Sunday's Mighty Milligan Labor Day Celebration
has come and gone for yet another year.

September 2, 2019 - Monday morning

59 degrees/partly cloudy/breezy

Pentoga Road

I feel like a kid the day after Christmas. It seems the day will never arrive and when it does, it's here and gone in a flash. 

That best describes yesterday's family gathering. With a high of seventy degrees, no wind, and lots of sun, we had the perfect conditions for a picnic... and picnic we did!

I began the day by preparing a large pork loin for the smoker. First step, inject that piggy with butter, lots and lots of melted butter.

Next, grab a pound or two of bacon, the fattest, most greasiest, honest-to-goodness, bacon you can find and wrap it around the loin. Coat it all with some Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce. Don't be shy. Show that big ol' piece of meat some real love.

Throw it all on the smoker over charcoal with low heat and let it sizzle for a few hours. Afterwards, enjoy!

By the time I arrived in the house with the loins, most the bacon was plucked off, one piece at a time, as family members claimed one piece or the other.

I used to be concerned that the family was growing older with few little ones to replace the more senior aunts and uncles. Over the past several years, it's become apparent there's no need to worry. 

Yesterday's gathering was filled with little ones running here and there, playing ball, picking blueberries, and having fun.

Somehow or the other, I missed getting pictures of Lincoln and Patrick, each under two years of age. At any rate, the youngest generation of Mighty Milligans ensure the family tradition will be continued for decades to come.

The newest addition arrives in the next week or two when the stork will deliver Courtney and Garth's second baby, a boy I'm told.

As usual, there are more pictures with few words needed.

JC Penney super model, Nancy, came out of retirement for a Labor Day pose. 

Auntie Ashley and Aria

Macrea contributed "cooler corn" that was out of this world. He filled a large cooler with boiling water and dumped in ears of corn before leaving home. When we were ready to eat later in the afternoon, the corn was cooked. 

Dipping each ear in a container filled with melted butter, then sprinkling it with salt, made it sinfully delicious. Everyone raved how good it was.

Mel's sister, Megan, just couldn't get enough, so she went "three handed."

Megan, her daughter, Braelyn, Mel, Macrea, and Hambone, spent the night with us last night. The kids had a cutthroat game of basketball before calling it a night.

One thing we discovered, you'd better be a better than average shooter before taking on "Dead Eye Megan."

Today: Yooper Brother Mark said he's coming out to help put on the last half of the garden house roof. Poor folks, he and Sheri just arrived home last night from Nebraska where they met Sarah, Isabella, and Curtis to exchange pick up trucks.

Don't ask. It's a long story.

We have lots of leftovers, so no one should leave here hungry. 

Tomorrow is an open house at Florence Elementary. I'll be greeting mommies and daddies, munchkins, big and little, as they get to know the teachers and staff. We'll begin classes for real on Wednesday.

Hambone's up and ready to roll. No doubt, Braelyn will be doing the same shortly. It's time to play Pawpaw.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Braelyn