Much of Friday was spent washing, drying, sorting, and packing, the equipment used on this past week's hike.

June 19th, 2021 - Saturday morning

51 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I think it's wonderful that the President declared today a federal holiday in honor of my birthday. 

Thanks Joe!

....oh wait. What? That's not the reason? 

Oh.

You sure?

Mama always told me that today was my special day.

Really?

Darn.

Never mind.

Saturday was a busy one. I was out of the house early for my usual walk to Pentoga Village and back. As is the case every year at this time, I am especially enjoying the wild flowers that God has sewn alongside our magical roadway.

The fluer du jour presently happens to be wild daisies, millions and trillions of beautiful wild daisies. (Aren't you impressed with my bilingualism? Thanks Uncle Bert for teaching me everything I know about conversational French. I still remember a bit from my teaching years in Madawaska, Maine, where over 80% of my students came from French speaking families.)

Back home, with Sargie's help, I tackled the aftermath of this past week's hike. We sorted everything from clothing to equipment to unused food. Everything was discussed as to whether it would be included on next year's AT journey.

I have to say that for being a self professed non hiker, my bride knows more about the support side of hiking than most. She's quick to make very educated suggestions and is extremely knowledgeable. Now if I could only talk her into walking next year's five million steps with me.

I picked a bowl of honeyberries yesterday morning. They are sweet and juicy, but due to the lack of rain, are undersized and there aren't many. In fact, two of the three bushes have very few. It's just one of those years.

Sargie and I took our usual drive, got her Coke, then made a quick tour of a couple of area lakes. Our favorite non people, Midsummer Sam and his bride, greeted us at the entrance of one road. Both were dressed in new attire.

I don't know who does the Midsummer Sam thing, but they must have a lot of fun changing outfits with the seasons and holidays. As a side note, I find Midsummer Sam's wife particularly alluring. No wonder the boy is always smiling.

We worked around the garden and pond yesterday afternoon. I noticed some scat (poop) in several places at the edge of the garden pond and sorting back in my memory from my trapping days, I believe it's that of a river otter. I'm sure large, fat, lazy, goldfish would make a tempting meal for any otter that happened to wander by.

I set the trail cam between the legs of the heron last night and we'll see what kind of twilight critter is calling the pond his own.

Where's Luke when I need him, although I still have all my trapping equipment above the shop, including several live traps. Stay tuned, this could get interesting.

Speaking of critters and trail cams, there's a new bear in the neighborhood and he's a good sized boy.

Not far behind at any given time is a bevy of raccoons. I don't mind sharing their woods as long as both stay away from the house.

With cooler late afternoon temperatures, Sargie and I hopped on the four wheeler and enjoyed a ride to the river, then onto the lake.

We both specialize in wearing (pardon me) bad ass helmets and am waiting for a screen play writer to pen a story of our four wheeler travels, possibly a sequel, called Grandparents Without a Cause.

On today's agenda is, first, to strap on my hikers and put a few miles under these feet of mine. The garden needs weeding, there are more honey berries to pick, and I think we may venture to "sin city", otherwise known as Iron Mountain, to purchase a new 20 volt battery for the vacuum used to scrub the algae from the sides of the pond.

"Day Two" video will be after the last picture.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

No need to turn your device upside down. That's me, hanging from our inversion machine, straightening out my back after a few days of hiking.