"It's springtime in the Rockies..."
'er... the UP.

April 9, 2020 - Thursday morning

29 degrees/snow/windy

Pentoga Road

I've often referred to Michigan's Upper Peninsula as "Alaska Light," and this morning, I well remember why. We so enjoyed yesterday's temperatures in the mid to upper fifties with lots of sun.

We awakened this morning to heavy snow driven by a strong northerly wind. 

I arrived home from Wednesday morning's walk and began gathering the trash cans. It was time for our semi annual trip to the dump.

Unable to enjoy the luxury of a weekly curb side pick up, a pilgrimage is made every spring before the bears become too active and again in the late fall.

Before clicking your tongue, Sargie had me sanitized from head to toe before AND after depositing these past six months worth of trash.

While galavanting around the countryside, we stopped by our local small engine business and picked up the riding mower.

Sargie kept busy all afternoon raking in back of the wood sheds. Put a rake in that girl's hand along with a bit of sunshine and warm temperatures, and she turns into a yard machine.

My goal for the afternoon was more mechanical in nature. Thankfully, the backhoe started on the third pull. My goal was to move it into the barn for its annual maintenance.

The backhoe has sharp pointed spikes for front feet that help to keep it in place while digging. They work well in soil, but aren't very good for pavement.

I used the Ford tractor to move and finally, back it into place.

 

The new carburetor arrived via UPS Wednesday afternoon and I'll be replacing that, along with performing some other maintenance in the next few days.

Taking a short break, I stepped up to the lathe as I was anxious to try the new chisel that Mississippi Brother Garry gave me. It works well, so well that I turned right through the wall of a pine blank.

It really wasn't a loss as the blank was cracked and defective to begin with, but boy, does that carbide chisel work well. I can hardly wait to get my new lathe and do some serious turning.

Back to the mechanics of life, I changed the oil, air filter, and sharpened the blade on the trim mower. Both it and the rider are ready for a summer of nonstop action.

They used to put a plug in the bottom of smaller engines to drain the old oil. Now, the instructions say to turn the machine over to drain it. Not me. I use a small manual pump. It doesn't flood the engine with gas and alleviates a LOT of mess.

 It's time to close and get ready to head to Iron Mountain. I'm hoping by going early in the day, we can get our shopping done and be out of there. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Today's random Alaska picture:
This cross, along with a very frozen corpse (housed in a homemade casket), was in a friend's shed, waiting for the spring melt to be buried. The majority of the grave markers are made of wood, especially in the more remote villages.