Aunt Joanne and granddaughter, Lola

December 22, 2020 - Tuesday morning

24 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Aunt Joanne sent the above photo yesterday. Living in the Atlanta area, she and Lola spent the day making Christmas cookies.

Our family and Joanne got to know each other back in the northern Maine days where she quickly became a part of our family. She can tell as many humorous stories of the Pennington boys (and their father) as I can. 

Joanne later moved to Rochester, MN, where she was a therapist at Mayo Clinic. Retiring almost ten years ago, the 4'10" dynamo moved to the Atlanta area to be closer to her family. She calls me her baby brother and as with Mississippi Brother Garry, Joanne and I haven't skipped too many days of emailing back and forth over the past thirty years. 

I enjoyed Monday morning's walk in the snow.

The little kid in me hoped for more, the adult wished it would just stop. In the end, I got both.

A herd of deer crossing ahead of me

What began as two to three inches of fluffy snow soon condensed down to an inch of glop as the precipitation turned to freezing drizzle and rain. My outerwear was covered in ice by the time I arrived home.

I wanted to clean the drive and patio before the liquid precipitation froze. Anything that freezes this time of the year could very well still be sitting on the drive next spring.

Sargie and I took our drive into town. The pretty Christmas snow had turned from drizzle and rain to fog. As Dad used to say, "It's just plain soupy."

Conditions had cleared somewhat by the time we returned home. I hauled in wood then prepared to climb onto the roof of the shed that covers the outdoor wood furnace.

Not being able to find a flue cap last fall to keep the rain and snow out, I used a cap meant for natural gas or propane. I knew at the time the openings were too small for wood smoke, but I needed to get the pipe covered. 

The stove has been drawing poorly. It was time to climb on top and replace the temporary covering with a cap meant for a wood stove.

It was a bit dicey standing up there, one foot on a ladder wrung, the other on a sloping, slippery, metal roof that was covered with snow. In the end, a nose dive was averted and the proper cap was attached.

Was that the sound of a truck in our drive? FedEx? I hopped out of my chair and ran to the front door. 

YES!

My Garmin Stalker Plus 4 sonar/fish finder had arrived! It not only registers fish, it also marks the exact place where fish are found so the holes aren't lost when snow covers the ice. It even has a tracking feature where I can take the exact same route to my fishing place. (Why I need that, I don't know, but it sounds really impressive.)

My four sons, all, have given me gift cards from Bass Pro over the past several years for either my birthday or Christmas and this past year, I'd finally saved enough to purchase the ice fishing sonar of my dreams.

I would never spend that amount of money on a toy, but accept one as a gift? You bet!

First came assembling the unit and it looked somewhat difficult. Maybe it would help if I read the instructions.

Hmm, part A into part B, B into C, and so on. Wait, where was the last piece. What the heck? Was I missing a piece? I looked all over the place, got up and searched the couch, and went through the packaging. 

I muttered and swore, but nothing helped. A person pays good money for an expensive item and they can't even include all the pieces?

When in doubt, call...

SARRRRGIEEEEE... 

In the end, my bride, who possesses ten times the practical skills and common sense of her often, lame-brained husband, took this off, put that on, showed me the missing part was already in place, twisted yet another piece, attached the head assembly, smiled, and handed it to me. My fish sonar was fully assembled and ready for the lake.

Thank you boys for all your gift cards. I'll try my best to make you proud by catching lots and lots of fish in the coming years.

And thank you Sargie for your help. You are the very bestest fish sonar assembler I know!

Today, what's on the agenda? Well, let's see.

I'll leave pretty soon for my morning walk. Sargie talked about going to Iron Mountain to help Macrea get ready for the Milligan Christmas Eve gathering which they are hosting. I'd like to go fishing, but think I'll hold off until after Christmas. As I've said previously, I'd like to put another inch or two of ice under my feet before venturing out onto the lake. Failing that, I'll warm up the shop and make some saw dust fly.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...