Sap continues to flow... and flow... and flow. These bags are about to burst.

April 11, 2013 – Thursday

27 degrees/breezy/partly cloudy

Pentoga Road

You know it’s going to be a red-letter day when I attempt to place a cup of coffee in a kitchen cabinet rather than the microwave to be reheated. Both are side-by-side, suspended at eye level. They say the mind is the first thing to go. I think mine already left.

           

I also tend to run into objects. Seems as though someone is always placing something in my way at the last moment. Yesterday it was tree; I turned around and hit my left leg and arm, spilling sap onto my leg. Getting older is so much fun. 

Onto more positive news…

It must be spring. A large Tom Turkey was grazing under the bird feeders this morning.

I guess there’s a big ol’ storm headed this way:

Statement as of 4:11 AM CDT on April 11, 2013

... Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect from 1 PM this
afternoon to 7 am CDT Friday... 

Hazardous weather... 

* heavy... wet snow will arrive this afternoon and continue through
   tonight. The snow will gradually diminish in intensity through the
   day on Friday... although the snow may still fall moderately over
   Gogebic County into Friday night.

* Snow accumulation of 5 to 8 inches is expected through Friday
   morning. Several inches of additional accumulation is possible
   over Gogebic County through Friday night. 

Impacts... 

* roads will become snow covered and slippery this afternoon and
   remain that way into Friday.

* Visibility will be reduced to one mile at times this afternoon
   into tonight. 

* The snow will be extremely wet and heavy... which will make 
   shoveling difficult. 

Precautionary/preparedness actions... 

* a Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow will 
   cause travel difficulties. 

* Prepare... plan... and stay informed. Visit www.Weather.Gov/MQT

I’ve commented previously about the length of this particular winter. At least the days are getting longer and admittedly, there’s a lot of heat in the sun when it’s allowed to peak out from behind the clouds.

What bothers me most is the mud… oodles, tons, and lots of gooey, slippery, mud. I purchased low-cut, slip-on, boots last year. Actually, Sargie insisted I get them just for mud season. I slide my feet into them when I head out the door, take them off when I come in. That scenario must happen fifty times a day as I go in and out adding wood to the boiler and checking the sap.

The raccoons can't avoid the mud either. This print was by the back deck... a tell tale sign of a nightly visitor.

We didn’t have mud in Sitka as the community sits on a rock… literally. Though our weather was generally more foul, mud wasn’t an issue.

Northern Maine becomes a mud bath this time of the year. Sometimes, we had to park our vehicles at the end of the drive and walk several hundred feet to the house. I’ve experienced mud in the past and like the days gone by; I’m tired of it. It’s an annual springtime phenomenon we northerners must endure.

Of one thing I’m certain; the drive and area immediately surrounding that side of the house will be blacktopped this summer. I want to walk barefoot across the drive next spring and gleefully laugh at the lack of mud. Well, okay, that’s an exaggeration, but it would be nice not to sink into my ankles every time I exit the house. Sargie says we should put pavers down between the back deck and drive. I agree. Our feet will be unscathed by mud next spring… I hope.

Mom is heading to the hospital this morning for some outpatient surgery. She developed a hernia not long ago and the doctor feels it would be best to get it fixed now. My sister will be accompanying Mom and with any luck, she’ll be back home late this afternoon and well on her way to recovering.

Mom lives in a senior community and is surrounded by good friends who take care of each other. There are also nursing facilities on the premises should Mom need those and my sister, a nurse specializing in geriatric care, is a short forty-miles away.

Wednesday was a busy day on Pentoga Road. I began boiling sap in the morning and finally, by 4:30, simply ran out of energy. It was easy to tell there was an imminent change in the weather as the sap poured from the trees. The majority of the bags were overflowing and between boiling and gathering, I had to run to keep up.

There’s close to five gallons of sap concentrate in a covered pail waiting to be boiled down using the propane burner, but I was too tired to do even that simple job. As I commented before, when it comes to outside activities, my maturity level is around age twelve, my brain still thinks I’m still somewhere in my twenties, and my body is on the other side of sixty. I was all done in.

Sargie had to work late and didn’t arrive home until almost bedtime. She’d purchased a new battery for the Blazer so I grabbed a headlamp and  handful of wrenches and soon had it installed.

I’m going to continue to boil this morning and collect as much sap as possible. I doubt it will run for the next day or two with much colder temperatures forecast. I’ve been keeping up on the end of the semester assignments and will work on those today as time allows. This time of the year, they arrive in a never-ending stream of emails.

Sargie’s scheduled to open this morning and weather allowing, hopes to meet her two best friends for supper tonight. I imagine there’ll be a lot of giggling, laughing, and story telling around that table. I hope the snow holds off long enough for the girls to get together. They meet so seldom that it’s truly a treat for each.

So with all that being said, it’s time to get this uploaded and onto today’s chores… boil, gather, boil, gather, and boil. 

But first, I’m going to get another cup of coffee. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…