June 3, 2019 - Monday evening
53 degrees/cloudy skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

Sargie opens the Vision Center in the morning. Since I drove over to Iron Mountain to ride back with her late this afternoon, I'll be going with in the morning to retrieve the car. 

Today's been a busy one. I walked my usual five miles this morning. With a low of 28 degrees, it was chilly, but beautiful.

I spent the majority of the day digging. 

First things first. The large landscaping bucket needed to be exchanged for a smaller one with teeth.

The clay four feet under the surface is as hard as concrete. Something was needed that could take a good bite.

I made a ramp going down into the four-foot deep hole, but found it was almost too narrow, dangerously so. I finally went down, then made a ramp on the opposite side, crawled up, turned the backhoe around, and returned to the hole to begin digging.

I was forced to quit long enough to drive to town and buy a new spark plug. An hour later, I was back digging.

The deepest part of the pond, eight feet, was reached and extended across the bottom.

All digging was halted when I ran out of room to put the dirt. My body and legs were tired from riding either the backhoe or tractor and I was filthy dirty. 

When I arrive home Tuesday morning from Iron Mountain, I'll start moving the loose dirt that was dug today away from the area. The next step will be to terrace the bottom in two foot increments all the way around.

As I keep saying (and reminding myself), it's all a process.

Time for bed.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road... 

Isn't she beautiful?
Great niece, Maddie, dressed for First Communion in Madrid, Spain.

June 2, 2019 - Sunday evening

52 degrees/clear skies/cam winds

Pentoga Road

Thanks to sister-in-law, Trish, for sending the picture of her granddaughter, Maddie. Maddie, her sister, brother, mom and dad, all live in Madrid where her father is employed by Amazon. Lisa and the three munchkins will be back at their camp on Six Mile Lake, just down the road from Foster City, in a few weeks. It will be good to see them again.

Sargie and Tom were really busy today. I started the day by driving to town and purchasing several varieties of garden seed, carrots, zucchini, beets, beans, etc. I also purchased some small hooks so we could properly hang the Boston Ferns.

While putting up the ferns, I turned one over and shook it a bit to retrieve a lost S hook. The hook wasn't the only thing to fall out.

Thankfully, there were no eggs or baby birds.

Once home, the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon were spent repairing the raised garden beds and finally, planting.



With the pond project, I decided if the garden wasn't planted today, who knows when it might get done. The tomatoes and peppers still need to go in the ground, plus I'll order some more seed to fill the empty beds.



Sargie was busy mowing all day. She tackled the dry bed of Lake Pentoga and found the grass tall, tough, and covered with dried dirt. It was a messy job.

We took a break, drove to town, then enjoyed a short drive after. It was fun watching a daddy fishing with his two youngsters.

Back home, I began moving a huge pile of dirt away from the pond area. The tractor does a good job, but with a small bucket, takes a while. Consequently, I'm suffering from Clutch Leg.

The clutch is stiff and after a couple of hours of constantly pushing the pedal, my left leg began to grow tired and shake. When I finally climbed from the tractor, the leg almost collapsed under me. 

I never realized I was so delicate. No doubt, it will be fully recovered by Monday morning.

Late Sunday afternoon, Sargie was mowing in the same area where I was moving dirt and I considered getting a flagman to direct traffic.

 We finally called it day by early evening. With a frost warning issued earlier, we moved the delicate plants into the garage.

The flower planters were also covered.

Sargie opens the Vision Center Monday morning. I'll ride with her a few miles before walking back home. Unless something unforeseen occurs, I'll be on the backhoe for the remainder of the day.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sargie has the yard looking like a golf course.

Say "Cheese" Grandpa
Isabella taking her first pictures without any assistance

June 2, 2019 - Sunday morning

42 degrees/clear skies/windy

Pentoga Road

I'd purchased a little girl's camera with the Disney's Frozen theme from a clearance table last winter knowing that sometime in the future, there'd be a little girl who might like one.

That little girl walked through the door last night. Her name is Isabella.

Yooper Brother Mark, Sheri, and Isabella, came out in their side-by-side for a quick visit, plus, Sheri also wanted to cut some rhubarb. By the way, if anyone needs any, I have plenty.

We had a good visit, took pictures, talked and laughed, took more pictures, and here's proof that Isabella's camera works.

Those are pictures that belong on the wall of the US Post Office.

Saturday was dirt day, lots and lots of dirt.



It's difficult to make digging a pond sound exciting. At one point, I was precariously balanced on the edge of a large hole when I heard a BANG and the backhoe immediately died.

Oh no! A piston? I'd just changed the oil, something I do almost daily now that I'm digging for hours at a time. I subscribe to the "A freshly lubed engine is a happy engine."

I cleaned the spark plug a day or two ago and had become busy with something else before using the plug wrench to tighten the thing. It had worked loose and come out of the hole, causing a huge explosion.



Thankfully, nothing was hurt other than my fragile mechanic's ego. 

Part of the pond has to be eight feet deep. Sitting here in my chair, that doesn't seem to be much of a challenge. Heck, I can reach overhead and almost touch an eight foot mark... well, seven foot anyway.

But, when one is sitting on a backhoe at the edge of a precipice, imagining what it would be like for the machine to slip and tumble into the hole, a few feet might as well be halfway to China.

In fact, I'm pretty sure it IS halfway. 

I'm running into a couple of problems. First of all, the boom has reached about as far down as possible. If I had a big boy backhoe, digging an eight foot hole wouldn't be a problem at all. Mine only goes down five to six feet and still maintains leverage.

Secondly, the clay at the bottom of the hole might as well be concrete. Just for poops and giggles, I tried digging with a shovel at the bottom last night and might as well have been digging into granite. 

I had to build a ramp into the hole so that the backhoe can be taken into the depths of Hades to continue digging today. Also, I'll be switching out the large bucket for a smaller one with teeth. 



Watch out China, there's an Maine(iac)/Alaskan/Yooper man overhead, coming your way.

Time was taken to cut asparagus. It's coming up daily and yesterday, I harvested a big plastic bag full.

I assumed the geese had already migrated north, but the last two days have seen hundreds of thousands winging overhead. At one point, I could hear them honking over the roar of the backhoe.

 Sargie didn't arrive home from work until past 9:30 last night. Thankfully, she's off today, but is looking at a full week of work ahead.

I'm going into town this morning and pick up several packages of seed. It's time to plant what few beds remain in the garden, the simple stuff, beans, beets, snap peas, rutabagas, etc. etc. The garden is woeful this year, but once the pond and landscaping is complete, it should be much better in the years to come. There's a frost warning for tonight, so I'll hold off planting the tomatoes and peppers for another day.

It's time to rock 'n roll. That hole to China ain't gonna dig itself.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Seeing Andrew off at the airport in Wausau, Wisconsin

June 1, 2019 - Saturday morning

48 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I'm back. 

After a couple of go-go-go days, I'm happy to sit here this morning, fat and sassy, a cup filled with steaming coffee nearby, doing my correspondence and writing. 

My drive to Wausau and visit with Andrew yesterday was wonderful, but more about that in a minute. First comes Thursday.

Though they have another day or two to go, as Alice Cooper sings, School's Out for Summer.

Well, it may not quite be out, but it might as well be. One grade was on a field trip and other's were busy doing summery end-of-the-year projects.

I found that Miss Becky had been busy trying to wrap up business in the library and computer lab.

I walked up to a desk full of post it notes, not for me, but as reminders to herself of tasks needing to be done.

I'm going to miss the munchkins this summer. Becky sent this clipping last night. One of the  assignments was to make a memory book of this past year. I have no idea which student was the author, but this one made me feel good.

Thursday evening brought Hambone's spring concert.

It consisted of a collection of nursery rhymes, all set to music. Hambone distinguished himself by helping to hold a haystack.

A wall

Hambone and his buddy are showing a lot of enthusiasm 

... and jump over a candlestick. Unfortunately, being The Flash, the Superhero, he ran so fast that the camera recorded only a blur.

Flash, I mean Hambone, I really mean, Grady, will be with us next weekend as his mommy and daddy will be going out of town. He said he'd like to go camping again, so no doubt, weather permitting, we'll be sleeping in the tent.

It was early to bed on Thursday night in anticipation of rising bright and early for the two and a half hour drive to Wausau, Wisconsin.

I enjoyed my early morning drive. Many people don't realize that northern Wisconsin is dotted with numerous lakes, all beautiful.

I met Andrew at his hotel at 8 and we were off to breakfast. It was good to see my former student and to catch up on old and new times. It's been at least twenty, closer to twenty-five years, since we'd last seen each other. 

Andrew was one of my charges from the time he was in grade school through high school. We took a Maine guide's course together and got to know each other on our weekly drives to Fort Kent, Maine, where the class was taught. I was known as a tough disciplinarian, a no nonsense kind of guy who, when he worked, worked hard, when he played, played even harder. 

Andrew seems to have subscribed to the same philosophy. Do it right or don't do it at all. 

I left Maine behind for the university job in Alaska and adventures in the high arctic. Andrew followed in one fashion or the other, although we never did run into each other during all those years. Seems he was always at one end of the state while I was at the other. He also spent a year or two in the Peace Corps in Morocco and/or working on a fisheries boat as an inspector on the Bering Sea before returning for more education. 

The boy reminds me of me in my younger years. He has that insatiable urge to explore and experience life to its fullest.

Andrew's well known throughout Alaska for long distance adventure hiking and recently completed a one hundred, seventy mile trek across mountains, through dense forests, and down raging rivers. Believe me, he's the real thing.

Andrew just earned his PhD in fish toxicology at UA Fairbanks, the university where I taught when I first went to Alaska. Presently, he's looking for work in his area, but meanwhile, seems to be keeping busy at conferences and doing a bit of teaching when he's not exploring the wild's of Alaska. 

We traded numerous Alaska stories and laughed how many who live in the lower 48, or outside as it is known by Alaskans, don't understand the concept of not having running water, electricity, or central heating. We talked of how noisy it is in the lower 48, of bears we have known and loved, hiking trails (or lack of them) we have traversed, his parents, his sister, my sons, northern Maine, etc. etc. We pretty much covered it all over plates heaping with eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes.

Departure time came entirely too soon. My young friend took off for the far north and west. I began my journey back to Pentoga Road filled with thoughts, memories, and no small amount of longing for the old Alaskan days.




After stops in Rhinelander for groceries and another to purchase a couple of dogwood bushes, I arrived back on Pentoga Road.

It was warm. No, darn it, it was HOT.



I had yet to exchange my winter clothes for those to be worn over the next several months. I found the two totes in the storage shed that contained my summer clothes and spent the next hour going through the closet exchanging pants and flannel shirts for shorts and t shirts.



The winter wear will be retrieved next fall when the process begins, in reverse, all over again.

Dressed in old, cooler, much more comfortable garb, I made my way to the garden and did the usual pre digging maintenance before mounting the backhoe.

I'm purposely making one side of the pond sloped for the time being so I can take the backhoe to the bottom and dig deeper. It's a process, a long, slow process.

The berm that will be shaped and planted is coming along nicely and should end any water flowing through the garden during flood time.

Thankfully, Sargie arrived home from work as I was ready to drop. Three hundred miles and several hours in the hot sun took about all the energy I had. I was so tired that I really didn't want to take a shower, but Sargie thought it might be a good idea before I climbed between our clean sheets.

When it comes to dirt, the girl has no sense of humor.

Speaking of Sargie, she snapped this picture Friday of a newly born fawn crossing the road in front of her.

She said it had to be a newborn as it was wobbly and stood only a foot tall. Mama was on the side of the road calling, urging it along.

It appears the forecast storms went to the south which means I'm going to spend the next several days on either the backhoe or the tractor. My goal is to have the pond fairly well dug before next weekend so I can order the liner. For sure, there's hundreds of tons of dirt and rocks to move between now and then.

Sargie closes the Vision Center tonight. I'm heading to town fairly soon to pick up a flat of red impatiens from my friend, Bruce. He has the new greenhouse in Crystal Falls, the one that I helped cover with poly film. Bruce told me Thursday that business has been good and he is very optimistic about his future in the greenhouse business. 

There are two bushes to plant today then it'll be back to digging.

Wearing $3 clearance table Walmart camouflage shorts, I realize it appears as though I have nothing on below the waist. Believe me, I do.
The floppy hat? With quickly thinning hair, my head and tops of my ears are easily burned. Besides, haven't you heard? I'm a fashion guru.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Andrew shared this picture from last week's 170 mile trek through the Alaska wilderness. He packs the raft which weighs only ten pounds and has done Class Four (the most difficult navigable) rapids with it. Class Five are considered unnavigable.