November 30, 2020 - Monday morning
22 degrees/cloudy/windy
Pentoga Road

Check out that picture above very carefully. You'll notice a bump on the box to the right of my head. Yep, one of yesterday's activities was spent hauling totes back to the storage shed with Jimmy.

I don't mind Sargie "suggesting" how/what/when I ought to help with chores around here, but to be bossed by a less-than-pint-sized bird? 

If only you had my life, you'd understand.

I was talking with a buddy of Jambo's who had stopped in for a visit the other day. Jimmy, no doubt fearful that he'd miss any gossip, swooped down from the heavens and landed on my shoulder.

We were in the middle of a conversation when the visitor suddenly interrupted himself in the middle of the sentence, saying, 

 "I'll be *****, look at that!"

I was tempted to tell him that Jimmy and I were rehearsing for a remake of The Birds, but in the end, I simply replied that Jimmy was my buddy.

In arctic Alaska, I had Elmo the ermine (weasel) who'd sit and ride on my shoulder and Mable the moose that used to give me warm, nuzzling, kisses every morning. 

In the UP, most people have dogs. I have a chickadee. 

A vast majority of Sunday was spent installing an outside electric outlet on the garden house.

I'd never done one on the exterior of a building before and it proved to be challenging, especially since the temperatures were below freezing and the wind was strong. If I wasn't cutting a hole or fishing wires through the floor and into the wall, I was blowing on my hands, rubbing them together, in an attempt to retain some small amount of feeling and flexibility. 

Still, in the end, an outlet was installed.

The power going to the garden house is temporary. A permanent underground line will be installed next summer.

Chilled to the bone, I gladly moved inside to help Sargie finish the indoor decorating. Every room whispers Christmas and as I told Yooper Brother Mark, if one's not in the Christmas spirit when he arrives, he will be before he leaves.

With the decorating finished and totes back in the storage shed for the next several weeks, Sargie and I made our way to the garden to hang the lighted wreaths. They were drab, plastic, things, until Sargie got hold of them and made them into beautiful rings of lights and bows.

After being outside most of the day, I slept like a baby last night. In fact, I didn't wake up once.

Sargie's off to Escanaba with sister Nancy today. I'm going to have her drop me off several miles down the road so I can walk back before warming up the shop and getting serious about finishing this year's Christmas presents.

Other than that, well, let's see. It's a cold windy day,  dark and snowy. I'm no fortune teller, but reading the grounds in the bottom of my coffee mug tells me there could be an afternoon nap in store. 

Or maybe, they're telling me it's time for a refill.

Never mind.

Santa and Sargie dancing in the dining room. Should I be jealous?

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...