July 30, 2019 - Tuesday evening
70 degrees/clear skies/breezy
Pentoga Road

Congratulations, son. We're proud of you! The captain has already assumed his duties and says things are going well. We'll see all four sons at Commander Pennington's (Josh's) Coast Guard retirement ceremony in New London, Connecticut, this weekend. It will be nice to have everyone together all at once, even if it is for a short time.  

I just happened to think. We'll have a Captain and a Commander under the same roof. I'm not sure I can handle all the brass.

I've written nonstop about the pond all summer and today, I happened across an old photo taken the first summer after I bought the house. You can see the weeds in the field alongside the house. We now call that area the garden, pond, and side yard.



There was so much trash and so many boulders and rocks that I couldn't even drive the tractor from the house to the edge of the woods. Sure has changed over the past nine years.

I also found a picture taken from the front meadow, now a formal yard. Weeds were chest high and the brush was heavy.



The main trail going down the middle of the property was a deer path.



So much for a stroll down memory lane. Occasionally I wonder if all the work is worth the trouble, but then I look at the pictures and see the improvements that Sargie and I have done and I know it is.

As a wise man once told me when I first contemplated retirement, "A person either moves ahead or occasionally, he may take a step backwards, but he NEVER stays in the same place for long, otherwise he grows old, withers, and dies." 

I guess I'll keep making the lawn bigger, growing gardens, playing in the shop, and digging holes. It beats the alternative.

After running a quick errand in town Tuesday morning, I returned home to pick sugar snap peas.

They are crispy and tender and so sweet. Sargie and I eat them like candy, pod and all.



I spent a couple of hours installing the pond pump. It will work just fine where it is now, but once the pond is filled, it will be sitting under five feet of water. I'm fearful that in a few years, the pump will need servicing and to do that, I'd have to hold my breath and detach it under water. I'm not seeing that as a viable option.  

There's no slack in the perforated pipe that runs through the filters so I'm considering attaching a forty five degree elbow and running PVC pipe up to the two foot level and placing the pump there. At least if it needs work, I'll be able to do it with my head above water.

The pump is just above the water in the middle

I'm running water from the well, an hour at a time, twice day. The pond is slowly filling and I remain optimistic that I'll be able to start the pump and filter system towards the end of next week. Once that happens, the goldfish that are living in the temporary pond will be turned loose in their new, permanent, home.

The late afternoon and evening hours were spent on the backhoe landscaping the area where the garden house will be.

I'll shoot the laser level across the area early next week to be sure it's level, then begin digging the footings. I hope to have the base built and in place in the next ten days or so.

There's a berm around the entire south side of the garden as well as where the garden house will be to keep any flood water from pouring through the area. 

I quit playing in the dirt this evening, came inside and took a shower, then enjoyed a delicious cucumber sandwich. I'm so sleepy tonight that I can hardly keep my eyes open. Sargie should be pulling in the drive fairly soon.

I'll take my bride to work early in the morning then come back home. Cleaning house is on tomorrow's agenda. I told Sargie I'd clean so she can finish packing tonight.

I'll pick Sargie up from work tomorrow before we head directly to the airport and leave for Boston by way of Detroit. Thursday will be grandbaby day at Matt and Jessica's before Friday's military retirement ceremony for Josh.

It's time to get this uploaded before I fall asleep with my fingers on the keyboard.

I'm about too pooped to pop.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Calendula flowers