Garry and Jody Meador
Married fifty years on June 6th

June 6, 2015 - Saturday
31 degrees/sunny/calm
Pentoga Road

I'd like to begin this morning by wishing my very good friend, whom I consider a true brother, Garry, and his wife, Jody, a happy 50th wedding anniversary. Strong in faith and the parents of three wonderful children and many grandchildren, Garry and Jody were married on June 6, 1965. They are currently tracing their original honeymoon by traveling from Laurel, Mississippi to Pensacola, Florida, over the St. Augustine, then up to Savanah, Georgia, and will finally end up at their son's and his family's home in Virginia to attend a grandson's high school graduation. Congratulations, folks. We love you.

As a side note, Garry and I both graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi, were band directors and educators, and have communicated with each other, daily, for close to thirty years, long before the internet (as it is today) was invented. We discovered how to leave each other daily notes on a music publisher's bulletin board and communicated that way. I doubt either of us has missed more than a dozen days of writing in all that time. Garry knows me better than anyone else in the world and I'd be willing to bet he'd say the same about me. 

Page two

It's frosty outside this morning. I distinctly remember hearing Carl the Weatherman saying last week that warmer weather was on the way. Oops, looks like another cold night sneaked in. 

The planters and pots were brought inside the garage

Thankfully, Sargie and I covered the garden and flowers last night and there shouldn't have been too much damage.

A surprise from Sargie. Welcome to my Garden!

Friday morning was spent spraying thistles. I think most of the back portion of the property has been covered, although I'll be going back all summer and hitting those I've missed or that refuse to die. I'll begin spraying the front meadow this morning. It's a project, a chore, but I've officially declared the War on Thistles for the next four months.



I got the old truck running and spread one load of fill in the side yard. I'm cautiously optimistic when I say that I think that particular project should be finished in the next two weeks. Of course, it all depends on the weather. Once completed, I'll spread grass seed and hopefully, by summer's end, the area will have some semblance of yard.

The rest of the day was spent mowing and trimming. I wish the lawn would stay looking as pretty all summer as it does now. It has that golf course look, short, lush, thick, and green. 



I traveled to Iron Mountain late in the afternoon and rode back home with Sargie. It was a nice ride and of course, we talked nonstop.



Sargie discovered she doesn't have to work today and is heading to Marquette to spend some time with Baby Grady. I'm going to skip this trip and stay home. There's all the frost blankets to take off the garden and put away, spraying to be done, fill to haul and rake, and papers to grade. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

A hen wild turkey strutting around the back yard on Thursday morning

June 5, 2015 - Friday

55 degrees/cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

Ouch, my back hurts this morning. It seems arthritis has settled into one area of my lower back making early mornings more challenging than they really ought to be. 

Year's ago, when I was living in the arctic, someone gave me a huge pair of little-kid, Teddy bear, house slippers, more as a joke than anything. They had cloth bottoms and tended to be slippery when on a bare floor.

It was a Saturday morning and I was cleaning my cabin located thirty miles north of the Arctic Circle. The temperature outside was well into the minus thirty degree range. The inside was over seventy, but the floor was still frosty cold. Dressed only in my BVD's and the Teddy bear slippers, I stepped outside to shake a rug.

Looking at the back of my cabin in the early fall.

As I was going down the steps, the cloth-bottomed slippers met the newly fallen snow on the steps causing me to slip and fall backwards, hitting my lower back on the edge of one of the steps. I rolled down the rest, and crumpled to the ground.

I could barely move my legs and the pain was excruciating. In fact, it was difficult to breathe. I lay on the snow knowing that it would be only a short while before frost bite and hypothermia set in. 

I tried to move several times, but simply couldn't. When the urge to fall asleep began, I knew I had no choice. It was either move back into the cabin or die... and I didn't want someone finding my body clad only in my underwear and oversized Teddy bear slippers.

And so I pulled my body back up the stairs and into the cabin and my bunk. Thankfully, the wood stove was close enough that I could reach it from where I lay and that's where I remained for three days. 

The front of the cabin after a typical arctic storm. It took me over two hours to dig down to the door after returning home from a two week trip to Barrow on snowmobile. This one was so severe that it blew the blades of my wind generator (to the left of the roof) off the hub.

I attempted to start the snowmobile on the beginning of the fourth day, but the pain was too severe. It was then I remembered the partial door found floating in the sound the summer before, the one that was split lengthways. Wood is a rare commodity in the arctic and nothing goes to waste, including half a door.

It took over an hour, but I used duct tape and strapped the door to my back, wrapping tape round and round my torso, rendering it unable to bend. I finally got the snowmobile started using my entire body and rode the seventeen miles into the village, lying almost face down on the seat of the snowmobile. 

I'd broken my back, a vertebrae in the lower part and the doctor suggested surgery. I nixed that idea saying it would heal and it did... sort of. He warned that without immediate surgery and rehabilitation, the chances of suffering later in life were almost a certainty. I told him that was the chance I was willing to take. I was so wise.

So here I am today, paying for my earlier wisdom, and my back hurts. Aging, it's not for the weak of heart... or back.

Onto the next page...

Thursday dawned rainy and chilly but calm. I was tired of working inside looking out and with the skies clearing, I decided to go fishing.

It must be mating season for the loons. A male spent the entire day chasing his mate around the lake. It was as though they were trying to take off, but never quite got airborne and sounded like two paddle boats churning the water. I never did see the male catch the female, but I'd think both would be too tired to do whatever it is loons do when once one finally catches the other. 

At one point, both disappeared under the water and this one popped up right alongside the boat. It was the closest I've ever been to a loon in my life.

Fishing was pretty good. I must have caught eighty or a million bass. Legal keeping size for our lake is 18 inches, so all I landed were turned back. Most weighed in the two-pound range.

I caught a nice mess of large bluegills and a couple of big crappies. It was a good fishing day.

It was getting towards late afternoon when I arrived back home and cleaned the fish. The rest of the day was spent working in the garden. With the recent rains, everything is growing like weeds, including the weeds.

The last of this spring's radishes. This year's crop was the best I've ever grown, hopefully a preview of the growing season ahead.

Sargie was home early and we worked a while in the yard before coming in and relaxing. I threw a few burgers on the grill and we had a summer-type supper, burgers, macaroni salad, freshly cut asparagus, and radishes. It doesn't get more summery than that!

Sargie closes tonight... another long day for her. I need to gather up some tomato plants I had left over for sisters-in-law Nancy and Holly. Sargie will take them over to Iron Mountain with her this morning. Otherwise, I'll be mowing the yard today... again. It's been a week and I could probably bail the grass rather than simply cut it. 

Mmm, nothing smells better than freshly brewed coffee which reminds me, it's time for a cup and do some thinking. Today's deep thought concerns sharpening the hooks on a couple of my favorite fishing lures.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Back in the arctic. I'd been cutting and working up firewood, my main source of heat.

Thursday saw me trying to invent an internal irrigation system for the strawberry planters.

June 4, 2015 - Thursday
54 degrees/light rain/calm
Pentoga Road

We received another quarter of an inch of rain overnight... perfect. I like this new weather pattern that seems to have developed; rain two or three times a week, enough to keep the garden and lawn watered and looking nice and green.

Ug, I just picked a tick off the top of my foot. Seems this is a banner wood tick year, but then, isn't it that way every year? I don't mind sharing a bit of blood, but I do mind when the area becomes itchy and I end up scratching that area for the next week. Brutus takes a once-a-month oral Gummy Bear tick and flea repellant that works really well. I wish they'd develop the same for humans. I'd try his, but I'm fearful that I'd have the urge to lift my leg on trees and bushes.

I went fishing Wednesday morning, but came home after an hour. The wind picked up while I was on the lake and I couldn't hold the boat in any one spot long enough to have much success. 



Other than one undersized bass, I came up empty-handed.



Most the day was spent attempting to put some sort of irrigation system into one strawberry planter. It works, but I'm not completely happy with the entire thing. The pipes are too long (easily fixed) and I drilled holes too big so the water runs rather than seeps out of the PVC pipe washing some dirt over the sides of the shelves.



I was shocked to see how much of the soil had settled inside the planters. In some instances, there are huge holes leaving the strawberry roots dangling in mid air. That could explain why I've lost a few plants.



Overall, the planters seem to be a success, but they need some definite modifications. Those will happen this winter in the shop.



I spent quite a while in the garden, weeding, and also beginning to clean in the greenhouse. It becomes quite the catch-all of garden tools and goodies.

I wanted to bring up the daily load of fill to the side yard, but after filling the truck with dirt, discovered the battery was dead. I'm not sure the alternator works on the old truck, so after starting and stopping it several times, the battery runs down. I need to charge it at least once every couple of weeks. Since I only use the truck to haul dirt or wood here on the property, I'm not overly concerned. I took the battery from the truck yesterday afternoon and it's been charging in the shop all night. Maybe I'll stop at the junk yard in town and see if they have a used one.

Sargie was home early and finished planting her flowers. I watered and fertilized everything, so with this rain we've received overnight, they should adjust to their new environment without a problem

The Navy beans are beginning to appear

Sargie works early today. I'm going to finish cleaning the greenhouse and depending on the wind and weather, might go fishing later. Otherwise, there are assignments to grade and wood to haul.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

The giant pumpkin is growing and thriving despite last week's below freezing temperatures.

Every man's dream come true. That's our veterinarian, Dr. Cheryl, on whose lap Brutus is sitting. And not to miss an opportunity, Brutus is kissing on the pretty vet's assistant.

June 3, 2015 - Wednesday

46 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

Tuesday turned out to be a great day, especially with Brutus's prognosis. It turns out that his hips are fine, a big relief, but that he probably has a meniscus tear or ripped muscle in his right knee, possibly both. We could spend thousands of dollars and have both repaired, but since Brutus is a dog and can live pain-free and enjoy an active life if he stays on an anti-inflammatory, sometimes accompanied by a simple pain medication, we'll do that. Whew.

The veterinarian and her assistant spent a full hour with Brutus, poking, prodding, peering, petting, and doing as much laughing as all the above combined. The pup is a ladies man. He entertained both, kissed on both, and even when he had a thermometer fully inserted on the south end of his north-bound body, simply stood and made eyes at them. One even said that if we ever decided to give Brutus away, she would love to have him. I don't see that happening. I depend on him too much and besides, who would I talk to and who would make me laugh when I'm home alone during the days while Sargie is working? 

Arriving home, Sargie donned her work clothes and gloves and spent the rest of the day planting flowers and other pretties around the place. It's beginning to look like summer!

I built a simple cage out of chicken wire and deer fencing to keep the starlings from plucking any more of my tomato plants from the raised planter. Once they grow tall enough, I'll take the cage off and begin to trellis them up the side of the barn.

I dug and filled the truck with a load of dirt from in the back and unloaded and spread that in the side yard. I'm estimating another twenty loads or so and that entire area should be finished. 

We had our first radishes yesterday. The early ones are so good; crispy, sweet, and not at all hot. I wish I'd have planted more.

While Sargie was finishing planting last night, I showered, then began frying fish and sweet potato fries. 

We had three bags of filets, I fried two, and there wasn't a piece of fish or a French fry left. Oh yes, we know how to chow down!

Sargie's back to work today. I need to fertilize her flowers to give them a good start. 

Proof of the abuse I must endure as Sargie attempts to squirt me with the hose. 

No doubt, I'll haul a load or two of fill, and I'm hoping to insert a pipe into one of the strawberry pyramids. The concept is good, but they are difficult to water. If I can run a PVC pipe down the middle containing holes for the water to run out, the plants can be watered from the inside out. Stay tuned, it's all an ongoing project.

With that being said, it's time to grab a cup of coffee and think some deep thoughts... like... what should I have for breakfast; toast or cereal... or possibly both.

Ah, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Neighbor Mike giving a clinic on how to catch fish.

June 2, 2015 - Tuesday

32 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

I was awake way too early this morning and try as I may, I couldn't get back to sleep. My mind was stuck in overtime and simply wouldn't shut down.

Brutus's appointment with the veterinarian is later this morning and I'm worried about him. He's always had bad back legs and there have been three different vets examine him and all three have come up with a different diagnosis. We'll see. I hope I'm just being pessimistic. 

Year's ago, we had a wonderful family dog, a golden retriever, named Satch. I never worried about the boys when they were outside as Satch was their constant companion. The day came when his back legs would no longer support him and he was obviously in pain. It turns out he had cancer and we had to have him put to sleep. It was sad and heart breaking, but it was the right thing to do. I'm just hoping history doesn't repeat itself. 

Neighbor Mike and I went fishing on Monday and what fun we had! The fish are just beginning to move into shallow water and we caught a real mixed bag, mostly bass, bluegills, and crappies. 

Mike caught the most by far. 

At one point, he was bringing in a small bluegill when a bass came up and grabbed it. The hook slipped out of the bluegill's mouth and into that of the bass and Mike landed the bigger fish. It was just that kind of day.

Mike was kind enough to give me the day's catch. I cleaned those when we arrived home so Sargie and I can have a big fish fry tonight.

Mike is building a multi-layered stoop for his back door and needed a goodly supply of medium-sized rocks. I cranked up the old Ford tractor and we used the front end loader with which to haul the rocks from a large pile in one of his fields.

Sargie walked in the door last night carrying a huge pizza. We enjoyed pigging out in front of the television set and had an otherwise quiet evening.

Other than Brutus's doctor's appointment, this will be flower day on Pentoga Road. Sargie has thirty red geraniums to plant, plus there's a mixture of other delicates to place in the various pots and planters. That girl sure loves her flowers and by the time she's finished, the patio area and outside will be completely transformed. 

As for me, the frost blankets and coverings need to be taken off the garden plants first thing this morning. I think it's dry enough that I can begin to haul fill again, plus there's wood to work up, the trailer to drop off at Yooper Brother Mark's plant, and the list goes on and on. If only you had my life.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Caught on the trail cam - Mama and our newest baby

June 1, 2015 - Monday
30 degrees/clear/calm
Pentoga Road

... and here's a coyote who would make a quick meal out of our Bambi if he could find it.

Here it is, the first of June. I'm not sure where May went, but then April and March winged their ways through my recent history just as quickly. It used to be that the days flew by. Now it's the months and all seem like a blur.

One of the many back roads we traveled on Sunday afternoon's drive

Though it frosted last night, we managed to escape a hard freeze. It's to get down into the upper 30's tonight, then Carl the Weatherman is predicting more normal lows, in the 40's, for the foreseeable future. I hope so. It gets bothersome covering the garden each night.

Sunday was a beautiful, but chilly day. I worked much of the morning on moving wood to the second storage shed. One, possibly two, more days of steady labor should see both sheds filled and ready for next winter. I need to begin combing the woods in search of a couple of large, dead, maple trees to cut for hardwood. I use that to stoke the fire on those long, cold, winter nights when I want to keep heat in the house all night long.



I was hungry for an old-fashioned breakfast Sunday morning so Sargie and I fixed fried potatoes, eggs, bacon, and toast. I'll have to pry my veins back open one of these days, but it was delicious.

Our Sunday afternoon ride found us at several of the area lakes. It was chilly, but sunny.



Sheri came out late in the afternoon and picked some rhubarb. The three of us caught up on the happenings of life and as always, we enjoyed her visit a great deal.

Last night found us watching tv and being lazy. A great end to a perfect day.

A Canada goose (left) and a Great Blue Heron, both in one picture

Sargie's back to work today, but has Tuesday off. Neighbor Mike called last night and asked if I wanted to go fishing today. Heck yeah. Somebody's got to put meat on the table.

Sargie bought me a new pair of knock-around shoes. I didn't realize the tags were still attached. It's been a long time since I've seen Sargie laugh so hard, so much so, she had to take a picture.

But then as we all know, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...