I'm getting ready to scrub the pans first thing Saturday morning so I can fill them once again with sap and begin boiling

April 14, 2013 – Sunday morning

11 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

If the thermometer will drop just one more degree, this morning’s temperature will have tied the record low for this date. As long as it’s this far, let ‘er dip another notch or two and make it official.

And you might know, I put the bedding plants in the greenhouse yesterday afternoon while the sun was out… and left them there. They were getting pale and leggy from lack of sunlight. Thankfully, I placed them over heat lamps and last night before bedtime, covered the bins in which they are sitting with cardboard. I think they’re okay. Another two or three hours will tell the story. If not… well, it’s back to square one. Worse case scenario: I’ll have to purchase bedding plants when the season finally arrives.

I walked off into the woods early yesterday morning with buckets in hand and spent over four hours emptying ice from the bags. I kept only the unfrozen sap and still, over forty gallons of condensed sugar water was collected. The same process will be done later this morning. Most of the bags were full again yesterday afternoon.

With the several inches of snow that had fallen the day before, I had a difficult time finding the paths and all the bags. At one point, I tried using the snowmobile to remake the paths, but soon found myself losing the old and making new trails, some of them going away from the tapped trees. I gave up and did it the old-fashioned way... I walked and waded, often swearing along the way, as I stepped off the trail into snow that was thigh deep. 

That was my day in a nutshell. Late yesterday afternoon, I decided I’d had enough and came inside, showered, and went over to Iron Mountain to meet Sargie and be able to ride back with her after work. We stopped by McDonalds then came on home, gabbing, laughing, and munching burgers and fries as we drove. Sargie has today off and I’ll ride back with her early Monday morning to retrieve the Blazer that was left in the employee parking lot.

While at Walmart, I picked up several cases of quart and pint jars, enough to process another ten gallons of syrup. I think once they are gone, I’ll call it a season. They also have half-gallon jars and I was tempted to purchase those simply for long-term storage. One thing about it, I’m either going to sell syrup next year or tap a third as many trees. Stay tuned.

Today should be a repeat of Saturday. I’ve boiled down two batches of sap and after one more, we’ll process close to three more gallons of syrup this afternoon.

I see there’s a 90% chance of snow later today with two inches accumulation possible. Tomorrow’s high is to be 54 degrees with rain and 30 mph winds. We don’t seem to be able to catch a break this year. On the other hand, the moisture is welcomed. It’ll be nice going into summer when it’s not so dry.

I stepped out of the woods on Saturday into almost blizzard-like conditions. Five minutes later, the sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

It’s time to see what pictures I took yesterday, get this uploaded, and begin the day. A man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…