Seeing Andrew off at the airport in Wausau, Wisconsin

June 1, 2019 - Saturday morning

48 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I'm back. 

After a couple of go-go-go days, I'm happy to sit here this morning, fat and sassy, a cup filled with steaming coffee nearby, doing my correspondence and writing. 

My drive to Wausau and visit with Andrew yesterday was wonderful, but more about that in a minute. First comes Thursday.

Though they have another day or two to go, as Alice Cooper sings, School's Out for Summer.

Well, it may not quite be out, but it might as well be. One grade was on a field trip and other's were busy doing summery end-of-the-year projects.

I found that Miss Becky had been busy trying to wrap up business in the library and computer lab.

I walked up to a desk full of post it notes, not for me, but as reminders to herself of tasks needing to be done.

I'm going to miss the munchkins this summer. Becky sent this clipping last night. One of the  assignments was to make a memory book of this past year. I have no idea which student was the author, but this one made me feel good.

Thursday evening brought Hambone's spring concert.

It consisted of a collection of nursery rhymes, all set to music. Hambone distinguished himself by helping to hold a haystack.

A wall

Hambone and his buddy are showing a lot of enthusiasm 

... and jump over a candlestick. Unfortunately, being The Flash, the Superhero, he ran so fast that the camera recorded only a blur.

Flash, I mean Hambone, I really mean, Grady, will be with us next weekend as his mommy and daddy will be going out of town. He said he'd like to go camping again, so no doubt, weather permitting, we'll be sleeping in the tent.

It was early to bed on Thursday night in anticipation of rising bright and early for the two and a half hour drive to Wausau, Wisconsin.

I enjoyed my early morning drive. Many people don't realize that northern Wisconsin is dotted with numerous lakes, all beautiful.

I met Andrew at his hotel at 8 and we were off to breakfast. It was good to see my former student and to catch up on old and new times. It's been at least twenty, closer to twenty-five years, since we'd last seen each other. 

Andrew was one of my charges from the time he was in grade school through high school. We took a Maine guide's course together and got to know each other on our weekly drives to Fort Kent, Maine, where the class was taught. I was known as a tough disciplinarian, a no nonsense kind of guy who, when he worked, worked hard, when he played, played even harder. 

Andrew seems to have subscribed to the same philosophy. Do it right or don't do it at all. 

I left Maine behind for the university job in Alaska and adventures in the high arctic. Andrew followed in one fashion or the other, although we never did run into each other during all those years. Seems he was always at one end of the state while I was at the other. He also spent a year or two in the Peace Corps in Morocco and/or working on a fisheries boat as an inspector on the Bering Sea before returning for more education. 

The boy reminds me of me in my younger years. He has that insatiable urge to explore and experience life to its fullest.

Andrew's well known throughout Alaska for long distance adventure hiking and recently completed a one hundred, seventy mile trek across mountains, through dense forests, and down raging rivers. Believe me, he's the real thing.

Andrew just earned his PhD in fish toxicology at UA Fairbanks, the university where I taught when I first went to Alaska. Presently, he's looking for work in his area, but meanwhile, seems to be keeping busy at conferences and doing a bit of teaching when he's not exploring the wild's of Alaska. 

We traded numerous Alaska stories and laughed how many who live in the lower 48, or outside as it is known by Alaskans, don't understand the concept of not having running water, electricity, or central heating. We talked of how noisy it is in the lower 48, of bears we have known and loved, hiking trails (or lack of them) we have traversed, his parents, his sister, my sons, northern Maine, etc. etc. We pretty much covered it all over plates heaping with eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes.

Departure time came entirely too soon. My young friend took off for the far north and west. I began my journey back to Pentoga Road filled with thoughts, memories, and no small amount of longing for the old Alaskan days.




After stops in Rhinelander for groceries and another to purchase a couple of dogwood bushes, I arrived back on Pentoga Road.

It was warm. No, darn it, it was HOT.



I had yet to exchange my winter clothes for those to be worn over the next several months. I found the two totes in the storage shed that contained my summer clothes and spent the next hour going through the closet exchanging pants and flannel shirts for shorts and t shirts.



The winter wear will be retrieved next fall when the process begins, in reverse, all over again.

Dressed in old, cooler, much more comfortable garb, I made my way to the garden and did the usual pre digging maintenance before mounting the backhoe.

I'm purposely making one side of the pond sloped for the time being so I can take the backhoe to the bottom and dig deeper. It's a process, a long, slow process.

The berm that will be shaped and planted is coming along nicely and should end any water flowing through the garden during flood time.

Thankfully, Sargie arrived home from work as I was ready to drop. Three hundred miles and several hours in the hot sun took about all the energy I had. I was so tired that I really didn't want to take a shower, but Sargie thought it might be a good idea before I climbed between our clean sheets.

When it comes to dirt, the girl has no sense of humor.

Speaking of Sargie, she snapped this picture Friday of a newly born fawn crossing the road in front of her.

She said it had to be a newborn as it was wobbly and stood only a foot tall. Mama was on the side of the road calling, urging it along.

It appears the forecast storms went to the south which means I'm going to spend the next several days on either the backhoe or the tractor. My goal is to have the pond fairly well dug before next weekend so I can order the liner. For sure, there's hundreds of tons of dirt and rocks to move between now and then.

Sargie closes the Vision Center tonight. I'm heading to town fairly soon to pick up a flat of red impatiens from my friend, Bruce. He has the new greenhouse in Crystal Falls, the one that I helped cover with poly film. Bruce told me Thursday that business has been good and he is very optimistic about his future in the greenhouse business. 

There are two bushes to plant today then it'll be back to digging.

Wearing $3 clearance table Walmart camouflage shorts, I realize it appears as though I have nothing on below the waist. Believe me, I do.
The floppy hat? With quickly thinning hair, my head and tops of my ears are easily burned. Besides, haven't you heard? I'm a fashion guru.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Andrew shared this picture from last week's 170 mile trek through the Alaska wilderness. He packs the raft which weighs only ten pounds and has done Class Four (the most difficult navigable) rapids with it. Class Five are considered unnavigable.