Tales from Pentoga

That's a fisher enjoying the lake trout head that I'd put in the woods a couple of days ago.

November 3, 2020 - Election Day

27 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Fishers are rarely seen, even in the north woods and are nonexistent in the south. This member of the weasel family is a mean and solitary bugger. In fact, the only animal that I know of that is as contrary is the wolverine, a beast I ran into several times while living in the arctic.

Many years ago, we had a neighbor in northern Maine, who suddenly lost a couple of his prized kitty cats. A fisher was trapped a few days later and the disappearances stopped.

The proof's in the picture. There's one running around in back of the house, calling our woods (and the surrounding ten square miles) home. I doubt I'll ever see him again.

I returned home from my walk Monday morning just before Les, the Window Man, arrived. He repaired the spring in one of our new windows, adjusted a couple of others, and took measurements for two new ones in the dining room. We'll have those replaced next spring.

I worked on the bowl for part of the day, painting and muttering as the fall scene began to take place. I should finish it this morning and good, bad, or ugly, we'll call it good 'nuff. If it's too bad, I'll sand the entire thing and start again or possibly, just pitch it into the wood stove. After all, the bowl began as a random chunk plucked from the fire wood pile.

I filled the snowblower, generator, and four wheeler with fuel yesterday before driving to town and purchasing enough gas to fill three, five gallon, jugs. I may be overly cautious, but it's not difficult to see how after today's election and in the weeks to come, life could get ugly. I'm not worried about marauding, liberal, BLM and antifa punks coming to Pentoga Road. (Would they get a surprise if they did. I'm not nearly as kind and understanding as some liberal big city mayors.) I am concerned at the possibility of supply lines, fuel, food, etc., being disrupted nation wide.

I hope in the end that I'm the one who's out there and being overly cautious. I don't mind being teased for my preparations, really I don't.

I guess it's like homeowner's insurance. Who needs it? Well, no one, really, until his house burns to the ground.

We'll hope and pray no one lights a match.

Alaska Curt, our neighbor who lives a mile away, walked by and we had a great visit. Curt is a retired Alaska warden/trooper and served in my former arctic village of Kotzebue years ago and we both talk Alaskan. Curt and I know many of the same people and have reminisced more than once of the arctic from days gone by.

Jimmy refused to leave Curt alone. Begging for attention from the new guy walking in front of the house, he was like a two year old spoiled child begging for attention.

I'd purchased a cheesy chain saw sharper for a whoppin' $9 from Amazon and had to try it out. Fitting over the bar, one starts the saw then pushes the chain into a sharpening stone for three to five seconds.

I was dubious at best, but after a quick rev of the engine, the chain was indeed sharper than before. Perfect? Not by any shot, but for a quick fix, I was impressed and the best thing, the sharpening took only seconds.

Our ash trees have been decimated by the lowly Emerald Ash Borer, a little white worm that shows no mercy.

Sargie and I spent yesterday afternoon working up firewood from two small ash trees. We quickly developed a method to where I first cut the tree.

Working together, Sargie would later take the branches to the burn pile before transporting the firewood to the shed.

Last night was a quiet one on Pentoga Road. After a supper of spaghetti and a large salad, I was soon snoozing in my recliner. With the sun setting by 5 PM, the evenings can get mighty long.

Like much of the rest of the nation, we'll be voting today. Otherwise, I hope to finish painting the bowl this morning. With a high of near 60 forecast, I may just roll around on the ground and enjoy the sunshine for the rest of the day. Failing that, I think I'll work up a bit more firewood.