Want a jar of maple syrup? Take a look at this operation.

June 10, 2020 - Wednesday morning

67 degrees/partly cloudy/VERY windy

Pentoga Road

After receiving 2.3 inches of rain overnight, we're experiencing the tail end of the tropical storm that blew through the Gulf a few days ago. We needed the rain, but not necessarily all at once. Hey, beggars can't be choosers.

After going for my walk Tuesday morning, I pulled the trailer to a local sawmill where I not only got a bundle of hardwood slabs, but also the tour of a new maple syrup processing facility. 

Ken taps 4,000 trees with everything mechanized. Put it this way, the boy doesn't gather with five gallon pails like Sargie and I do. Even the sap comes in via a pump through underground tubes and he can evaporate 300 gallons an hour. Impressive.

The mill saws maple hardwood to be used for everything from pallets to finished, planed, wood used in furniture making and basketball courts.

I was pulling the load home through Gaastra when I spotted this doe and fawn running ahead. The picture is poor, but you get the idea.

Darn camera/phone. I'll be glad when my pocket camera gets back from being repaired.

 I'm happy with the full cord of hardwood slabs. Like all slabs, most are thick on one end, thin on the other.

I began cutting into the bundle. A couple of hours of work should see it all sawed and stacked undercover.



Hambone and I were pretty much inseparable on Tuesday. While I was sawing away, he worked in the drive in front of the barn building a helicopter.

There's a scrap wood box where he can pick any piece out he wishes to use. Given a fistful of nails and a mini sized hammer, the boy will pound for hours, occasionally stopping and asking if I will cut a piece of wood to his specifications.

Rose came over for a visit yesterday afternoon. The three of us gabbed for a bit until I left the ladies to talk on their own. 

 Rose had mentioned previously that she had some bush bean seed she wasn't using and offered it to me. Since half of mine failed to germinate this year, I took her up on her kindness. 

That small tote is filled with unused vegetable seeds of every variety known to modern man

Bidding Rose goodbye, Sargie hopped on the tractor and mowed. As always, she has the yard looking beautiful.

Hambone and Pawpaw spent much of the afternoon around the pond and garden. While I was busy nearby, Hambone was busing making a volcano using the hose and no small amount of wet sand.

Of course, we also went swimming.

Jambo stopped by with the cedar Dutch doors he made for the garden house.

Beautiful, just beautiful.

I especially like the bottom door with the shelf. I can see myself standing inside on a rainy day, leaning on the shelf, looking out over the pond and garden.

I hope to get the siding on and the doors installed over the next week or so. So much to do, so little of me.

With the wind howling, I think today could be a shop day. At some point I need to get over to Florence School and have them help me fill out the forms necessary to renew my Wisconsin teaching license, stop by Yooper Brother Mark's plant and talk to Mechanic Dave, and hopefully, I'll get to spend some Pawpaw time in the shop making something other than a helicopter.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...