Though the temperature was only 23 degrees and the wind howling, this robin was feeding in the only bare place in the yard.

April 6, 2018 - Friday evening

19 degrees/clear skies/breezy

Pentoga Road

Talk about miserable weather, today's definitely fit in that category.

This morning's walk began with a good old fashioned snow squall.

I was particularly moved while looking at a barn that I've walked past a hundred times before.

I don't know, there was something about the light, the snow, the conditions that made the barn look beautiful. Unfortunately, a picture can't do it justice.

The wild turkeys didn't let the snow and wind keep them from venturing out of the woods. The large birds kept me entertained for a few minutes.

As is typical with all snow squalls, it ended rather quickly and the sun came out soon after I arrived home.

Unfortunately, with the sun came the wind. The radio said we had gusts of forty mph. 

The conditions reminded me of the ground storms I used to experience in the arctic. The sun would be shining brightly, but visibility would be reduced to almost nil due to the high winds and blowing snow.

Too miserable to play outside, I spent most the day in the shop working on the scroll saw piece.

One more day should see the church finished and then it will be time to put it all together. After all this work, I hope it doesn't end up as kindling in the wood stove.

Sargie was home early this evening. Unfortunately, she works all weekend and will open the Vision Center tomorrow morning.

I'll go for my walk early Saturday morning then play the rest of the day by ear. It's supposed to remain well below freezing, but the wind is to subside somewhat. 

I think I'll get everything ready to begin boiling sap on Tuesday. I got word today that Hambone will be with us Tuesday through Thursday next week, so I'll have a capable assistant for gathering and processing. I told his daddy to send plenty of old clothes in his suitcase as we'll be wading through mud and water once the temperature warms above freezing.

It's time to get ready for bed. I know, it's tough, but someone has to do it.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

What is this? It's a close-up of an icicle hanging from the roof. (See the picture above this one.)

Despite the chilly, damp, conditions, another twenty gallons of sap was collected on Thursday

April 5, 2018 - Thursday evening

29 degrees/partly cloudy/breezy

Pentoga Road

It's about time to go to bed, but with Sargie having to work early on Friday, I figured I'd better get this written and uploaded tonight.

Today was a slow one. I spent most the morning in the shop working on the scroll saw piece. 

It doesn't look like much, but those lines on the church are the hardest things to cut, all requiring the thinest of blades and a steady hand. 

Sargie has a sinus infection and had a visit with a physician online with doctorsondemand.com where she got a prescription for antibiotics. After, we made our way to the pharmacy and did a bit of grocery shopping in Crystal Falls.

Back home, I spent some time gathering sap. The temperature over the next few days is to be cold and windy. I wanted to ensure the bags would be empty so no sap would freeze in them.

I've made up my mind that I'll begin boiling around the middle of next week, regardless of the weather. 

I grilled pork chops outside and we enjoyed those along with rice and cauliflower from last summer's garden. This evening was spent binge watching Criminal Minds on Netflix.

Other than my morning walk, I'm not sure what Friday will bring. As of now, I'm planning on spending most the day in the shop. Looking at the weather forecast, it won't be good for much else.

Time to make Sargie's sandwich for her lunch tomorrow then get ready for bed.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

It may be April, but we're still burning wood as though it's the middle of January.

Another three inches of snow was blown from the drive Wednesday morning.

April 5, 2018 - Thursday 

12 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga road

I'm sure glad I took the snow plow off the four wheeler last week. At the time, I was certain that it wouldn't be needed anymore and what fell would quickly melt. 

Yeah...

I've moved more snow in the past few days than I did all winter combined. Thankfully, the trusty old Toro snowblower, a vintage model from the early 1980's, still does a decent job of cleaning our drive and deck.

There's an inch or two of snow forecast for this evening into Friday and tomorrow's projected high temperature? Twenty-three degrees.

While waiting for the satellite internet installer to arrive Wednesday morning, I substituted cleaning the drive for my usual walk. 

I was pleasantly surprised when he arrived shortly after 9 AM. The boy had to get up and leave Escanaba fairly early to navigate the bad roads and still be here by that time.

Don the Installer worked for better than two hours hanging the dish and setting up the electronics. I didn't envy him having to work barehanded outside, but he said he was so used to it that it didn't bother him a bit.

We're beginning to look pretty high tech on Pentoga Road, two satellite dishes and a bank of solar panels. The dish on the right is for television. The internet comes through the one on the left. Oh, and the cord dangling from the roof onto the solar panels? That's the parachute cord used to hang the hummingbird feeder. Like I said, we're pretty high tech around here.

I'm really happy how well the new system works. We're supposed to get a maximum of 25 mps (megabytes per second) but it far exceeded that speed throughout the day.

Even after we reach our data cap for the month, and we will, the 1.5 to 3 mps that we'll be throttled back to will still be faster than our old service at it's best. We've done well to average .5 of a megabyte for the past several years. I won't miss the old provider. 

All of Wednesday afternoon was spent in the shop where I worked on the latest scroll saw piece, that of a country church.

The work is in two pieces that will connect side-by-side. Today was spent working and completing the tree on the left.

Many of the cuts were small and intricate forcing me to use a very thin crown tooth blade. 

Growing tired of sawing, I began work on the hickory bowl until I hit a snag and it tore the tenon completely off the wood.

I'll fasten a face plate to the hickory and proceed that way.

I talked with the animal shelter today and though I was approved, I'm not going to adopt the rag muffin dog that I liked so much. Seems the previous owners stopped in after dropping him off and made mention the pup doesn't like young children and had, in fact, nipped at their young son several times. They'd failed to disclose that very important fact when they surrendered the dog.

All I can say to that is, I've been there/done that. I want a dog that is Grady/Isabella/Aubrey/Marley/Brielle/Piper (and any other munchkin who might visit) proof.

I'm thinking of possibly purchasing a Yorkie. Taylor and Nikki have one, a male, that weighs all of three to four pounds, tolerates the nieces picking him up and carrying him all around, barks very little, loves his belly rubbed, and best of all, loves and sings to country music. My kind of pup.

Taylor's a manly man and if he can talk to a pint sized pooch and not fear being teased, then so can I.

I'd sure like a four-legged companion, especially one that likes and sings to country music, so I'll keep looking. Somewhere in the world, there's a little kid-proof dog that isn't an ankle biter or yipper, that's looking to adopt a nice couple. Hopefully, he'll find us sometime in the near future.

I took a tour of the maple woods late in the afternoon and found another twenty gallons of frozen sap. It's to be warmer next Tuesday and Wednesday and regardless of the weather, I'll start boiling then. I'm tired of dragging the maple season out, especially since it keeps snowing almost daily.

That's a forty gallon barrel filled with hunks of frozen sap

Sargie arrived home during the early evening last night and we enjoyed a meal of leftovers and watched television. 

Thankfully, she doesn't have to work today. I'm going to sneak out to the shop and start the heater. Hopefully, there'll be a couple of hours working on the scroll saw piece. Otherwise, I'll leave the rest of the day up to Sargie.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

April 4, 2018 - Wednesday
20 degrees/clouds/breezy
Pentoga Road

Whew, boy, did we dodge a white bullet. The folks just a few miles to the south received up a foot of snow, but thankfully, we were just on the edge of the big snowfall. Total on Pentoga Road from yesterday's storm? About two inches.

There's not a lot to talk about this morning, but figured I should at least enter the date and weather conditions. I occasionally look at past logs, one, two, or three years ago on any given date to see how we currently compare. Even if I didn't publish what is written, I'd probably keep a crude diary simply for reference.

The satellite man is coming today to install our new internet system. After researching all other means, I finally pulled the trigger and subscribed to satellite internet. It wasn't my first choice, but having subscribed before, I know it's dependable and much faster and more reliable than what we have now.

I've given the current provider every opportunity over the past several years to fix what's wrong and all he's come up with are excuses. Personally, I think he's oversold his bandwidth and since we are at the end of the line, find our's very slow or increasingly nonexistent. 

Our phone service is also included with the new provider, so when I think about giving AT&T the boot for our land telephone line, over $60 a month, the new satellite service isn't nearly as expensive as I previously thought. We'll see. We sure pay dearly for the privilege of living out in the boonies, yet wanting to keep up in the 21st Century.

Tuesday was mostly a shop day. I began a new scroll saw piece of a country church. I really like the pattern a great deal and hope I'm talented enough to do the entire piece justice. So far, I've only cut a bit and have changed blades for different cuts six or eight times.

A tenon for the hickory project was also glued and clamped so I can fasten it on the lathe.

With light snow coming down, I spent most of the late afternoon cleaning house. With the satellite tech coming today, Sargie didn't want him going back to Escanaba thinking we lived in a dirty house. I think our home was fine, but Sargie's queen of the castle and when it comes to cleanliness, she rules with an iron fist. Even the king had to bow. Our house is presently clean.

Poor girl, having to close and with bad roads, she didn't walk through the door last night until almost 10 PM. Sargie had a quick bowl of soup and we were off to bed. She opens today.

I'm going to skip my walk this morning and wait for the installation person. He's to arrive somewhere between 8 and 11. I'll be here. Since he's driving almost a hundred miles from Escanaba, I imagine it will be later rather than earlier, but I don't want to chance missing him.

It's time to get Sargie's lunch packed and breakfast made and get this show on the road.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Monday's stroll was like walking through a zoo

April 2, 2018 - Monday evening

31 degrees/cloudy skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Whew, am I tired. For a day that I thought was going to be mellow, it turned out to be a busy one.

My morning walk was filled with sightings of turkeys and deer.

Seems like every time I turned around I saw one or the other or both.

The roads are in good shape after Saturday's snow storm. One or two days of sun should see them completely free of snow.

Once home, I headed to the shop where I cut two disks out of milled hickory and laminated them together.

I'll mount them on the lathe tomorrow and begin to turn a bowl.

With the temperature warming, I cleaned off the snowmobile with the intention of packing down the trails after Saturday's big snow.

I hadn't planned on gathering any sap, but discovered quite a few trees had run late Sunday afternoon. 

With last night's low of zero degrees, I found bags overflowing with frozen sap.

There was nothing to do but to empty those should they begin to run again. In some cases, I had to remove the bag from the spout, pry the ice out, then tie it back.

As I said earlier, today was supposed to be a lazy one. In the end, I spent most of it in the woods deicing the bags.

I took some time to clean a path to the rear wood pile. I'll begin using wood from that one tomorrow.

I ended the day by walking another four miles to our local park and back. I knew Sargie wouldn't be home until later in the evening and I really didn't want to go inside and watch television. 

I made chicken salad for supper tonight and we had a quiet and relaxing evening. Sargie closes the Vision Center Tuesday. Hopefully the forecast snow won't be too heavy. If there's any question, she'll be driving the Blazer to work.

I'll go for my usual walk then I hope to play in the shop for the rest of the day. With the temperature forecast to remain well below freezing, there'll be no sap running.

It's time for this boy and his wife to head to bed. Sargie's had a long and busy day and I've been on the go since early morning.

Nighty night.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

April 2, 2018 - Monday
0 degrees/clear/calm winds
Pentoga Road

It's cold. April 2nd and zero degrees? I should be getting into my garden by this time, thinking about tilling the beds, maybe even throwing an onion set or two at the ground. Right now, the garden is covered by a foot of snow WITH ANOTHER SEVEN INCHES FORECAST on Tuesday. 

Hmm, I wonder if Al Gore would come and shovel my drive?

Easter Sunday was about as laid back as possible. With the temperatures remaining in the twenties and a goodly wind blowing, Sargie and I took our annual Easter drive to Rhinelander.

Our main stop was at Menard's Lumber, a large big box store with everything from tools and lumber to groceries and clothing, much like a Lowe's or Home Depot. In the end, we bought a few things that we really didn't need and slowly made our way home. It was a fun, relaxing, time.

Last evening was just as mellow. Sargie caught up on some paperwork. I carried wood in the house then thumbed through a Grizzly Tool catalogue, drooling over a few items that I'd like to have once we win the lottery.

Sargie opens today. I'm going for my walk first thing then I need to open a path to the rear wood pile, the one that is covered with tarps. I've burned through this winter's supply of wood and with no end to this cold weather and snow in sight, it appears I'll be making a dent in next year's allotment. Lest you worry, don't. I keep at least two, almost three year's supply of seasoned wood on hand. I learned many years ago that only the foolhardy pretend to know which way the weather will turn. 

OK, time to move along here and get the day started along with this spring's official diet. I made a big post-Christmas dent in my weight earlier, but between pigging out in LasVegas and doing the same Saturday at our big family gathering, it's time to once again get serious.

Who knows, maybe come July or August, I'll finally get to throw an onion set at the ground and I sure don't want a big belly getting in my way.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

A few of my new-found pounds are sister-in-law, Holly's, fault. Pictured above is her lemon dessert along with the world's best apple bars. Of course, I had to have a bit of ice cream too, you know, to fully compliment the flavors.

The girls at the Milligan Family Easter Celebration
Sargie, Nikki, Sasha, Jeanne, Trish, Nancy
(Holly was disposed elsewhere)

April 1, 2018 - Easter Sunday

5 degrees/clear skies/windy

Pentoga Road

It's the third day. He has risen and there is reason to celebrate. Happy Easter to all. 

It was a wild and wooly snow that fell on Saturday. There was some question as to whether we'd make it to Foster City to celebrate Easter with the family.

Since I'd taken the snowplow off the four-wheeler last week, I had no choice but to use the old, trusty, snowblower to clean the foot of snow from the drive.

The snow was wet and heavy making the process of cleaning the drive less than pleasant.

Noontime arrived and the snow had quit falling. Sargie and I decided to attempt the drive to Foster City. 

Prepared? You bet! I included a tow strap, a logging chain, and a shovel.

In the end, I needn't have worried. Getting off Pentoga Road was a white-knuckle affair, but the plows had at least made a path on the main highways.

Downtown Crystal Falls
With a strong wind, visibility was poor and blowing snow plentiful

We made it to Taylor and Nikki's in good shape and had a wonderful afternoon. As always, there was lots of laughter, the food was plentiful, and of course, there was plenty of love to go around.

Sure a lot of gabbing going on in the kitchen!

We made it home last night around 6. I finished cleaning our drive and opened Neighbor Mike's as they are to be down for a family Easter celebration today.

I think Sargie and I are going to keep with tradition and travel to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, for the day. Mike has invited us to share the day with them, but going to Rhinelander on Easter afternoon has become a tradition for Sargie and me. Today will belong to us.

Sargie's back to work on Monday. With below freezing temperatures forecast, I'll, no doubt, take my walk and end up in the shop. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...