Aunt Joanne and Lola attending Grandparent's Day festivities at Lola's elementary school in an outlying town of Atlanta.

March 17, 2019 - Sunday - St. Pat's Day

-2 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Thanks for the picture, Joanne. The way Lola is growing, she'll soon be taller than you.

Happy St. Patty's Day to one and all! May the luck of the Irish be with you... and me, for that matter.

I've already been lucky. See, I'm the guy married to a pretty girl with the last name of Milligan and indeed, this is a special day. Right now, my Irish lass is celebrating by sleeping in and taking advantage of not having to work today. Later, we'll be going to Yooper Brother Mark and Sheri's for a St. Patrick's Day meal.

Saturday was an active one on Pentoga Road. After arriving home from Iron Mountain, I refilled the firewood box in the house and rekindled the wood stove, started the wood furnace for the shop, and emptied the Equinox of the lumber that was purchased on Thursday. I had to carry it to the red shed, sort, and stack it all.

It took quite a while to do it right, but I wanted an inventory of what would be available for future use. Seems I'm always running out and buying an eight foot piece of lumber when I only need a foot or two.

The red shed's become quite the utility building. It holds hardwood firewood, wood that is aging and to be used for turning, and now is home to stacks of milled lumber.

It was early afternoon before I could turn my attention to the shop where I've been working on presents for the schools' secretaries.

It amazes me how we take for granted our school secretaries and have so little knowledge how talented most really are. Mom was an elementary school secretary for many years and in typical fashion, was the nurse, surrogate mom (to the teachers as well as the students), had to do the bidding of the principal, took phone calls, attendance, counted milk money, etc. etc. 

Neal will be the first to tell you that he'd be lost without his secretary, Holly, and I'm sure Brandon, the high school principal, says the same about Chris.

I gave Chris the turned bowl with flowers for an early Easter present and thought I'd make Holly a wooden name adorned with flowers. 

Only problem is, she goes by Miss Holly to the students. How does one connect Miss to Holly? I'm trying a simple bridge between the two words and will hide it by using a handmade flower or two.



I decided Holly needs more than flowers to decorate her name. Why not turn a bird on the lathe?

I found an old piece of 1x1 pine in the scrap bin and began.



Ah, a body, then a teeny head. The beak was simply whittled the old fashioned way using a stick and knife. The pieces were soon ready to be glued together.

Making a bird is one thing. Painting it is another. I want to make a robin, but finding the right colors for the breast is something that requires mixing reds and oranges. 

The breast was painted Saturday afternoon and set aside to dry. I should finish the rest of the bird today. I also made and painted several flowers, some from wood, others from poster board. A few of those will be used to complete the wooden name.

I set the pattern for my next intarsia piece. What is it? A bobkitty of course!

It was too nice of a day to spend all of it inside so I only cut around the outer edges. The real work will begin when I separate the pieces and form them into something that hopefully, resembles a bobcat.

It was time to head outdoors and soak up some sunshine. I hadn't checked on Jambo's camp for a day or two and was surprised to discover his fully exposed drive almost bare to the gravel!

There's a lot of heat in the afternoon sun. Two weeks ago, I could barely make it up to his camp on snowmobile. Now, I'll have to use the four wheeler. Spring has sprung!

With all the heat in the afternoon sun and needing an excuse to stay outside, I used a flat spud and opened up several places on the drive. With the blacktop exposed, the heat of the sun will hasten the melting process.

It's amazing how fast two inches of ice can disappear when it melts from the bottom as well as the surface.

Sargie was home early last night and we teamed up to make a dessert for tonight's St. Pat's meal at Mark and Sheri's.

Note the beaded St. Pat's tie

 After, we tag teamed again and enjoyed a summer-type meal of hamburgers done on the grill.



Sargie sautéed fresh mushrooms in butter and prepared fresh asparagus. Needless to say, we ate like kings and queens last night. 

I have no idea what time Sargie came to bed. I  climbed the stairs around 10, our normal bedtime. By the looks of how clean the house is this morning, I bet Sargie remained up into the wee hours of the morning cleaning and doing other housework. I don't know why she'd do that. Everyone knows I never make a mess.

So that's the news from Pentoga Road. I'm going to get this uploaded and head out to the shop. There are names to complete and a bobkitty to saw.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Even at two below zero, these early spring mornings are absolutely beautiful.