Oh yeah, look who's back.

The Crappie Queen with the first fish of the season, a nice bluegill

June 5, 2021 - Saturday morning

72 degrees/clear skies/windy

Pentoga Road

Though fishing was slow yesterday afternoon, Sargie made her presence known on the lake by landing an eating sized bluegill. The girl's a force to be reckoned with in the angling world.

Earlier in the day, Mark and I had a good walk to the Brule River. We were talking and walking when I spied this fellow trying to cross the road. The prognosis for him reaching his destination wasn't good, so I saved him from certain death and delivered him to the weeds on the other side.

Much of the day was spent getting the boat ready for the fishing season. I pulled it from alongside the woods, where I cleaned, scrubbed, and made any repairs, before our yacht was pronounced sea worthy. 

The same was done to the fishing tackle. Line was checked, lures sharpened, life preservers brought out from winter storage, and list goes on and on. 

Lord, it's hot and dry and windy. 

This past winter and beginning to the current spring/summer reminds me of conditions twelve years ago when we were in the middle of a three year drought accompanied by temperatures well above normal. Though certainly not ideal, we made it then, we'll make it now.

One thing's certain. Sargie and I are grateful for the new triple paned, E rated, windows that have been installed on the first floor over the past two years. Though we have two window air conditioners, we've not used them in years and have found that keeping the windows and doors closed during the day keeps the house very comfortable. Yesterday's inside temperatures were between ten and fifteen degrees cooler than those on the outside. I open the house early in the morning to let in fresh, cool, air before closing it once the thermometer begins to climb. 

Besides, we're not in the house that much during the day anyway. Life's too short to spend it sitting on the couch watching Ellen.

I checked the card on the trail cam yesterday to see what has been wandering through the back of our property. Seems we're not the only ones who enjoy our woods. It's amazing the amount of curiosity an old watermelon rind can produce.

Bobcat

A wily coyote (upper right hand corner)

Turkey

Black bear

A buck sporting a new growth of antlers

Sargie and I went in separate directions last night as she watered her flowers and ferns. I headed to the garden where each bed was thoroughly soaked. We both met in the house after to call it a day.

Today will be another busy one. Yooper Brother Mark should be pulling into the drive fairly soon for our Saturday morning stroll. The day's agenda includes fixing the large flower planted by the road, filling it with new soil, and planting flowers. The front meadow and back trails all need mowing.

Sargie will be attending a funeral in Foster City. Today looks to be a busy one for both of us.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

 Unless we receive some meaningful rain, the asparagus season will be ending soon. Thankfully, we've had several good harvests.

How's Socialism working out for you, America?

June 4, 2021 - Friday morning

52 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

If anyone's looking for a job, they need only come to the UP (and most any other state in the Union). Business after business is looking for help. If anyone says he can't find a job, I'll call him lazy and most likely, a liar.

There's a problem with Socialism. A large segment of the population has grown lazy and why not? Being paid three hundred dollars a week to stay at home, plus add in a few hundred more for each child, and that makes a mighty tempting package. 

I just had an idea! Maybe I could un-retire, go back to work before having to go into quarantine, be "laid off" or any of the other excuse du jour, and collect that free money. I'd probably make more than what my paltry pension checks amount to. 

Naw, I've got too much pride, something that  America seems to be hemorrhaging at an alarming rate.

I tend to subscribe to what the Apostle Paul said, later to be repeated by John Smith, in the early colony era:

"He who does not work, neither shall he eat." 

Amen.

We had a good day in Escanaba yesterday. Sargie dragged me into a shop to be fitted for the tuxedo I'll be wearing at Mel and Macrea's upcoming wedding in July. I thought it was a tuxedo rental place, so imagine my horror when I discovered I'd entered a bridal shoppe.

After being measured, I escaped with both feet still firmly attached to the ground and never once said, Yes to the Dress. 

Sargie did find a hair adornment or two to wear at the wedding. As for me, I'll go au naturale from the neck up and forego wearing any hair pretties.

We finally found a restaurant that had one waitress then did the Walmart/Marshall's/Harbor Freight tour of town before departing for Pentoga Road. 

Last night was a quiet one. Rain had, once again, gone all around us with our gauge recording half a dozen drops at best.

What appears to be a Naval work vessel undergoing maintenance in Escanaba.

I'll be planting the last of the garden today and time permitting, hope to get the boat ready for another season of fishing. I've noticed the Crappie Queen is beginning to twitch a bit each time we drive past the lake.

It's that time of year.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

As I said yesterday, they're everywhere.

Jeanne and Boyd looked up to see this little fawn staring in their window. I suggested they let it in so their granddaughter, Aria, could have a playmate. Neither thought that was a good idea.

June 3, 2021 - Thursday morning

50 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

If the fawn population is any indication of the numbers of adult deer, we'll be swinging ball bats to swat them away in the near future. We had a mild winter and it's showing. There are babies everywhere.

The mat says, "Welcome," but do Jeanne and Boyd really mean it? When it comes to Bambi, I think not.

Wednesday was window day on Pentoga Road. The crew arrived bright and early in their portable workshop to install the two new front windows in the dining room.

Talk about real pros, these guys had the old windows out, the new ones installed, trim cut and installed, and the room clean (they bring their own vacuum) in less than an hour and a half.

We should feel a huge difference in the dining room next winter. The old windows with their leaky and broken frames and bent screens had seen better days.

I turned my attentions to the garden where I continued to make progress. As of now, save finding seeds for the mini desktop pumpkins I raise and give away every year, the planting phase is over.

This year's garden is the largest I've ever grown on Pentoga Road. Supposedly, we were going to cut back and slow down a bit, but just like the yard, the garden seems to grow a bit every year.

I helped Sargie finish her pots and distribute them around the yard and garden.

Thankfully, we have the small trailer used to transport the flowers. In years past, we carted the pots around on a two wheeled dolly, an act that required a lot of grunting, pushing, and pulling. With Sargie in command of the four wheeler, we drove to each desired location and left the pot without either of us having to break our back.

It was mid to late afternoon, time to take our showers before leaving for Hambone's soccer game in Florence. Once there, Grandma Sargie found a willing companion to not only keep her company, but also to snuggle with.

Hambone played two of the four quarters, first as goalie and later, as a defensive back. Poor kid, other than one time, the ball never came his way. It's a lonely life one leads playing defense on a team that excels in offense.

Hambone guarding the goal. Problem was, the ball was always at the other end of the field.

With a win in the bag, we told all goodbye and along with half a million other mommies, daddies, and grandparents, departed to enjoy what was left of the evening.

We're heading to Escanaba today so I can be measured for my tuxedo for Mel and Macrea's wedding at the end of July. That and drinking a warm mayonnaise milk shake while standing on a hot sidewalk in the middle of a summer heatwave sounds equally as enjoyable. 

Sometimes you have to take one for the team.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Suddenly, they're everywhere.

World renowned wildlife photographer, Yooper Brother Mark, snapped this photo of a fawn hiding behind their garage last evening.

June 2, 2021 - Wednesday morning

47 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

It's another quick write this morning as the window installers will be here shortly after 8 to replace the two front dining room windows. I want to go for my walk and be back home before they arrive.

Yesterday was all about planting on Pentoga Road, either in the garden or in Sargie's case, filling her planters and pots with flowers, vines, and other pretties.

I had my hands in dirt the entire day. In some cases, more top soil had to be added to the raised beds, so I ferried several loads from a special pile to where it was needed.

Squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, kohlrabi, peppers, carrots, beets, and... wait, it's easier to write what I didn't plant. Tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, and rutabagas, plus Jack be Little pumpkins, are all that's left to go in the ground.

Each bed was prepared in the same manner. First came a liberal coating of commercially processed cow manure.

After, the bed was tilled, raked, and finally, planted.

Sargie wasn't idle by any definition of the word. Whether it was working on the patio planters or filling and planting her large pots, she was a busy girl.

Pulling the small trailer behind the four wheeler, Sargie drove her pots to the top soil pile where they were filled and made ready to plant.

It took her most the day to plant everything, just so, and we even made a quick dash to town late in the afternoon to purchase a few needed "filler" plants.

The spikes that overwintered in the basement, along with vinca vines and geraniums, not only survived, they thrived, and in many cases, multiplied.

Sargie said she has a few last minute additions to her pots and planters before they will be distributed around the yard and garden.

Neighbor Alaska Curt and his visiting daughter, Megan (I hoped I spelled Meg's name correctly) walked past late in the afternoon and we had a good visit.

Meg's a world class (or as she most humbly says, more like an American class) marathon runner and competes nationally on a regular basis. She'll be back in Anchorage in a few weeks to run then will be off to do the same in California shortly after. It's seldom (as in never) that we have a world class athlete training on Pentoga Road.

Other happenings on Pentoga Road that occurred on Tuesday:

The county crew went by once again filling the cracks left by this past spring's frost heaves. We're grateful for what they do. They not only work hard, they're nice people. 

Love springs eternal on Pentoga Road. The goldfish continue to spawn, the girls being chased hither, thither, and yon, by some overly hormonal boys. 

I still think there's some merit to starting an internet adult-only goldfish site. Sargie and I could be potential millionaires, who knows? 

Speaking of love springing eternal; when Sargie and I were first dating, we were talking when the song Baker Street began to play. Getting up from where I was sitting, I asked if she'd like to dance.

She initially hesitated, then agreed, and since, it's been one of "our songs." 

Our other song? I'd Like to Make It With You by Bread.

I was working in the garden yesterday, Sargie was on the back deck planting flowers. Music was playing from an outside speaker. 

The song? Baker Street.

I immediately ceased my labor and began walking towards the house.

Sargie threw her trowel to the ground along with any cares and woes. Within seconds, we were wrapped in each other's arms, dancing to our song, laughing, and pondering if our eight sons would have us committed if they could see us.

Ah, who cares? It's none of their darn business.

Last night saw the usual, a quick shower, a salad for supper, and a concerted effort on my part to keep my eyes open until bedtime. 

Time for my morning walk. We hope to finish planting today and tonight will see us watching Hambone play soccer. Whee Haw!

It's certain that to live on Pentoga Road is to experience life in the fast lane. 

Hang on.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

A Memorial Day game of Bocce Ball atop Milligan Mountain

June 1, 2021 - Tuesday morning

43 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Well, darn it anyway, the rain that fell on much of the UP and northern Wisconsin yesterday didn't materialize over Pentoga Road. Ross said they received an inch and a quarter. A paltry .2 of an inch fell into our rain gauge. 

Oh well, better luck next time.

It was a busy time around here Memorial Day morning. I went for my walk early before heading to the shop to finish the Memorial Day project. I was very lucky to have Hambone brush on the finish for me. He took his time and did a nice job.

Grandma Sargie wasn't idle by any sense of the word. She was giving Cheeks a bath in the kitchen sink.

Grady got to watch himself on youtube and could hardly believe he was on television. I told him the next time he comes, we'll go for another hike and make a video so he can be on tv again. 

You have to wonder what the poor people are doing.

Lathered and slathered in Baby Magic and smelling, well, like a baby, Cheeks was dressed and ready to go. Daddy had gone ahead to leave Sadie in Iron Mountain and the four of us were soon on our way to the Milligan Memorial Day Celebration. 

It was a good gathering with lots of food and talk. Unfortunately, the weather turned lousy towards the end of the afternoon, running everyone inside. No one let a bit of rain get in the way of a good time. The food tasted just as good and the conversations were plentiful. 

Sargie and I arrived home late in the afternoon after driving through heavy rain the entire time... until we reached Pentoga Road. 

It seems quiet around here this morning without Hambone or Cheeks. I'm going for my walk pretty quickly then return to start planting garden. I'd like to be finished by day's end.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Ron and Nancy have their yard on Milligan Mountain looking like a beautiful park.