Rain, beautiful, blessed, wonderful, wet, rain!

July 12, 2019 - Friday evening

76 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

The ground isn't saturated by any means, but .4 of an inch fell during two separate storms that blew overhead. That's the most precipitation we've had in well over a month.

This morning started on a good note. The east side of the pond was roughly landscaped and I could begin to see the end of the ground work. FINALLY, the pond began to look like something I'd like in my garden, not just a hole in the ground.

I was about an hour from being finished when I felt one side of the backhoe settle to the ground. I looked back and watched as a wheel fell off the axle. Despite regular applications of grease, dirt had gotten into the bearings and ground them to dust.

So close, but so far. Any hope of finishing the landscaping fell to the ground with the wheel. There was nothing to do but quit all work, lift the axle off the ground, remove what was left of the race and bearings, and head to town.

The morning was spent running back and forth to town from home, talking to Mechanic Dave at the plant, running back and forth from the shop at the plant to the auto parts store and .... well, you get the idea. To make a very long story short, after careful measurements with a micrometer, it was decided that the axle on my China manufactured backhoe isn't a common size and there wasn't a replacement set of bearings to be found in the state of Michigan.

After a massive computer search by the owner of the auto parts store, two sets were found in Chicago and are to arrive in Iron River next Tuesday.

I didn't do anything for the rest of the day other than order the liner and underlayment for the pond. I think the last several weeks of nonstop work finally caught up to me. That, coupled with the frustration of the morning, just wore me out.

I sat on my backside for the rest of the day.

Onto another subject:

I don't know about anyone else, but I tend to have my favorite pieces of clothing, shoes, maybe a pair of pants, or in my case, it's an old t shirt. 

It's long been relegated as a work shirt and has survived hundreds of washings throughout the years. It was given to me in the summer of 2005 by one of the volunteer work groups at Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka. I taught at the college for a couple of years before moving on to the University of Alaska - Southeast.

Just like Sheldon Jackson College, all good things come to an end. When taking the shirt off earlier this evening, the collar ripped away leaving gaping holes. The old t shirt will live out the rest of its existence as a rag.



Andy is dispatching for his company in Louisiana until he leaves for overseas and sent this picture of his computer screen of the approaching hurricane in the Gulf. Thankfully, he's working in a safe office rather than out on a large boat servicing oil rigs.

Sargie arrived home early this evening and we enjoyed grilled hamburgers for supper. She opens the Vision Center in the morning and will be bringing Hambone home with her tomorrow afternoon. No doubt, it will be an action packed weekend.

Jerad's coming out early in the morning to drop a few diseased maple trees that are close to the outbuildings. In my younger years, I'd have done it myself, but these days, I don't trust my sawing ability and aim nearly as much as I used to. Once the trees are on the ground, I'll saw them into stove size chunks and work them up.

Other than that, it'll be time to start working up that trailer full of wood. Like it or not, winter's on it's way.



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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

This male hummingbird spends hours each day guarding the feeder. Despite his best efforts, others fly in and sneak a sip every now and then.