Pawpaw getting a bit of lovin' from Cheeks

May 31, 2021 - Monday/Memorial Day
49 degrees/cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

Thank you to all who have served or are serving to ensure our freedom from those who would take it from us. 

And to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, I especially thank you. God bless America.

It's a quick one this morning as I need to get out to the shop and finish a Memorial Day project before the day gets too far along. It's no secret that springtime is the busiest time of year and now it seems the days have slipped away these past couple of weeks. 

It's crunch time.

Yesterday was action packed. Hambone and I spent much of it together, enjoying those alone times that can only be shared between a grandfather and his grandson. I only wish my other grandsons were closer so I could have the same moments with each.

It was Hambone's first ever walk of more than a few blocks. We set out on an ambitious four mile jaunt.

Never having done anything that strenuous or challenging, Grady was initially hesitant. In fact, at one point, he saw a hill and exclaimed, "OH NO! We have to go up THAT?"

I offered to let him wait for me alongside the road, then under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear, mumbled, "I hope a bear doesn't come along."

Hambone quickly ran and caught up.

 

We had a good time along the way, stopping every so often to make a video, and of course, talking. He said at one point that he was never going to take a long walk again, but once back home, with his head held high, exclaimed to his father how much fun it was. 

I like to think that I taught the boy something yesterday, that pride can't be given, but must be earned. 

I'm proud of Bone. He did it.

 

We had several more hours of alone/guy time around the pond and in the garden. I started calling him Hambone - The Tadpole Hunter as he scooped hundreds, if not thousands, from the pond. 

I told him he should take them home, but I think Daddy has other ideas. No doubt, they'll be poured from the bucket back into the pond, there to grow into frogs.

Sargie, Cheeks, and Macrea, spent much of yesterday together, shopping and doing other mother/son/granddaughter activities. I know they had a good time.

With Macrea as my assistant, I fried fish for supper last night. 

If anyone was hungry after, it was his own fault. The platter was full to overflowing with sizzling filets and everyone knows that a fish fry wouldn't be complete without huge bowls of ice cream after for dessert.

Today's the annual Mighty Milligan Memorial Day Celebration high atop Milligan Mountain. We'll leave later today for an afternoon of celebration and family fun. 

The sun is up and there's just enough time to get in my four mile walk before heading to the shop. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

May 30, 2021 - Sunday morning
39 degrees/partly cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

Saturday morning's low temperatures quickly rebounded leaving a swath of damage in their wake. It appears there'll be no apples in Maple Valley this year. The trees were filled with open blossoms that simply shriveled and fell to the ground after the hard freeze.

We awakened to wilted spring greenery, but fortunately, most recovered as the day warmed.

We were a busy duo yesterday. I was out the door at sunrise working in the garden and was happy when the last of the chips and landscape cloth were laid well before noon.

Honestly, I don't care if I ever see another wood shaving or chip for the rest of my life.

Why all the wood chips this year?

It's well known that any type of natural mulch breaks down over time. I try to keep a layer in the rows between the beds and refresh them yearly as needed.

Since I'll not be here next spring, I decided to spread a thick layer this year so Sargie won't have to worry about it next.

I'd been working since daybreak in the garden when Yooper Brother Mark arrived for our Saturday morning walk, a good one.

We walked by a honey suckle bush that was so striking, it looked almost artificial. With dark green leaves and delicate pink flowers, I couldn't resist taking a picture.

A variety of other tasks were done throughout the day, those that had been ignored this past week in favor of laying wood chips. A panel had blown out in the greenhouse during the last wind storm.

The Harbor Freight polycarbonate greenhouse is beginning to show its age. The frame is like new, but the panels are quickly growing yellow and brittle. Unfortunately, to replace each individually costs more than an entire greenhouse. Go figure. 

With Hambone, Cheeks, Sadie the dog, and Daddy, coming for a couple of days, I spent time cleaning Hambone Beach and skimming the pond. I am assuming the temperatures will warm enough so that we might take a dip at some point.

Sargie wasn't idle. Finished with housework, she made a bee line for the mower and spent all afternoon making the yard look pretty for the holiday weekend.

Hmm, it was warm, Sargie was busy, and there was a garden to tend. Pole beans were planted in a new bed around the base of the old garden windmill. I'm (seriously) ordering a rotating beacon to go on top where the windmill once turned so all the jets that fly overhead can stop at Pentoga International and enjoy some fresh pole beans.

Eeny, meeny, mini, moe

What should be planted next?

Delicata winter squash and our favorite melon from the Ukraine, Collective Farm Woman, were also planted. It's the only honey dew variety that seems to grow this far north and actually ripens.

Since Hambone and company were coming and we knew there'd be a boy and dog running in and out, I decided to pull the lawn rake over the newly cut grass. Better it stay outside than be tracked all through the house.

It was late evening before the family arrived. Grandma Sargie was delighted to have Cheeks all to herself.

Hambone became the teacher last night showing his pawpaw how to make paper airplanes. The kid's pretty good and I'm thinking if he keeps it up, he may be looking at a career in aeronautical engineering.

Speaking of Hambone, he's losing teeth at an alarming rate. I've asked him that when eating corn on the cob while having only one front tooth, does he eat first in one direction, then turn the cob over to finish what he missed.

The boy simply gives a look like Pawpaw's lost all his marbles and shrugs his shoulders. 

I'm heading out the door for my morning walk. Grandma Sargie's feeding Cheeks and Hambone and Macrea are fast asleep.

Only five months old, Cheeks holds her own bottle. 

With rain in the forecast, I have no idea what's on today's agenda, so I'll end by saying,

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sargie's doing the Dance of Joy after mowing the lawn

 

May 29, 2021 - Saturday morning
26 degrees/clear skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

I almost didn't write this morning as there are only so many ways one can describe shoveling and spreading wood shavings and chips while covering landscape cloth. 

Let's see, the biggest action photo of Friday was when a barrel of shavings spilled much of its contents in the Blazer.

You think the interior will need to be cleaned and vacuumed once we're finished hauling wood shavings?

Yooper Brother Mark was out early Friday morning for our walk. In the garden before daylight, I'd already been working for almost an hour by the time he arrived. Our walk was good, our conversation even better. 

Back home, it was time to get busy.

All in all, Sargie and I made six trips to the plant for a total of thirty barrels of shavings.

We've become experts at entering and exiting the back of a large trailer, a coordinated effort that requires getting a knee up to about chin level, pushing, and grunting.

Sargie was the champion of the day. Together, we laid untold yards of landscape cloth and spread chips over it, only to place the barrels back in the Blazer for yet another trip to town.

I think Sargie's in better shape than I am. After her shower and eating supper, she was perfectly happy to watch tv until it was time for bed.

Try as I may to stay awake, my eyes closed early in the evening, around 6:30. They opened long enough for me to make my way to bed three hours later where I slept like a baby until 4 this morning.

On today's agenda are two, possibly three, more loads of chips before we can call this job finished. I hope we're done by noon if not before.

Time to wrap this up and get outside. I need to lay and anchor the last of the landscape cloth before the wind begins to blow. Mark will be out at some point to walk our four miles.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

This hour's old fawn greeted us in Caspian last night during our last trip to town. Still wobbly legged, he was crying, looking for his mama. I found out that Mama was close by and when we drove by later, both were gone.

Josh and the munchkins visiting Uncle Luke's fire house where he is the Captain.

Cody, Luke, Ellie, Josh, Wyatt

May 28, 2021 - Friday morning

34 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Though I don't get to see my sons and grandbabies often, it makes me feel good that they are close and that the grandbabies know their aunts and uncles. What child, young or old, isn't thrilled to hang out at a fire station? 

Josh is traveling from Connecticut this weekend to Andy's in northern Maine to spend time with his youngest brother and Ivy. Andy will soon be leaving for Norway to continue his work in the oil industry.

Speaking of Andy, Ivy's somewhere under this large bucket in a nearby park. There are times I wish I was still a kid. It sure looks like fun.

Thursday was a somewhat boring, but busy day on Pentoga Road. Dawning windy and cold, my morning walk was a quick one. Even with making a  practice video, I hiked the 4.2 miles in just a bit over an hour.

Sargie and I spent the rest of the day either hauling wood chips or spreading them over landscape cloth in the garden aisles.

Down from Marquette, Jambo stopped by. We had a good visit, talking about everything from gardening to fishing to grandbabies, and how fast the grass is growing.

The cold and wind didn't stop Sargie and me from shoveling and spreading eighteen more barrels of chips yesterday.

Our trips to Yooper Brother Mark's plant were frequent. At one point, we stopped and watched a trucker unload peeled aspen logs.

Sargie and I have developed a well oiled method of moving and hauling chips these past few days. 

We both shovel until the barrels are full.

I climb down and load them into the Blazer as Sargie slides each towards the edge.

Climbing in and out of the large trailer provides plenty of laughs. We're both finding our legs don't stretch quite as far as they used to and we grunt and groan like a couple of old people. Thankfully, we can use the tailgate of the Blazer as a step up.

The entire process is done in reverse when we arrive back home. With Sargie's help, I lay the landscape cloth and haul the chips while she rakes them out, although much to my displeasure, my bride was caught lifting and hauling the heavy barrels more than once.

We've been happy to find immature berries growing on the honey berry bushes. If the weather ever turns sunny and warm again, we should be eating fresh fruit within the next two to three weeks.

Today is shaping up to be much like yesterday. Mark and I are going for an early morning walk with the rest of the day being spent in the garden. Hopefully, by afternoon's end, we'll be finished with the wood chips for a couple of years.

Time to get moving. After all, a man's work is never done.

Ivy during one of her riding lessons

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Early morning dawns over Pentoga Village

May 27, 2021 - Thursday morning

33 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I was home from my walk Wednesday morning shortly after sunrise. Sargie was in the shower and it wasn't long before the car was headed south for a big day in Green Bay.

I'd given Sargie a wrap around diamond band to compliment her wedding/engagement ring last summer while driving through Iowa. We'd stopped at a random outlet mall and wandered into a Kay jewelry store. It was there we met Shane, a visiting rep from Dana Augustine Jewelers.

Shane had a ring to compliment Sargie's original set. Sargie and I, both, fell in love with it and as a surprise, I purchased it on the spot. It was sized in the store and an hour later, Sargie walked out wearing a new band that wrapped around the bottom of her original ring.

It was then I promised myself that my girl would be wearing the complimenting top half sooner rather than later.

We received a call sometime ago from our friend, Andrea, the manager at Kay Jewelers in Green Bay, saying that Shane would be visiting in the future. It was time that Sargie have the top band to complete the set. My beautiful wife gives me so much and asks for so little.

Why not?

We walked through the mall and into the jewelry store, there to be met by Andrea. What a sweetheart.

It wasn't long before Shane was free. From Iowa to Green Bay, it was like seeing an old friend complete with man hugs and greetings.

Through multiple phone calls, messages, and no small effort on Andrea's part, Shane just happened to have the top half of Sargie's wrap around set. He reached into a box and there, in front of Sargie's eyes, was the diamond band.

It was fun to watch Sargie. It was just as much fun to observe Andrea and Shane watch Sargie. Their vocation is to sell jewelry, but somehow, I had the impression that their real purpose in life is to make people happy.

Steve, also from Dana Augustine, who makes everything look beautiful, was able to size the new band and solder all the pieces together.

With another round of hugs and promises that we'd stop by the store the next time we're in Green Bay, we bade Andrea goodbye.

And Shane? Who knows when we'll see him next. The traveling rep/jeweler seems to be everywhere. 

It's taken a while, but Sargie now has a complete wedding set. 

We made the usual stops at Sam's/Costco/Aldi Foods and other places before turning the car north and heading home. It was late afternoon before we pulled into the drive and after a quick jaunt up the road to deliver a few groceries to Neighbor Sue, we called it a day.

It's daybreak and time to head out the door. The only thing planned for today is to continue laying landscape cloth in the aisles of the garden and covering them with wood chips. Tuesday's coming, the first official day of gardening on Pentoga Road, and I'd like to have that finished by then.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...