A leaf fairy? Nope, it's Ivy

October 24, 2018 - Wednesday

42 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Since I have an 8 o'clock appointment in Green Bay Thursday morning, I figured I better write tonight. I sincerely doubt I'll be writing in the morning.

Wednesday began in Iron Mountain. After picking up the Blazer, I made my way to Home Depot for some sheet metal roofing nails, onto Dr. Katie's for a prescription, then to the tire store where I purchased two new tires for the Blazer. I bought two of the same kind last year so now, I finally have a matching set.

Back on Pentoga Road, I got busy cleaning the flue for the wood stove. Ugh, what a mess.

First comes securing a plastic grocery bag onto the bottom of the flue. This keeps the suet from spreading throughout the house.

It was a gorgeous day, perfect for climbing up onto the roof to scrub the pipe.

Once on the roof, I actually laid back in the warm sunshine for a few minutes and caught myself dozing off. No time for that! There was too much to do.

I was surprised. For not having been cleaned since last February, it wasn't nearly as dirty as it could have been.

A chimney brush attached to an eight foot handle was used to scrub the inside. All the suet dropped down into the plastic grocery sack attached on the bottom.

Clean as a whistle, the flue should be good to go until February, possibly March. At least we won't have to worry about any chimney fires due to the buildup of creosote.

With the flue scrubbed and the mess cleaned up, I turned my attentions to finishing the roof on the lean to.

It took longer than expected, almost two hours, but at least it's done. All that remains is moving the wood furnace underneath and connecting the duct work.

I took off the old poly glass from the solar heater and replaced it with simple greenhouse plastic. I'm still unsure if the solar heater is worthwhile or not, but like most everything else around here, it's still a project in the making.

I worked until dark either vacuuming, blowing, or raking leaves. I like to vacuum several bags full to use as mulch in the raised beds in the garden. The vacuum grinds them into small pieces that are easily broken down to become part of the soil.

I raked quite a few and used those as a cover for the strawberries. The deer have eaten all the leaves from the plants so they won't have any natural insulating cover this year. The leaves should protect them.

I received word today that Meag and Ben are going to be arriving in their bus either Thursday night or Friday morning. They have a great website: https://www.thewilddrive.com/.

Meag is originally from my town in northern Maine, Madawaska, and though she was too young for me to have in class, I had both her brothers. 

Meag and Ben began a debt free lifestyle a few years ago after accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. They decided to dedicate their lives to not only paying off the debt, but living debt free in the future. It's become not only a lifestyle, but also a vocation for them as they tour the country giving workshops and seminars.

I'm looking forward to visiting with the kids, catching up on family news, and enjoying their company.

Sargie's almost home and we're going to take the Blazer into town to Mechanic Dave's and leave it for the weekend. It's time for a pre-winter tune up, plugs, wires, the whole works.

We have to leave the house by 5 AM tomorrow morning which means bedtime is around the corner.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...