Sunrise showing through the trees on Pentoga Road Wednesday morning

January 7, 2021 - Thursday morning

26 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Okay, so I'm hopelessly addicted to sweets in the early morning hours.

It's simple. A morning delight helps me swallow my supplements and pills. Otherwise, they tend to stick in my throat causing me great distress that could result in paralysis, a case of pimples, or perhaps cramps and bloating. 

I've heard that in more severe cases, those not eating early morning sweets have nearly died. That's something I'm not willing to deal with in my bloom of life.

Sargie snickers at my before dawn eating habits. A couple of cookies. Maybe a piece of cake? How about today's choice, a gooey chocolate brownie. 

It's all medicinal.

I've told the story before. I get my early morning sweet addiction honestly. When I was young, I delighted in rising early in the morning while staying at Grandma and Grandpa's home in northern Minnesota. Grandpa sat in the dark at the dining room table, listening to KTLK AM news radio out of Minneapolis while savoring his oatmeal with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream slowly melting on top. With a lit cigarette smoking in a nearby ashtray accompanied by a mug of steaming coffee fresh from the percolator, Grandpa relished his early morning breakfast ritual. Failing ice cream and oatmeal, the old man would make do with a handful of Grandma's sugar cookies, always available in a cookie jar shaped like a smiling chef, white apron, chef's hat, mustache, and all, that sat atop the refrigerator.

Not to shoot the food pyramid completely down, unlike Grandpa, I'm a more healthy early morning sweet eater and enjoy fruit with my morning delight, usually a banana or handful of grapes. Those are eaten in hopes that Mom won't reach down from Heaven and slap me on the head quite so hard. She was a big believer in a healthy breakfast.

So, let's agree that, in reality, a big ol' piece of cake, cookie, or brownie, is near mandatory when I take my pills. 

Why? 

Everyone knows that a spoonful of sugar, or a big ol' piece of brownie, helps the medicine go down.

If you think I'm lying, go ask Mary Poppins. 

A fire was started in the outside wood furnace before leaving for Wednesday morning's walk. Returning home to a shop whose thermometer registered in the 70's, I began working on another section of the Lord's Prayer. Two complete lines were finished and a third begun. I'm hoping to complete that section today.

I just had a deep thought. Hang on.

Now if one is Catholic, he might say I'm almost finished. When Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray, evidently, those who were Catholic were so eager to spread the word that they hurried off before He was completely finished. 

It would have been so much easier if Jesus would have taken control of the situation.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA! Just hold your horses, boys. I'm not finished yet," but no, those Catholics had to rush off.

Unsure who I'll give the finished project to, I'll continue and saw the last board should a Protestant be on the receiving end, the one that says, "For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever." 

Evidently, the non Catholic disciples were in no such hurry. 

I went fishing Wednesday afternoon. Simply put, it wasn't pretty. Dang, the fish are there, but to get them to hit?

It can't be said I was skunked. 

Last night saw an hour long game of Rummy played with Diamond Lil, aka Sargie Pants, Pentoga Road's own card shark. As usual, she handed my head to me on a platter. 

Today's to be another nice one. I'm hoping to spend the majority of the day in the shop. People keep having babies, so I keep making names. The Lord's Prayer is sitting at the scroll saw and a platter sized piece of wood is mounted in the lathe. Kyle gave me all that mahogany and I want to begin laminating several pieces for a future bowl.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

If you see Sargie Pants getting that gleam in her eye and her hands begin to move in a subconscious shuffling motion, you'd better run.

I had to check to be sure I still had my underwear after she cleaned my clock playing Rummy last night.