Mar 15

Someone returned unexpectedly from spring break today to get the old guys moving faster and earlier than usual. They started a fire about 3:15, which was a blessing as there was 505 gallons of sap tonight. A few of Muff's friends and the neighbors stopped in to help in addition to Dean, Muff, Nathan, Kevin, Karen, Dale, Chris, Kelsey. & Mark.  Brad took the night off so his dad did the tractor driving. The soft maples are producing clear sap that has little taste at this point. Muff and Bob stopped and tipped a few up for a drink, the blogger wishes she would have thought quick enough to get a picture of them drinking out of the 5 gallon buckets or better yet, to have been a little closer to "help". The ants have arrived, always a bit of a worrisome sign.

We thank Pastor Cathy for the large quantity of leftover soup we had for dinner. We had fun trying to figure out how long it takes to cook corn bread in the pie iron. From the appearance of the product, we still don't know. It is good though. We enjoyed conversation about nothing in particular and Cody getting in trouble for forgetting the generator fuel, (it was a little romantic for a while). Jack started his truck so the lights could shine in the window. Inventive. Reminds us how nice it is to NOT listen to the old generator any more! Thanks Parks family!
Kelsey drew the shortest straw of the evening and gave the dog her bath. Kelsey was VERY excited to find a new critter at the neighbors and had to tell us all about it, at length, Gerri was just excited it was NOT a skunk.

At 11:15 pm, the fire was allowed to burn down and the project will be addressed again tomorrow!

Total Sap: 4431.0
Total Syrup:99 Gallons