It won't be long before all the trees surrounding our home will be orange and red.

August 27, 2021 - Friday morning
58 degrees/cloudy/calm winds
Pentoga Road

It's dark and cloudy this morning, but I'm wondering, where's the rain that Carl the Weatherman has promised? Supposedly, it's to arrive in an hour or so, but Carl's been known to occasionally be less than truthful.

Just as the South is readying for another onslaught of rainy weather with the latest hurricane, we're on the other end of the spectrum this summer. I can't remember it being so dry in the past ten years. The grass is rapidly turning brown and makes a crunchy sound when we walk across the yard. 

Hopefully, the rain will arrive sooner rather than later.

Thursday's walk was a good one. I practiced making a video, one which you'll never see, but I'm becoming more comfortable talking to a camera as I walk along. 

Sargie was busy all day yesterday. The girl ripped the living room apart and washed everything in sight, from the windows down to scrubbing the floor and rugs. 

I finished the concrete base for the garden umbrella. We'll see what it looks like later today when I remove the forms. Plans are to cover it with pavers or flat rock. Stay tuned. It very well could end up hidden or buried deep in the woods if it's too ugly.

Hey, nothing ventured/nothing gained, eh?

I tackled the front steps, those that are continually washing out from underneath. Built on a base of gravel with pavers bedded in sand, rain water running off the roof washes the sand away and makes for uneven footing.

With two bags of Quikcrete left from the umbrella project, I decided to mix that with the sand in hopes of making the underlying base more firm. Honestly, I don't believe it did a thing other than make a mess. 

It appears I'll have to get serious about stabilizing the steps by actually pouring a cement base and letting it cure before laying the red pavers on top.

The rest of the afternoon was spent patching cracks in the drive in preparation for its yearly coating of sealer.

The constant heaving from frost that occurs every spring makes for some pretty good cracks in the four inch pavement. All that can be done is to fill and repair them each summer. It's been eight years since the drive was poured and so far, so good.

Needless to say, Sargie Pants and Tom slept like a couple of babies last night. 

In the Andy news, the boy is finally home for a well deserved break from his last oil job in Trinidad.

How the boy and his crew managed to snag a ride for the first leg of their journey on a Lear jet is beyond me, but he's doing something right. 

Andy arrived home late last evening in Presque Isle, Maine.

It's time to head out the door for my morning stroll. Let's see, today's a full pack day, meaning I'll carry my backpack and if Carl's telling the truth, I may actually get to try out my hiking umbrella, the one that fastens onto my chest strap and allows me to hike hands free.

Time to get a move on.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sargie and I are enjoying filet du pasteque... watermelon filets.

After watching the head chef of the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, effortlessly carve one in a matter of a minute or less years ago, I learned the secret to a good watermelon filet is to use a knife with a flexible blade. The filets are sweet, juicy, and tender. It's all in the knife, you know.

(Thanks Uncle Bert for teaching me all the French I know even if you didn't include how to carve a watermelon in my instruction.)