Tales from Pentoga

Captain America, Em, Wes, and Mommy

June 22, 2020 - Monday morning

62 degrees/drizzle/calm winds

Pentoga Road

With over three inches of rain having fallen these past three days, I'm fairly certain our need for a soaking shower has passed. I see that more precipitation is predicted to fall intermittently over this next week and into the weekend.

Sunday was a mixed bag of activities. I went for my walk then returned home to play in the shop for the rest of the morning. It was my Father's Day treat to myself.

I've been working on puzzles for the grandbabies and decided it was time to complete what I'd started sometime ago.

My goal, especially if the predicted rain comes to fruition, is to finish them this week and get all sent in the mail.

Sargie and I spent much of Sunday afternoon mowing.

She hopped on the rider and I spent over two hours trimming with the push mower.

The grass was still somewhat wet and very tough. Problem was, with more rain in the forecast, it was a now-or-never proposition. We decided to get 'er dun.

The ditch in front of the house is quite steep and requires letting the push mower roll down the embankment before pulling it back up. Needless to say, I get a good upper body workout each time I mow that area.

Sister-in-law, Debbie, sent a couple of pictures of how she's using one of the pyramid planters I made for the family members a few years ago. Debbie has planted succulents, hen and chickens, plus other goodies, that don't require a great amount of water.

Sargie's brother, Pat, affixed a weather vane that's been a part of the family cottage on Lake Superior, onto the planter.

Elsewhere, Luke sent Coleman's most recent wrestling picture.

Entering the 8th grade, the boy has either won or placed in the top three for all the New England states in his age and weight class this past year and is already working out twice a week in preparation of this coming winter's wrestling season.

In more random news, the honeyberries are setting on heavy and I've been plucking a handful to enjoy fresh each time I walk by one of the five bushes in the orchard.

A member of the honeysuckle family, honeyberries are a relatively new concept in the US, are hardy, productive, deer proof, and fill our need for fresh fruit until blueberry season begins. Unfortunately, they don't keep for long, so when it comes to honeyberries, it's feast or famine. Right now, we're feasting.

We were hoping to get a dump truck load of top soil sooner, rather than later, to finish the area where Larry the Heavy Equipment Guy has been working. It's going to take a while to dry after all this rain, but we're excited. At an age when most people begin to lessen their work load, we seem to be expanding our's. The yard just keeps growing.

Let's see, this is Monday. On the agenda this week: Hambone will be with us for a few days. There's seldom a dull moment when my little buddy is around.

Depending on the weather, we'd like to begin painting the house. Sargie has decided on a complete new look, a dark charcoal color, with white trim. The red metal roof should compliment both. As I told her, if we don't like the way it looks, we can always paint over it.

There are still three siding panels to install on the garden house before I can begin putting on the trim. It was so hot last week that we decided to wait and then the rains came. Maybe this week.

Tim and Rose will be back Thursday night and I'm going to help Tim hang kitchen cabinets on Friday. I've never done anything like that before and I'm looking forward to learning something new.

But meanwhile, it's drizzly and not a very nice day, certainly not suited for painting. I'm going to get this uploaded, go for my walk, then work on the grandbabies' puzzles in the shop. Seems like a grandfatherly thing to do.

After all, a man's work and that of his bride's is never done.