Mar 8
Today was much sunnier than the previous. Brad and Cody had a busy morning fighting the raccoons in the wood trailer, while attempting to cut a few more loads of wood. For those keeping track at home, we are still burning the sheep barn. This was torn down from the Seneca Co. Fairgrounds in 2010 (ish). Bob estimates that we have approximately 3 more years worth to go (several other members of sugar camp are skeptical that it will last), plans are being made for the next acquisition of said structure for firewood, please reach out if you have options.
Bob, Cody, and Brad got the fire rolling around noon. Dave Green decided to return to the United States after visiting Canada for work. He showed up at 12:15 right before disaster struck at 12:30 when Bob noted we should probably apply some defoamer because it was bubbling up. Before Dave could grab his favorite weapon (the defoaming liquid) Bob made an aggressive move to the valve as he realized the syrup was a little over finished. A valiant effort was made to salvage as much as possible and only a little syrup had to be discarded. It is noted that Brad has issues smelling and couldn’t find anything wrong with any of the syrup/sap. He was recommended to see a doctor for that.
After the camp crew got their legs under them again, things operated much more smoothly. Dave prepared a well-balanced meal that included chili cheese bratwurst, unseasoned sausage patties, and teriyaki Pineapple bratwurst all served on rye bread with deli swirl because that is all Dave had in his fridge. Very fancy.
Adam joined us along with Dale to enjoy the fine fellowship that sugar camp brings. Adam alerted us that Bellevue was playing in the girls state semi finals and we were able to use Daves big speaker to listen in to the great play-by-play on 92.1 The Wolf. It was an excellent close game with the Lady Red coming out on top and will be playing next Friday in Dayton. Hope to see everyone there. If not the play-by-play on 92.1 The Wolf is worth tuning in for.
The next major decision was how much to gather today. The trees were not running due to frozen lines, but Brad forgot to collect the far north west corner yesterday so that had to be collected. The crew elected to head out to gather that section and in the meantime, Michael had joined to help collect and brought a pump large enough to bail out the Edmund Fitzgerald to help transfer some of the temporary storage from yesterday’s gather. When asked for photographic evidence of this experience it was stated “That’s probably better off undocumented. It happened but you don’t want the visual lol”
Brad asked Dave if he was driving WALL·E, and of course the answer was yes. After several attempts at collecting the corner and several loopty loops and falling over trees, the sap had been collected. Upon returning to the camp, Amy showed up with kids in tow and Scott and Shana with their circus also. The kids all enjoyed running through the mud puddles and peeing outside in the woods. A fine meal of baked spaghetti was served, ham and potatoes, coleslaw and buffalo chicken dip. There were several other odds and ends but too numerous to name them all.
A lot of laughs were had, some at Brad's expense. As the evening wound down, visitors started to filter out. Leaving Bob, Brad, Cody, and Dave to finish the night up. During this time, Bob questioned how Michael’s transfer pump worked. Cody and Dave had guessed they would be caught and were proven right. A few gallons of sap had been spilled. Overall it was a very successful day with a lot of expectations for tomorrow's collection. Follow along for more BMP’s when we return.
Special thank you to our guest editor this evening, Dave G. Gerri and Kelsey were looking forward to a night off :)
Total Gallons of Syrup today: 27
Total Gallons of Syrup to date: 49 or 185 liters
Total Gallons of Sap today: 160
Total Gallons of Sap to date: 2,895
Here are a couple of photos and videos from yesterday’s blog that wouldn’t upload in time for posting.
