Anyone hungry?
Andy sent this from his boat, currently off the coast of Equatorial Guinea Africa, where he's supervising the crew that is moving an oil rig.

October 26, 2019 - Saturday morning

27 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Andy sent several interesting pictures yesterday. More about those in a bit.

Okay, now I'm really losing it. First, it was the case of the missing toothbrush. That's been solved. 

Seems that somehow or the other, it ended up in Sargie's hands yesterday and after discovering she'd used the wrong toothbrush, pitched it in the waste basket. 

Insensitive woman! She doesn't seem to realize that it was my lucky toothbrush, the one that prevented me from having any cavities this past year. 

Oh well, no sense crying about it now.

I went to download yesterday's pictures a few minutes ago and I can't find my camera. Sargie and I, both, were using it yesterday and it's disappeared. No doubt, it's hidden in one of our coat pockets, the car, on a dresser... it could be anywhere, but so far, the thing has alluded me.

Thankfully, Andy sent some pictures so today's blog is not without it's color.

I was out in the shop first thing yesterday working on the Hutterite girl and boy. I sanded a bit here, dabbed some paint there, but I think, the pieces are ready to glue together. I'm going to sneak up to Jambo's burn pile from his old barn after bit and see if I can find a weathered piece of barn board to use as a background. 

Sargie and I took down the first of two ash trees up at the neighbor's alongside the road. The first fell into the field. We backed the trailer up just a few feet away which made loading easy. 

The real challenge comes today when we drop a much larger tree that is leaning towards Pentoga Road. I think I'll be able to lay it in the ditch alongside, but we'll be taking the Ford tractor just in case it falls the wrong way and I need to push it to the side. 

Friday ended with a wonderful ride around the area. We checked out a couple of lakes and enjoyed the bright sunshine and temperatures in the upper forties. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing which made it seem colder than it really was.

Onto my world traveling youngest son...

Andy sent this picture of a small boat fishing FORTY MILES offshore by their oil rig. 

He said he didn't know what they were catching, but they were hauling in fish one after another.

Reminds me of when we hunted bearded seals in the arctic. Elmer, my Inupiaq brother, and crew (me included) took off in a very small boat and we ended twenty miles out surrounded by ice bergs. These guys were over twice that far away.

I'm heading out to the shop fairly quickly to start gluing the Hutterite kids together. Later on, Sargie and I plan to drop that ash tree and get that out of the way. With a nice day forecast, we'll take our ride and do what we do best, enjoy each other and life.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

October 25, 2019 - Friday morning
30 degrees/clear skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

I think I'm losing it. A chirpy, low-battery, smoke alarm sounded shortly after four this morning. Rising from bed, I stumbled down the stairs, found the culprit, changed the battery, then attempted to go back to sleep.

We all know how that went. I was dressed a few minutes later and found myself standing in front of the sink looking for my toothbrush. 

It had vanished. 

The counter was searched, as well as the medicine cabinet, the waste basket and my travel case. I even went back upstairs and asked a sleepy Sargie is she knew where my toothbrush was.

A new one was finally freed from its packaging, but it's bothering me. WHERE DID MY TOOTHBRUSH GO?

Gremlins? A rambling Inupiaq Eskimo Umlumpkin? A leprechaun? Hmm, possibly Bigfoot?

I hope I'm not losing the few marbles that are left between my ears. My brain quit making gray matter a long time ago.

Meanwhile, the case of the missing toothbrush remains unsolved. 

Thursday morning started with a beautiful five mile walk. I came across a large field adorned with thousands of milkweed plants.

For the first time in many years, we're seeing a large number of monarch butterflies each summer. I can understand why. Their favorite plant, the simple milkweed, seems to be in abundance in this area.




Back home, I worked up another batch of Wolf River apples to dehydrate while the shop was warming.



The rest of the morning was spent painting the Hutterite girl and boy. Other than some fine details and touch up, they should be ready to assemble.

It's most difficult to find the exact color. Generally two, sometimes three or four colors are mixed, until I get what is needed.



Thankfully, acrylics are very forgiving and mix easily. For sure, I have no idea what I'm doing. All I know for sure is that I enjoy doing it.

I wish I'd have paid more attention in Mr. Helmer's art class while in junior high fifty five years ago.

The rest of the day was spent substitute teaching art in Florence. It was no problem and I enjoyed my time with the munchkins.

Sargie said she had a good day at the eye clinic. After a quick run to town, we returned home for a quiet evening.

I'm heading out to the shop fairly soon. There are a few errands to run later this morning then I hope to drop a tree or two today. The structure around the outdoor wood furnace also needs to be finished. With a high of fifty degrees forecast and ample sunshine, I have the feeling it's going to be a good day to simply be alive.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road... 

The name of the game on Wednesday was called
Dehydrate the Apples

October 24, 2019 - Thursday

32 degrees/clear/breezy

Pentoga Road

We're up and at 'em as Sargie works at the eye clinic today. I'm going for a five mile hike then head for the shop until it's time to leave for Florence. This afternoon, I'm the art teacher. Gulp.

Wednesday was a mixed bag of tricks. I spent much of the morning in the shop working on the Hutterite girl and boy, shaping each piece, carving in accents, etc.

The next step is to paint each piece. After, I'll be looking for an old scrap of aged wood on which to mount the couple. 

Sargie and I worked up and dehydrated two batches of apples yesterday.

Though they taste wonderful and are supposed to be "keepers" that store well into the winter, some are beginning to rot from the core out.

I talked with the music teacher at school a couple of weeks ago who said her Wolf River apples were the same. 

Too much rain? You may remember that our spaghetti squash and pumpkins rotted this year. It seems there's water everywhere, including too much inside our fruits and vegetables. 

It did make for a banner blueberry year.

We are processing the apples as quickly as possible to salvage as many as we can. The apples are so large, however, that it's difficult to use the machine that cores and peels at the same time.

Oh well, we'll get them finished, one way or the other.

Sargie and I took our usual drive. It was cold and windy and not a very nice day for too much other than sitting by the wood stove.

Once home, Sargie skimmed the leaves from the pond while I worked on the red four wheeler. It needs new tie rod ends, but I'm hoping to wait until next spring when it goes in for its annual tune up.

We took the four wheeler for a test drive to the neighbor's where I'll be cutting down a couple of dead ash trees.

The trees aren't that huge, but the problem lies in the fact that they are located alongside Pentoga Road. One will fall into the field with no problem. The other, a much larger one, is iffy at best. 

Either way, both are coming down this weekend.

Last night was a quiet one. Sargie works today and I drive to Florence this afternoon. We're both off tomorrow and other than the temperature being cold, it's to be a nice day.

Okay, time to get Sargie's breakfast ready and the day started. 

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sargie's trying to keep warm and thinking deep thoughts while I look at the ash trees.

Welcome to the world, Grayson Theodore!

October 23, 2019 - Wednesday morning

37 degrees/cloudy/windy

Pentoga Road

The newest branch on the Milligan family tree made his grand entrance this past weekend. Grayson will join his big brother, Lincoln, as well as Sargie's nephew, Garth and Garth's beautiful wife, Courtney.

Congratulations to all. 

Arg, it's another dreary and cold day, but at least it's not raining... yet. I guess some areas to the north and west of us received snow overnight, but so far, we're just wet. 

This year has all the makings of another bad one.

After seeing Sargie off to work on Tuesday morning, I let the fire in the stove go out then sanded and applied a new coat of high temperature paint.

There's a story to go with the paint job.

Often, in the early fall, when there's just a chill in the room, but not cold enough to start a fire, we use a small electric heater to take the chill out of the air. The last time the unit was used, it was set on top of the cold wood stove that had yet to be lit for the season.

A week later, some lame brain lit a fire before he removed the electric heater. Though it was inches away from my head, I didn't see the silly thing.

As Mom used to say when I was growing up and couldn't find something that was in plain sight, "What does it have to do, reach out and bite you?"

I wouldn't have minded being bitten by the electric heater. 

Needless to say, the plastic on the heater melted onto the wood stove making for a colossal mess.

Yesterday I sanded, wiped, cleaned, then applied a coat of stove black. It now looks new again.

The entire rest of the day was spent in the shop. I wanted to get the mommy present out of the way, so I was determined that I would do more than just putter around. 

I was a man on a mission.

It was almost four o'clock before I exited. Other than some touch up on the finish, the piece is complete. 

I'm finished with my mommy gifts for a while. 

It was time to make something that I wanted to work on before beginning my Thanksgiving work. I decided to make a Hutterite boy and girl, walking away hand in hand.

The pattern was fashioned from a picture I saw online and it will be my most difficult segmented piece yet. 

I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Rain was still pounding down when Sargie arrived home from work. We went to town for her Coke then, with a fire crackling in the stove, settled in for a cozy evening.

I'm heading back out to the shop in a couple of minutes. I'm anxious to continue working on the children that I began yesterday, plus it's time to crank up the lathe and begin turning a bowl or two. 

I've got the yearning.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Rain rain, go away! NOW!... please?

October 22, 2019 - Tuesday morning

51 degrees/rain/wind

Pentoga Road

Darn. I guess our token day of Indian Summer has come and gone. 1.9 inches of rain has fallen since late Monday morning. Less heartening is the fact that there's copious amounts of precipitation in the long term forecast, much of it measured in inches of snow.

Monday was a good one at Florence Elementary. Being the librarian/computer person is a good job.

It was good to see the bobkitties. 

I grew weak yesterday and agreed to sub four out of the five days next week. Yeah, I know, I'm a pushover. 

Thankfully, my only other scheduled day this week is Thursday afternoon.

Sargie was up and at 'em Monday morning and mowed the yard before the rain began. She has it looking like a golf course as usual.

As promised yesterday, here is the continuing saga of the Sauerkraut People in my life. The following narrative is from my friend, Norriene. She and her husband, Big Jim, live in Pennsylvania, travel the world over, and as you'll read, Norriene has been, and is, very active in mission work.

Norriene

As written by Norriene:

"So, the other lady is my Latvian friend, Baiba.  She and her family fled Latvia when Baiba was two years old as the country was being invaded.  That in itself is a long, interesting story. 

She and I and a team of 18 have been to Latvia and Lithuania doing mission work twice.  Spending 3 weeks each time. " 

Baiba

First step in Kraut making, we go to the local outdoor farm market to get the cabbages. 

The bigger the better.  

Then we go to Baiba’s house and set up our stations in the garage.  Often there are 4 or 5 of us.  

Core the cabbage and cut in to manageable size pieces and then begin shredding on the old fashioned hand shredders.  And if you aren’t very careful that is what it does, shred your hand 😳. Thus the first aid kit at hand. 

We shred into large metal dish pans. Once the pan is filled you put about two inches in the crock, sprinkle with a secret mixture of salt and sugar and pack down the kraut with your fist.  

You keep repeating until the crock is full about 4” from the top.  It must be really tight and as you go the liquids begin to come up through the cabbage.  Once filled we cover the kraut with the larger outside leaves that we saved and washed.  Then we put gallon bottles of water on top of the leaves and cover with cheese cloth.  We let it ferment in a cool area for 3-4 weeks before canning or bagging and freezing.  

We always make one crock where each layer is lightly sprinkled with caraway seeds along with the salt/sugar mixture.   That is how they did it in Latvia. 

Oh, yes and there may be a couple of bottles of wine involved in the process!!!

It is always a great day filled with good conversation, laughter and lots of LOVE."

I love it, absolutely love it. In this age of modern everything, it's nice to know that folks like Norriene and Baiba, and Mark and Sheri, are keeping old traditions alive. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures and story, Norriene.

Oh, I almost forgot. I'll trade you a turned wooden bowl for a jar of that sauerkraut. (I haven't forgotten about the canister. I'm just waiting until I get a bigger lathe.)

Sargie's working at the eye clinic today. I am heading out to the shop as soon as she leaves. It's the perfect shop day, rain, cool temperatures, dark skies.

The birthplace of Elvis
Mississippi Brother Garry and Miss Jody are taking a few days to camp through northern Mississippi and were in Tupelo Monday afternoon.

I wonder what the poor people will be doing?

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sunday morning was spent cleaning the garden

October 20, 2019 - Sunday evening

47 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I'm writing tonight as I'll be out the door early Monday morning on my way to Bobkittyland. 

I was in the garden early this morning raking, throwing rotten vegetables away, and getting everything ready for the upcoming winter months.

I'm sad that so much went to waste. Usually, I get everything picked and either preserved, stored, or given away. This year, little of that happened. I invited people to come pick, but none did. Because of my last minute job at school, I didn't have time to harvest everything myself.

Consequently, way too much went to waste. 

Many of the squash and pumpkins rotted from the inside out this past summer due to our excess rainfall.

With Sargie's help, we loaded the vegetables, vines, and leaves, into the trailer and took it all up to Jambo's field. The deer are in for a big treat.





While at Jambo's, I hopped on the tractor and moved a bit of firewood he'd cut earlier closer to his wood shed. Some of the wild cherry pieces were HUGE.




Sargie spent all Sunday afternoon outside while I parked in front of the television coaching the Packers to victory over Oakland.




She was either blowing/vacuuming leaves or pulling the lawn sweeper.




I managed to get a bit of work done after the ballgame was over. I gathered several wheelbarrow loads of leaves and covered the thornless blackberries for the upcoming winter months.

They are a southern variety that were inadvertently sent two years ago. Not expecting them to make it through last year's harsh winter, the plants thrived after mulching each with a thick layer of leaves last fall. Hopefully, the same will happen this year.

Aluminum oxide was spread around the blueberries to lower the Ph of the soil. I also fertilize them each fall for the following year. 



The last chore of the day was to mow and clean the asparagus bed. The fronds have been removed and the patch is ready for winter.



Showers taken, we've settled in for a quiet evening. I'll be returning to Florence Elementary in the morning for a day of being the librarian. It's my last scheduled sub job until Thursday.

Be sure to read Tuesday's blog for more sauerkraut adventures. It seems I've opened a whole trunk of cabbages.

Until then, remember that a man's work is never done.



So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Sheri's mixing/pounding cabbage for sauerkraut

October 20, 2019 - Sunday morning

40 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

Yooper Brother Mark and Sheri are about the last two people I know who still make sauerkraut the old fashioned way. Cutting heads of cabbage, mixing, aging, canning... they do the whole process every fall.

I have mixed feelings concerning sauerkraut, a certain PTSD type of thing. 

You see, sauerkraut caused Grandma Pennington's knuckle and my delicate head to collide well over sixty years ago. 

Grandma had several huge crocks of fermenting cabbage sitting in the shade on the porch steps. At four or five years of age and loving raw kraut, I'd lift the lid, grab a pinch of smelly cabbage, and stuff it in my mouth each time I walked by.

Grandma really didn't care that I was eating her stash, but eventually, told me I'd had enough for the day. No more snacking on the kraut.

Well,  everyone knows that little boys, fresh kraut, and telling a good old fashioned fib, all go together. As my son, Luke, says, "It's science."

Unable to resist the temptation for just one more mouthful, I stuffed my face full as soon as Grandma walked away.

Grandma wasn't no dummy. She turned and bending down, asked, "Tommy, did you take more kraut?"

Like any little all American boy, I lied. "No," I replied as aged cabbage juice ran down my chin.

Grandma's huge, Czech knuckle landed on my head with a fury. 

"OUCH," I yelled, as half chewed cabbage spewed from my mouth.

"I don't like that you took more kraut when I asked you not to, but DON'T YOU EVER LIE TO ME AGAIN," said Grandma.

Lesson learned. I never did, leastways about stealing her sauerkraut.

Saturday was a quasi lazy affair on Pentoga Road. Rather than enjoy my early morning stroll, I slogged the distance feeling like my feet were mired in ankle deep mud.

I just didn't have the pep that usually accompanies me on my early morning walks.

Back home, I sized up the roof over the outdoor wood furnace, the one that heats the shop during the winter months. 

Whoever designed that structure wasn't very bright. 

MELTED ICE + MELTED SNOW = WATER

Everyone knows water flows downhill.



Growing tired of water running down my neck every time I loaded wood into the stove last winter, I decided something had to be done.

I thought, I figured, I ciphered. I even had my Vice President in charge of Designing Operations come out and give her opinion. In the end, I scabbed on a simple, more conventional, roof.



Hopefully, with lots of caulking, it won't leak underneath and continue to flow downhill. Only time will tell.

With rain threatening, Sargie and I took our usual ride and ended up at a antique/consignment store in Iron River. We spent over an hour looking at three floors of museum like goodies.

I don't know what happened, but I had some sort of allergic reaction while in the store. My nose began to drip and my eyes itch. Though I took a couple of allergy pills, the symptoms only got worse and continued after we arrived home.

I took a shower, put on my night time clothes, and fell sound asleep sometime between five and six. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep my eyes open. Sargie woke me at bedtime when I stumbled up the stairs to bed and promptly fell asleep again. I slumbered the night through until six this morning.

I'm not sure what happened, but it appears sleep was the answer for whatever was ailing me. I'm feeling fine this morning and ready for another day of hard core action... like watching the Packers game at noon.

Until then, I think I'll go for my morning stroll then work outside until game time.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...