My BFF, Chief the Dog!

July 18, 2019 - Thursday evening

78 degrees/clear skies/breezy

Pentoga Road

I'm writing tonight so I can be out the door early in the morning to work on the pond. With tomorrow's high forecast to reach the low 90's, once the sun rises, it will be entirely too hot to work in that hole.

Thursday morning began working on the pond. I was delighted at how fast the repairs went fixing the terraces. The clay is wet, yet not sticky, and filling in the places that had eroded was fairly easy.

The top terraces are finished with the bottom two left to repair. If the water at the very bottom doesn't evaporate fairly soon, I'll use a filter and pump the water out. There're at least two feet of dirt that will have to removed after.

I was on a roll this morning when the clouds blew in accompanied by thunder and lightening. I put the shovel and rake away and sprinted to the house.

Sargie and I had a wonderful ride after, chomping on hamburgers and fries as we meandered around the countryside south of Iron River.

Back home, I received a call from the freight company saying the liner and underlayment were to be delivered to Yooper Brother Mark's plant within half an hour. I hopped in the Blazer with the trailer attached and left for town.

While waiting at the plant, I had a pleasant visit with Ann, Mark's assistant.



Mark's been in New York at the company's headquarters all week and Ann's been running the office. I think it's safe to say she'll be very happy to see Mark walk in the door next Monday morning. 

While in the office, my buddy, Mechanic Dave, dropped in to say hello and see how the backhoe's running. Dave's one of the good people in the world, the very best.

One of the employees, Linda, used the forklift to remove the pallet with the liner from the semi trailer and later, load it onto my trailer.

Hard to believe that load weighs almost 900 pounds

Currently, the trailer and Blazer are parked in the side yard still loaded and I'll use the tractor to take the pallet out tomorrow. It's time to get the trailer back to the plant for another load of soft wood.

Melinda and Tom brought Chief out while I was gone. The folks will be downstate this coming week, so Chief is staying with us.

The pup is good as gold and has been lying low all afternoon, keeping cool. He's stayed with us, off and on, since he was a puppy and is very at home here. Sargie set a fan on the floor of the dining room and Chief hasn't wandered far from in front of it.

I worked in the shop late this afternoon on the big Jesus. I hope to finish it tomorrow and it will be on its way out to its final destination.

This shadow art is about two-and-a-half feet tall.

Friday morning will be a busy one, trying to get as much work accomplished in the pond as possible before it gets hot. 

I need to go to town and pick up a large piece of old carpeting to be used along with the underlayment in the pond. Anything flat can be used to help keep rocks from poking through the liner.

There's about an hour's worth of work left on the Jesus in the shop. I'd like to get it finished and out of the way.

We'll venture to Foster City late Friday afternoon for a gathering at Sargie's nephew and godson, Taylor and his fiancee, Nikki's. The kids recently became officially engaged and no doubt, the Milligan family will show up in force to celebrate.

The green peppers are beginning to set on.

That's about all the news I can think of for the day. It's time to take Chief out for a potty break before bedtime.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...