January 5, 2020 - Tuesday morning
30 degrees/cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

I'll give you three guesses what we did Monday. If they are anything other than taking down Christmas decorations, you guessed wrong.

Well, we did take our usual morning ride. You know, psych up for the long day head.

We noticed over on Midsummer Drive, the road bordering one of our local lakes, that Midsummer Sam has taken a wife.

That makes me happy as Sam has stood for years making a solitary greeting to passersbys. 

I don't know which resident(s) clothes him, but someone goes to a lot of work to keep Sam season appropriate. We enjoy occasionally driving by to see what the robe du joir happens to be.

With a mild winter, the deer herd certainly seems healthy. Baring a horrible late winter and spring, they ought to come through in great shape.

We'd procrastinated long enough. Pulling into the drive, both Sargie and I walked to the storage shed in back of the barn where we each grabbed a tote or two. 

Sargie kept busy all day packing. 

I helped where I could, but mostly, I reenacted Pentoga Road's interpretation of the Bataan Death March by ferrying totes to and from the storage shed.

All packing was finished by evening. Just when I thought it was safe to sit down, Sargie decided we should "spiffy up" the house. I can't blame her. Christmas glitter and sequins seemed to be covering everything.

Sargie manned the dust rag, I, the vacuum and away we went.

Sleep came quickly last night. I remember dozing off in my chair and now, I'm wondering if Sargie carried me up the stairs. I don't remember climbing them on my own or crawling between the sheets.

Devoid of two Christmas trees, three manger scenes, and thousands of totes of holiday pretties, the house seems rather empty and cold this morning. The decorations are put away for another year and after a joyous holiday season, it's possible to walk from one room to the other without tripping over one life sized Santa or the other. 

I've decided to initiate a new fashion statement here on Pentoga Road. I was reading a hiking blog (naturally) where a debate was raging concerning using an umbrella vs more conventional rain gear while long distance hiking. Opinions ranged about 50/50.

One reader quipped that he used a cheap "hat umbrella," and it worked just fine. Being the young, modern, progressive hiker that I am, I found one online for a whoppin' five dollars. Stay tuned on this one. I'm not overly optimistic.

With the decorations put away and life back to normal, I'm hoping to have some quality shop time today, or maybe, spend an hour or two out on the ice... or possibly both. There's little doubt that Sargie and I will take our ride, but then, with the world at our doorstep, who really knows?

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Grandson, Coleman, along with his dad, scored a few crappies during a recent ice fishing outing in southern Maine