Come wind, rain, sleet, hail, or snow... lots and lots of snow, the boiling must go on!

April 13, 2013 – Saturday morning

21 degrees/partly cloudy/calm

Pentoga Road

After fighting the snow and stopping and starting during Thursday night’s commute, Sargie stayed home yesterday due to the heavy snowfall. I’m glad she did. It was close to 3:00 Friday afternoon before the plow came through. It would have been a white-knuckle affair driving first thing Friday morning.

Friday can be summed up with just a few words… boiling and clearing snow. I started the fire fairly early and soon had all four evaporator pans happily bubbling away. Attention to the drive was the next order of business.

The snow blower is a relic, but can really throw wet and heavy snow long distances. It took about an hour, but the deck, drive, and walkways were cleaned down to the ground. Luckily, the ground had frozen Wednesday night before the snow started to fall so mud wasn’t a factor. It seems long winters afford us the opportunity to appreciate the smaller things in life. Frozen ground is one of them.

I did a bit of research and discovered that a gallon of sap weighs eleven pounds. No wonder my elbows, shoulders, and arms, have been aching this past month. I normally carry two full five-gallon buckets through the woods to load on the four-wheeler. I’ve made up my mind that before next season, I’ll come up with a better gathering method without miles of tubes running through my maple woods.  

Steam rising from the evaporating pans

Sargie and I boiled down another two-and-three-quarters gallons last evening. That makes five-and-a-half gallons of syrup canned in just a twenty-four hour span, a record for me. If I had the jars, lids, and rings, I’d be doing the same thing tonight. Instead, I’ll have to wait until Sargie gets home, bringing more with her, and we’ll process tomorrow.

The syrup this year is very light and sweet, and is by far the best I’ve processed in many years. I like to think that it’s my superior processing skills, but the truth be known, Mother Nature decides the quality of syrup. Two years ago, the syrup was almost black and very strong tasting. I used the same equipment and techniques. I don’t know if it’s because of the cold and late winter; maybe because there was no season last year due to the warm temperatures, or possibly, it’s the way I hold my mouth in conjunction with the alignment of the planets.

I am going to try to catch up on my assignments today between trips to the woods and tending the evaporator pans. The majority of grading and assessment is current, but the bookwork, actually entering grades isn’t. It’s more busy work than intellectual at this point. I do know that the summer session, a brand new semester with brand new students, begins on May 20^th, five weeks from now and I’m not ready.

Sargie closes at the Vision Center tonight. It will be another long day for her. Thankfully, she’s off Sunday.

I see that it’s to be 54 degrees on Monday. Perhaps I ought to plan on breaking out a pair of shorts and taking the lawn chairs out of the barn. Nawwww, I’m just messing with my own brain. It’s what I do for excitement nowadays, dream of summer, mowing grass, fresh vegetables, fishing on open water, and gardening.

It may look like winter outside, but inside, Sargie's celebrating the warmer weather to come. Here, she's being creative and making a flower out of a pineapple.

Need a summer sip? Sargie's lemonade with strawberries, grapes, and blackberries. 

Time to move along and think about getting the fire lit in the boiler and making syrup. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

I was going to celebrate spring this next week by hanging out the first of this year's laundry.