There's my favorite fishing partner, out on the lake for another season. (No offense Jambo, but she's a lot prettier.)

May 15, 2019 - Wednesday

52 degrees/sunny/breezy

Pentoga Road

Ah, the beginning to another picture perfect day on Pentoga Road. Unfortunately, Carl says conditions are going to change dramatically as we're about to enter a week of wet, cold, and windy conditions. Knowing that, I've been making hay while the sun shines.

I got busy after Tuesday's five mile stroll. The first thing was to change the flat tire on the boat trailer and get the tackle ready for another season of fishing.

The old tire was rotten, a victim of old age and a hard winter. We'll get by with the spare for now until the new tire arrives in the next few days. I saved almost half by ordering it from Amazon with free shipping. It's hard to beat.

It was time to start digging. I've looked forward to, yet dreaded, this day since last January. Planning a large project in the middle of the winter while sitting by the wood stove is one thing, actually doing it is something else.

I said a little prayer that I wouldn't mess things up too badly and began digging.

Digging's the easy part. What to do with the dirt is something else.



I've decided to go ahead and dig the pond, then hire someone with a Bobcat, or rent one, and move the dirt to the outside of the fence and build the berm all at once. 



I stopped several times to make one adjustment or the other and survey the crater I was creating. Oh Lord, Baby Jesus, what was I doing!?!?

The first three feet of digging produces a mixture of rocks, boulders, and clay. After that comes pure clay, most of it as packed and hard as concrete.

I decided to exchange the large flat bucket for a much smaller one with teeth that is capable of getting into the clay and really digging, something needed for making the pond deep enough.

Though time consuming, I can see now that I'll be changing buckets several times before the pond is complete. Each has its own, distinct, job.

The construction supervisor arrived home from the Vision Center and inspected the job.

Sargie has a great eye for how things should look and as she works less hours at the Vision Center, I find I rely on her judgement more and more.

She used a spare garden hose to outline the shape of the pond.

Suffering from backhoe butt, I was happy to quit digging for the day and go fishing. Though neither Sargie or I caught anything, we enjoyed the beautiful evening together. 

I'm heading out the door in a few minutes for my morning stroll. 

On today's agenda: I hope we can get the outside patio furniture out of the storage container today, bring the summertime plants up from the basement, and do all those springtime things that people do after a long, hard, winter.

Of course, there's the pond to dig. I figure I'm about a quarter of the way done.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Typical boss... she rides in, supervises for a while, then rides away leaving all the dirty work for someone else.