Two days ago Franco and I drove up the the Estivant Pines and did a day’s work. We hiked most of the trails, did some benching and cleaned out water bars on the trails. We also fixed several boards on the new boardwalks that were loose. I used all three batteries I brought for my cordless drill, so you know there was a lot of work in that project. Some were loose enough that I could lift them right off. Most were just wobbly, but I figured if they wobbled, they would eventually break off, so I might as well fix them.
My main project though was to choose 4 project sites for some student volunteers this fall. We’ve been contacted by Michigan Tech for their “Make a Difference Day” and by a young adult group of the local Rotary Club. The sites I chose will involve hauling lumber up to each for boardwalks, so I’ll need to get busy on the sawmill and get the lumber sawed for the projects. It would be a shame to have help up there but nothing for them to do.
Yesterday I cut the grass which took most of the day. Meanwhile, Alice worked on the steps leading from the outside up to our green room. They haven’t been used much over the years, and the weather had taken its toll on them. She meticulously scraped and primed every inch of these stairs.
I also decided to sell the two bulldozer engines I bought along with my “parts” dozer last summer. They were just lying outside, and I was concerned they would just rust up unless I did something with them. So I called the mechanic that has done a lot of work on my machines over the year, and he offered me $250 for the two of them. I loaded them up yesterday afternoon on the pickup. I was very careful, because they were so heavy and bulky that one slip would more than use up the $250 in body work for the truck. Then I loaded up my 55 gallon plastic barrel that I use for gasoline for my lawnmower, chainsaw, rototiller, etc.
Around 5:00 we took off for Baraga. First stop was Mitchell’s where we dropped off the engines. My truck, a Ford F250 Super Duty, spends a lot of its life underloaded. Well yesterday, it had a load on it. We got the engines off without a hitch, and then we made the drive to the gas station that is run by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community. Their gas is always cheapest, so I put $75 worth of 89 octane in the barrel. Then it was off to Pequaming for the monthly board meeting for FOLK (www.folkup.org.) I do the newsletter and am the treasurer for that group. We had our meeting at the beach property of one of our board members. It was a perfect evening. It started out warm, but as the meeting dragged on, it got cooler and colder. I think it worked out pretty well, because we were all getting pretty tired of the meeting and cold at the same time, so we hurried up a bit.
Back to the stair painting project. While I was taking a picture of the work-in-progress, I pointed the camera at Alice. She squealed and said no, don’t take my picture, or I’ll wap you with this wet brush. It came out so cute that I had to share it with you. Please don’t tell her I published it, though. If you see me walking down the street with a streak of white paint across my face, you’ll know she figured it out.
Today I cut the roots and stems off the garlic hanging in our shed, and put them all in a mesh orange bag. We got a full bag of very nice garlic. It rained today so I was unable to pick the onions as I had planned. It is supposed to be sunny tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll get it done then. I’ll dry them in the sun, then bundle them up and hang them in the shed to dry for several weeks, and then bag them and put them in the basement for the next year’s use.