With well below average temperatures forecast for the foreseeable future, it won't be long before the area lakes begin to freeze over.

November 8, 2018 - Thursday evening

25 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Geesh, several inches of snow are forecast to drop over the next twenty four hours. To make matters worse, the wind is to begin blowing late Friday afternoon. With that in mind, I worked on the old snowblower Thursday morning and made it ready for the upcoming winter.

Let me back up. 

The morning began at Neighbor Mike's, sipping coffee and catching up on the news from the past few weeks with him and Germaine.

Back home an hour later, I lit a fire in the wood furnace before making my way to the garden to bring in the rutabagas. 

We had a deer break through the electric fence and I noticed some of the rutabaga tops had been nibbled. I don't care about the tops, but I'd be an unhappy gardener if they began stomping and feasting on the roots.

I was disappointed to find some of the baggies had rotted due to the excess amount of rain we've had in the past six weeks. Still, there are plenty to have for the annual Mighty Milligan Thanksgiving Celebration.

I also took the opportunity to dig the last few purple carrots. 

Other than a few potatoes with a horrible case of scab, last summer's garden is completely harvested.

The fire was roaring in the wood furnace and the shop warm by the time I finished in the garden. 

I've added insulation to the duct that goes from the furnace into the shop as I found the heated air was cooling considerably in the uninsulated pipe. The insulation definitely helped. 

 I was finally able to move into the shop where I began making two names. I laid out the letters so each would intersect.

Hmm, Benjamin. Naturally, the person wouldn't have a name like Ed or Al. 

The longer the name, the more sawing required. I also cut out the name KELSEY and carved both by hand before the afternoon was over.

With daylight waning, I grabbed a power saw and made my way to a large spruce tree that had died and blown over in one of last spring's storms.

It takes longer to cut the limbs from a spruce tree than to saw the trunk into pieces that will fit into the wood furnace.

 With a sharp chain on the saw, cutting didn't take too long.

It was almost dark before the last piece was stacked by the wood furnace. 

Sargie opens the Vision Center in the morning. Assuming it's not snowing too badly, I think I'll ride a few miles down the road with her and walk back; try to get the heart pumping. 

Other than that, I plan to be in the shop most the day. If I tire of that, there's always plenty of dead spruce to cut up.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...