Sargie paused just long enough from her labors on Tuesday to photograph our daliahs

September 15, 2020 - Tuesday evening

71 degrees/hazy skies/windy

Pentoga Road

OK, we're going to try this again. Rewriting a blog and trying to remember what happened the day before is like reading the nightly paper a day late. The news is there, but it's not nearly as interesting.

Monday morning began with the usual walk. With the temperature near freezing, fog had settled into the valleys overnight.

Always looking for new walking routes, I altered mine to go through the national forest just south of the border with Wisconsin on the other side of the Brule River.

The seasonal road also doubles as a snowmobile/ATV trail and winds through the woods and hills for miles.

The new route is exactly four miles round trip, perfect for my hour-plus daily hike.

Our valley is surrounded by early morning fog.

Once home, I began working on the roof of the outdoor wood furnace shed.

 Initially, I was going to build a more conventional roof that would divert water onto both sides. It would require building trusses and cutting down the existing walls. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to do that.

Sargie had several ideas as did I. Rather than rush into the job, we decided to take a ride and kick around some ideas.

We finally decided to extend the roof by almost two feet. That will allow the melt water to run off the roof well behind me while I'm adding wood to the stove.



We worked until late afternoon, measuring, cutting, and framing. 



The hardest thing was digging holes for the support posts. When the day comes that I pass from this world to the next, I hope to land in a place where I can plant a garden or dig a hole without hitting a rock. What should have taken twenty minutes on Monday afternoon lasted well over an hour.

In the end, the extension was finished and ought to work well. If nothing else, I shouldn't get baptized by melting snow every time I fill the stove with wood.





In totally irrelevant hiking news, my new insoles arrived yesterday. 



My old ones have over a thousand miles of wear and worn through to the sole. Like I said, unless you're a hiker, it's totally irrelevant information.

Sargie fixed one of my favorite meals Monday night, stuffed zucchini. Words can't describe how delicious it was.



 That was this morning's news that was lost in cyberspace. If you happen to see it floating around, let me know, ok? So with that said, let's head onto Tuesday's happenings.

 The first two hours of Tuesday morning were spent writing the blog. I've said it before, but WHY do software companies change a program that already works? It's been a long time since I've been as frustrated as I was earlier today. 

My walk was a good one and served to get my blood pressure back under control. 

Today was spent on the roof of the storage shed. Sargie noticed some wet wood under one overhang yesterday and when I climbed on top, I found some exposed roofing nails, a couple raised, that were obviously the culprits. There's little doubt that the problems began after I shoveled several feet of snow last winter.

The first task this morning was to trim several spruce branches that brush the roof when weighed down with heavy snow.

I ran an extension cord around the barn and blew it clean with the leaf blower.

 Next came sealing all the joints and nail heads. I used commercial roofing tar plus some blacktop sealer that was left from coating the drive earlier this summer. 



Running out of sealer, I think I'll purchase another pail and coat the rest of the roof.

Sargie kept busy painting the two front wood sheds.

The popple trees are quickly losing their leaves. One area in the backyard is almost covered.

Sargie and I measured the drive from the house to the road and back in anticipation of running electricity through the front and side yards for this year's Christmas decorations. Stay tuned for that one.

We were just as busy this afternoon. Sargie mowed the front, back, and side yards.



As always, she has the lawn looking beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful, the flowers have gone into overtime trying to display as many blooms as possible before a killing freeze arrives. The pure white cosmos are striking against the green background.

While Sargie was mowing, I began the annual fall garden harvest.

First was to cut and hang the basil. There was a bumper crop this year that will be dried then crushed and stored in a container for future use.

Next came the vine crops, mostly winter squash. For having to replant and setting the garden back by three weeks, we didn't do too bad this year.

The squash were washed with the hose and set on the gravel by the pond to dry. All will be moved to the basement and enjoyed later this fall and well into the winter months.

I promised Sasha and Courtney seeds from the largest giant sunflower.

I gathered enough for both plus what I'll need to plant next summer. 

The seeds were placed on a paper towel to dry and will be eventually stored in the freezer for the winter months.

There are grape seeds also drying. These are the old fashioned Concords and after being dried and stored in the freezer for stratification, they should be easy to sprout next year. I'd like to plant grapes around the property for wildlife feed as well as for Sargie and me.

In family news, Makenna had her feeding tube removed. The girl's completely on her own.

So that's the news from Monday and today. Sargie and I will be driving to Iron Mountain Wednesday morning to run a few errands. Now that the roof over the wood furnace is finished, I want to resume installing the insulation in the garden house.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...