the Annual Milligan Family Labor Day Celebration a week from Sunday.

Aunt Joanne busied herself Thursday morning vacuuming out the interior of her car. The girl is never still for very long.

The three of us took a nice afternoon drive to a couple of area lakes.

The day was absolutely perfect and we talked and laughed as we drove all around this part of the county.

Check out what we found as lawn ornaments in the woods of one lake home.

Yep, almost full-sized elephants standing in the hardwood trees.

Sargie and Joanne loved them and we thought about putting each in the back of the Kia, but didn't think either would fit through the hatchback. Just our luck.

Maybe when we become rich and famous from our sunflowers, we too will have elephants on Pentoga Road. Personally, I'd rather have hippos around the garden pond.

Back home, Aunt Joanne got busy making her famous chocolate chip cookies.

When my sons were young, Aunt Joanne would often show up to the house with a large container filled with the scrumptious treats.

Their mother or I would have to hand them out evenly among the boys or full scale fights would ensue. Joanne's cookies were, and still are, to die-for good.

Sargie and I started frying fish, shrimp, and summer squash late in the afternoon. We were just finishing when Mark and Sheri, and soon after, Jerad, arrived.

Poor Jenna had to work, but Jerad was excited and talked about his upcoming elk hunt to Montana with his uncle.

Aunt Joanne entertained everyone with stories of the Pennington boys growing up in northern Maine.

She had everyone laughing, even if she did tattle a bit on me.

Everyone had left with full bellies when we departed to meet Macrea and Mel for the Hambone exchange a few miles from here. We're attending a Milligan gathering this afternoon where Grady will have a chance to play with his cousins.

I think I'll get this uploaded and head out to the shop. Everyone, except me, is sound asleep and I need to finish one project that I promised Joanne she could have.

We'll leave shortly after noon today for Felch, Michigan, about an hour away. It's to be chilly and rainy, but we're keeping our fingers crossed the precipitation holds off for just a few more hours. Lisa has a lake home complete with a large deck and sand beach for the little ones to play. It just wouldn't be fair for the munchkins to be cooped up in the house when there's a lake and sand in which to play.

Time to get the day started.