At age two, there's nothing more fun than playing outside after dark on a warm, spring, night.

May 7, 2016 - Saturday
51 degrees/sunny/calm winds
Pentoga Road

Just like that, yesterday's 88 degree heat wave left in a flash and we're back to more seasonal norms. 

Al Gore would have had a field day in the UP yesterday. In fact, he could have helped plant onions in the garden while pontificating on the sins of us mere mortal humans. Naw, that wouldn't have worked. I like my garden too much.

A honeyberry bush in bloom

Page Two:

Yesterday's walk wasn't without a bit of discomfort. I think the inside stitches are pulling and the incision of the stomach wall is healing. It feels as though I need more skin down there as things heal and grow together. 

Then there's one exterior stitch that's enough to cause me to mutter every now and then. I'm not sure what its purpose is, but it's easily irritated by my belt and should I turn the wrong way, feels as though the doctor is attempting to pull it out BEFORE cutting the thread. Oh well, next Wednesday will soon be here and with it, my doctor's appointment. I'm hoping he can take out the evil stitch and work his doctor magic. Most of all, I'm praying he'll give me the go ahead to resume normal activity. 

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After a quick trip to town on Friday, I got down to business and planted onion sets... even without Al Gore. It was pleasant sitting in the sun, at least the first five minutes were nice. 



Then the sweat began pouring into my eyes. After, the flies started swarming around me and before I knew what was happening, a bee stung me where my shirt and pants fail to meet when bending over. 

The onions were planted, but what a pain in the... butt.

Page Three:

Speaking of flies, yesterday's hot temperatures brought out a hatch of cluster flies. The barn and garage had millions, maybe bajillions of them, so bad that it was almost impossible to walk into the kitchen or the shop. 

In the end, I closed the door to both buildings and set off bug bombs. That took care of the problem.



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With my belly hurting, I took it easy the rest of the afternoon by cutting seed potatoes. 

Five pounds usually gives us what we need and I'm anxious to get them planted into the new addition to the garden. 



After cutting the spuds, I lay them out, flesh side up, so they might crust over, making them less likely to rot in the ground before sprouting.



Page Five:

Sargie arrived home after work with thirty-five pounds of happy boy. Grady was ready to rumble, but first, we drove to meet Mark, Sheri, and Jerad, for a Friday night fish fry.



Sitting at the head of one table, Grady was the perfect little guy. He delighted in entertaining everyone. 

He ate, he laughed, and he sent the entire table into hysterics when initially biting into a lemon. It must not have been that bad, he did it two or three times and enjoyed licking the juice. 



Once home, we played outside in the dark for quite a while. Grandma Sargie had purchased a swing and I temporarily hung it from a previous frame of our porch swing, so it worked out well. I'm going to have to come up with something else from which to attach Grady's swing for the summer months. I like our's too much to sacrifice it!



Grady ran and ran, laughed, and loved feeling the wind on his face and in his hair. For me, the clock was rolled back over sixty years when we occasionally played Hide and Go Seek or Kick the Can in the yard after dark. It was magic. 

All good things come to an end and Grady enjoyed his yogurt before Grandma Sargie washed him and eventually put him to bed. We didn't (and haven't yet) heard a peep out of him.

Page Six:

Today's going to be a busy one on Pentoga Road. Grady and PawPaw are planting taters. Then there's the sandbox in which to play and a four-wheeler ride is in the works. No doubt the three of us will do some grocery shopping and after, well, who knows?

Well, there's one thing we know. A man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

At the end, Grady says, "bite," meaning he's ready for another spoonful of yogurt.

Granddaughter, Ivy, is putting in some quality reading time. Andy said he and his daughter read on the same level.

May 6, 2016 - Friday

42 degrees/clear/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It's going to be a scorcher today with 85 degrees forecast. I'm already wearing shorts and a short-sleeved t-shirt. Let the hot weather come. Tomorrow's high is only to be in the low 60's.

After my usual walk on Thursday, I bit the bullet and tackled the last strawberry planter. 

I've been dreading redoing the pyramids for quite some time and now that all four are finished, I'm thankful for this mandatory down time due to the surgery. Sitting on Sargie's garden cart while working and using it to transport dirt allowed me to get the pyramids finished this week.

Red nasturtium seed is already planted in the middle tiers on the two sunny sides with moss rose on the top and the remaining strawberries on the bottom tiers. Impatiens will be planted on the more shaded sides where the sun doesn't reach. Should be an interesting combination.

It was time to crank up the lawn mower. Since the oil was changed towards the end of last summer, I decided to wait until I can get a new filter to change fluids. After tightening, greasing, and cleaning, the rider was deemed ready for the upcoming summer. The old Cub ran like a Deere.

I wish the grass would stay this green and plush all summer. The recent rains of last week has made the lawn resemble a golf course.

Sargie was home early last night and we had a quiet evening together. She was busy cleaning house while I tried to put numbers onto paper regarding purchasing an expensive trike. I don't know, I've talked myself in and out of buying the machine a hundred times. I know I'll use it, but it's so much money. Who knows?

Grady's coming and will be with us from tonight into Sunday morning. Between the shingles and hernia, we've not had the little bugger for a few weeks, so we're excited. Tomorrow's not to be as nice as the last two days, but I doubt he'll care. I'm planning on spending the day outside with him. He's a boy. I've got dirt. It's science.

With that being said, it's time to move along and get today started. On today's agenda: walking, planting onions, and cutting up seed potatoes.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Grandson, Bennet, is growing like a weed.

May 5, 2016 - Thursday

23 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

Whew, it's nippy out there this morning. It feels good to sit alongside the wood stove and sip a cup of hot tea. Today's high? Seventy degrees with lots of sun.

Wednesday was the opposite. Cold, drizzly, windy... the weather wasn't fit for doing much of anything. Still, a few things were accomplished.

I rode with Sargie to Iron Mountain where a large marine deep cell battery to power the trolling motor was purchased. It serves a double purpose with the solar bank and can be used when we lose electricity, something that occurs quite often on Pentoga Road.

Once back home, I plopped in the recliner, ready for a lazy day, until the sun popped out from behind the clouds a few minutes later. I couldn't just sit on my backside all day.

I carefully changed from my city boy clothes to something much more practical and headed out the door.

By afternoon's end, the third pyramid had been redone, the watering system and new soil added. 

I also took the time to plant this year's first vegetable crop, that of radishes in the raised planter.

 Hopefully, Sargie and I will be happily munching away on a bowlful thirty days from now.

Remember those bushes in the garden that had grown up volunteer late last summer? I thought they were blueberries. Now that each has matured enough and leafed out, I find they are honey berry bushes that grew up as volunteers from seed. That's fine. We enjoy honey berries as well as blueberries.

Sargie worked late last night and wasn't home until almost 9:30. We talked for an hour before climbing the steps to bed. She opens today. 

I've about decided to purchase a trike, a tadpole, a 27 speed, three-wheeled, peddle vehicle. This isn't your grandmother's retirement trike with a bell and streamers flying behind the handle grips. It's a low slung bike on three wheels that will rival any road bike. 

We have a spankin' new, multi-million dollar, paved trail that winds ten miles from here to Iron River. Built from conservation funds by the state, I'm told it's every bicyclist's dream come true. Each time I drive alongside the trail, I think of how I ought to get a bike and start riding. Since I don't trust my balance, let alone my sight, I've decided a trike might be the way to go. 

Sargie doesn't appreciate long distance hiking the way I do, but she's remarked several times how much she enjoys riding a bicycle. Until a few years ago, she looked forward to climbing on one of her sons' bicycles for a summer evening ride. We're going to see if we can make that happen again. We already have the two wheeler, now we need something with three wheels for me. Stay tuned.

Time to get Sargie's lunch packed and prepare breakfast before riding with her partway to work and walking back home. Today's long term goal? Finish the fourth and last pyramid.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

While in Iron Mountain on Wednesday, I walked through one of the green houses simply to experience a taste of summer.

After a hard rain last evening, the sunset and rising fog presented a beautiful picture on Pentoga Road

May 4, 2016 - Wednesday

38 degrees/cloudy/windy

Pentoga Road

I'm running a day late and a dollar short this morning. Sargie doesn't have to work until eleven and we both expressed hope last night that we might be able to sleep the night through. We did, right up until 8 o'clock this morning! 

Tuesday was a strange day in the weather department. It dawned cold and windy, then turned warm and windy, and finally, after a front came through last night, it turned very chilly and windy. Strange. 

Tuesday morning began with the usual three-mile walk. Nothing new there and exercise seems to, indeed, be making my body heal quickly.

The rest of the day was spent working on the second pyramid planter. The watering system was installed, several of the shelves repaired, and new soil added. Two down, two to go.

Time was taken to plant the other three giant pumpkin seeds that had sprouted between wet paper towels into potting soil. The first seed, previously planted in soil two days ago, broke the surface yesterday and will go into the ground this next week to be force fed for the rest of the summer. 

It was rainy and miserable. I took a quick shower, put on some city boy clothes, and drove to Iron Mountain to surprise Sargie with a dinner date at the ski lodge. 

I had a hamburger, she enjoyed a stuffed winter squash. There were no complaints from either of us.

Hamburger anyone? Mine had a huge burger topped with jalapeno peppers, fried onion rings, lettuce, and tomato, all covered with a spicy barbecue sauce. What diet?

Coming home was a bit dicey. The storm clouds accompanying the forecast front were barreling through. We drove through some heavy rain and wind, but in the end, the bite was worse than the bark.

Last night was spent watching television and enjoying the last of our date night by simply being together. It seems between the shingles and hernia, we've been so busy taking care of each other, that we haven't spent any time on us. Neither are yet 100%, but together, we're way off the charts.

The last of the snow on the ski slopes has just about disappeared

I'll ride back to Iron Mountain this morning to retrieve the Blazer. I want to stop and purchase some white pumpkin seed and a new battery for the trolling motor. The old one, four years old, died at the end of last summer.

Otherwise, it all depends on the weather. I like to think that I'll get the third pyramid reworked this afternoon, but if not today, then tomorrow will work just fine.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

I got my yearly load of compost Monday morning

May 3, 2016 - Tuesday

30 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

It's such a beautiful early morning that is dawning outside my windows. Hard to believe that it's to turn cloudy and rain later this afternoon. Oh well, we can always use the moisture. Tomorrow's forecast is for a high only in the mid forties before returning to a more reasonable seventy degrees on Thursday.

The violets are beginning to bloom at the edge of the woods

Monday started with the usual walk. I honestly forgot about the incision and was almost home when I felt a twinge in my lower right-hand side. I'd been pushing right along in an attempt to elevate my heart rate and the incision began to complain. Needless to say, I slowed way down to an old man's shuffle and took it easy for the rest of the day.

Since I couldn't run any marathons or perform multiple super human feats, I decided to visit my farmer friend from whom I buy a load of compost each spring. He was just starting the sifting plant for the first time this spring and told me to go back home and get the trailer. For the third year in a row, I was his first customer of the season.

I love hanging around his work area where everything is mixed and sifted. The black dirt and aged cow manure smell so fresh, so clean. I'll use the mix to fill the new planters and spread an inch or two on top of the existing raised beds, mixing it in just before planting. 

Page Two:

I needed to do something that wouldn't tax the incision. I'd promised Sargie that I would take it easy until I visit the surgeon on the 12th and it had been only six days. Since I couldn't fill the planter or leap tall buildings in a single bound, I decided to begin installing the watering systems in the pyramid planters.

The first step was to remove a shelf or two and using a hand trowel, shovel the existing soil to one side or the other or remove it completely.

1/16th inch holes were drilled in PVC pipe with an end cap attached, then threaded down alongside the center pole.

It seems to take forever to drill all those tiny holes. There are three evenly distributed rows the length of the pipe with about twenty holes in each row.

At one point, I ran out of pipe and end caps. A quick dash was made to the hardware store in town pausing long enough to visit Yooper Brother Mark at the plant. He was taking a break and we spent a few minutes talking alongside the Iron River which flows nearby.

It took a while, but the first planter was finished by late afternoon. My goal is to do one each day until all four are finished.

By the way, the strawberry experiment was pretty much a failure. Those growing in the bottom two or three tiers faired marginally through the winter months, but any that grew higher froze and died.

Page Four:

With rain in the forecast, the top soil/compost was covered with a tarp before I came inside for the night. The last thing I need is heavy mud sitting inside my trailer for the next three weeks.

Sargie was supposed to be finished at 5 last night, but an onslaught of patients meant should couldn't leave until much later.

We watched Dancing With the Stars last evening and called it a day. Thankfully, I remained in bed during the night and lay awake for only an hour or so around 1 AM. After last week's procedure, my body doesn't know if its coming or going.

Sargie opens today. I'm going to take my walk then work on installing the watering system in the next planter. There are also three more giant pumpkin seeds that have sprouted. To grow more than one plant is a question I'm going to have to solve fairly quickly. I'm uncertain if I'm willing to invest that much time and effort into growing Cinderella-sized carriage pumpkins this summer. Oh heck, why not. I believe in fairy tales, don't you?

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sargie jumped into spring clean up Sunday afternoon

May 2, 2016 - Monday morning

33 degrees/clear/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Okay, so it's 2 AM and once again, I'm sitting downstairs banging away at the computer. I can't blame medications this time.

We went to bed at 10 PM and it's like I had a two to three hour nap, woke up, and now I'm ready to hit the ground running for the day. This happens two or three times a year where I enter into a weird sleep cycle. Hopefully, it will end sooner rather than later. I'll write for a while and hope I get sleepy. Reading my own writing is enough to make anyone fall asleep. 

Page Two:

Sunday was a beautiful and fun day. I took my three mile walk while Sargie was in the shower. She said I made much better time and though I wasn't trying to push the pace, the miles seemed to pass much faster under my feet. The pain from the incision is completely gone and I even got into a sneezing spell last night that caused little discomfort. Not bad... fairly heavy surgery to feeling great in five days. I must have a good doctor and surgeon.

It was time for our weekly drive. We stopped at the deli for fried chicken and before leaving, Sargie suggested we purchase a couple of chicken tenders "for the road."

Golly, we laughed. Over the next two hours, we drove to several area locations, lakes mostly, while sipping our Cokes and munching chicken tenders. 

It was a rolling picnic, but most of all, it was a lot of fun. It doesn't take a lot to entertain Sargie or me. Give us something good to eat, a beautiful, sunny, day, and a means of transportation, and we're good to go.

Arriving home by mid afternoon, Sargie announced that she was heading outside to rake. She also said I wasn't going to do any work, lift anything, or help in any way. 

God love her. My kind of woman.

I took the time to repair the power cord to my Macintosh computer. It's been rotting away for several years now and I've kept it functional with black electrical tape, some occasional duct tape, bailing wire, and chewing gum... sans the wire and gum. 

Yesterday, I cut out the rotted area and pieced and soldered the two good ends back together. 

It works, but not great. I ordered a new power cord over the internet and it's to arrive in the next few days. The old cord will be kept as a spare.

Page Three:

While Sargie was raking leaves into huge piles, I filled a flat tire on the riding mower with air and got it started. With her help, we put the lawn sweeper together (I'd taken it apart to store in the barn for the winter) and after, Sargie used that to transport several large loads of leaves to the woods. She was a working machine.

Last night was spent ... eating fried chicken... and watching television. As I told someone earlier, if we'd have eaten any more chicken yesterday, we'd be sprouting feathers. 

Sargie opens the Vision Center today. I'm going to ride with her partway and walk home. Otherwise there's garden work to do, irrigation pipes to insert into the pyramid planters, and I want to visit my dirt guy, the farmer from whom I get my compost and top soil for the garden and planters. It promises to be a busy day ahead.

But first, I think I'll head back upstairs, crawl into bed alongside Sargie, and see if I can grab another four hours of sleep before my feet hit the floor once again.

Honestly, I tried to help, but was warned every time to "just get back." I quickly learned to never cross a woman who is driving a wheel barrow filled with dead tree limbs.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Our second selfie in as many weeks. We're getting as bad as the kids.

May 1, 2016 - Sunday

43 degrees/sunny/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It seems we've lost so many traditions in our current fast-paced digital environment. In the 50's, May 1st was one of my favorite holidays. 

The days leading up to May Day were spent making construction paper baskets in Mrs. McDonald's first grade class room. We wove strips of different colored paper, then carefully pasted the ends to a paper band running around the top to form a basket in which we'd put wild flowers. Another strip was added overhead for a handle.

Iona Sear used to eat her paste and Kristy Peoples got in trouble for tattling on her. Funny how I can recall those smallest of details after almost sixty years, yet I have difficulty remembering the passwords I use daily to various online accounts. 

On May Day morning, right after recess, Mrs. McDonald would lead us to a field by the school, the one that lay in back of our large farm house in which we lived, where we'd pick wild flowers, mostly violets and dandelions, to fill our baskets. After, we'd walk, two by two, to a small subdivision several blocks away. I remember walking with my girlfriend, Susie Sandburg. We were going to get married someday and make a living eating cookies and raising goldfish.  

Mrs. McDonald would shush us then point to a house where an elderly person lived, signal for all the class to hide, then appoint one of us to tip toe up to the door, hang his basket, knock, then run and run and run and hide. The rest of the class was already hidden behind shrubs and bushes and behind muted laughs and squeals, we were so gleeful, so happy, and yet there was always one who would give us away. In most cases, it was Ricky Benson. I bet if Ricky is alive, he still can't keep a secret to this day.

Someone always came to the door, usually a white-haired grandma who was at least a hundred years old. She was so surprised to find her basket of flowers, pretend to look up and down the block, smile, shrug her shoulders, then take her basket of flowers back inside the house. It made no difference that Ricky Benson was loud, everyone knows grandmas who are a hundred years old can't hear anyway.

May Day was one of life's simple pleasures back in 1950's, joyful enough that this grandpa remembers the pure happiness of hanging a simple homemade basket of flowers on a stranger's door then running and running and running and hiding. 

Page Two:

This doe loves grazing in the front meadow. She waits for Brutus to chase her then appears soon after and the cycle  begins again. It's a game they've been playing since the snow melted.

Saturday was a fun one. While Sargie was in the shower and getting ready for the day, I increased my walking mileage to three miles and hiked to the lake and back.

The walking was wonderful, but I was happy when I arrived home. I'll keep my distance at three miles for the next few days until my stamina builds and the incision heals a bit more. Put it this way, I'm not ready to step off on the Appalachian Trail quite yet.

When I first bought the home on Pentoga Road, almost seven years ago, that white pipe was out of the water by three to four feet. The level has risen steadily since.

Page Three:

Our trip to Rhinelander was a fun one. Though we didn't really buy anything other than groceries and a few smaller items, we did a lot of window shopping.

Sargie's back in the lighting section looking for the last fixture to hang over the kitchen table. 

We went to Aldi's discount foods and purchased groceries. Eggs were .79 a dozen and milk sold for $1.69 a gallon, a real savings over what each sells for locally.

The best find? A cookie mix for maple/bacon cookies! Everyone knows that that EVERYTHING tastes better with bacon on it. 

Sargie also gave me a lesson on how to unlock an Aldi's shopping cart. One inserts a quarter, the chain drops and the cart is loose. When it is returned, one plugs the chain back in and retrieves his quarter. Who knew buying groceries could be such fun?

Page Four:

Today's going to be a lazy one. I told Sargie to sleep as late as she can. I'm going to take my walk then the day is wide open for action-packed Pentoga Road adventure. No doubt, that means we'll enjoy our usual Sunday afternoon drive followed by a return home for a meal of fried chicken, mashed taters, and gravy. 

After, who knows? We cut a wide swath here in the Upper Peninsula.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Luke drove down from Maine to Matt's house in New Hampshire yesterday to help him grind stumps in his yard. It appears Luke was the heavy equipment operator and Matt was the photgrapher.