Whew! Steering that big ol' Cub Cadet, which is being towed, is hard work.

May 12, 2020 - Tuesday

20 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

My head hit the pillow last night and it was the last thing I remember until this morning. I wish it was like that all time. It couldn't have been because Hambone, Grandma Sargie, and I were busy yesterday, could it? 

We worked on the Cub all morning with only limited success. Having been stored almost three years ago, the machine will run after squirting starter fluid down the cylinders, but only for a few seconds. Despite the fact that I used gas stabilizer, I know it's from fuel that's turned bad. Before draining the tank, it smelled like varnish.

The carburetor is something I've never seen before, so if I can't get it started today, I'll take it to Mechanic Dave's and let him get it going. Hambone's got a lot of miles he wants to put on that lawn tractor this summer, many of them pulling a wagon filled with rocks to put around the pond for his Pawpaw and Grandma Sargie.

Hambone was a busy guy Monday morning. He learned how to put alligator clips on a battery to charge it, that red is positive and black is negative and how all that works. Hambone also discovered how to remove spark plugs and why they are an essential part of a gasoline engine. He thinks it's pretty neat that little explosions caused by a spark make an engine run.

It was a learning time filled with lots of talking and laughter. Believe me, there was plenty of play involved.

The chuck for the lathe finally arrived yesterday. All I could do was assemble and screw it onto the lathe. As much as I'd like to play and make something meaningful on my new machine, that will all have to wait until a rainy day. Right now, good weather is too valuable.  (That's another way of saying our summers are way too short!)

The afternoon was spent in the woods behind the barn, cutting and chipping trees and branches that had been damaged by last winter's wind blown, heavy, wet, snow.

Rather than haul the limbs to the burn pile, we decided to use the large chipper.

Grandma Sargie and Hambone were busy hauling brush while I fed the machine.

We were about to quit when the chipper began losing power. Once again, I suspect some bad gas as it's been used only sparingly over the past two years. I'll attempt to work some mechanical magic on it this morning and hopefully, it will soon be back to its old wood eating self.

Back at the barn, Hambone continued work on a project of pounding nails and "making something."

Note the rolling magnet on two wheels. It is used to ensure any stray nails are retrieved before they end up in a tire.

He's a busy guy, that one. 

Hambone also discovered a place on the box of the blue four wheeler that "needed fixing."

With the hunker down order still in effect, Mel gave Grady a REAL hair cut. She said Hambone's hair, containing multiple cowlicks, was sticking out from every which direction. Lacking a barber, took care of it herself.

Hambone loves the computer and our rule here on Pentoga Road is that he has to earn computer time.

Let me tell you, the boy earned a whole evening's worth yesterday. It's been a long time, since the age of the Pennington boys, that I've seen a youngster work as hard as Grady willingly did yesterday.

A side note: I was occasionally criticized for expecting too much from my four sons as they were growing up, but you know, they did okay. I'm going to brag a bit.

Josh was appointed to the US Coast Guard Academy and retired last year as a full Commander. Luke is Captain in the South Portand, Maine, Fire Department. Matt is a partner for a material brokerage firm in New Hampshire, and Andy works as an advisor in the oil industry aboard a large boat off the coast of Australia. 

All put themselves through school with very little or no expense to their mother or me and all are loving family men and providers. They earned their successes. None was handed to them on a silver platter.

I've always maintained that a child will rise to the expectations that are set before him. Grady's no exception. He's made of the right stuff.

Hambone and Pawpaw.
He's wearing an old camo flannel fleece of Grandma Sargie's to keep nice and warm. We told him that he blended in so well with the woods that we had to put a hunter's orange cap on him!

I'm going for my walk then tow the trailer to town and have new springs installed to replace the broken ones on one side. There's wood to haul as well as top soil. Lacking a pick up truck, that trailer is an important piece of equipment during the summer months.

Time to rock 'n roll.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Today's random Alaska picture: Another close up of Denali, North America's tallest mountain.
(I'm going to have to download another batch of Alaska pictures.)