Sargie and Brielle at the Milligan Family Easter Celebration

March 31, 2013 – Easter Sunday

Partly cloudy/34 degrees/windy

Pentoga Road

Happy Easter to all. “On the third day, He arose and ascended to the right hand of God the Father.” And for mankind everywhere, we’re grateful.

I’m sitting beside the boiler under the cover of the woodshed feeding sap into the pans as it evaporates. The wind is blowing quite strong and for the second day in a row, snow is falling.

Why am I writing outside? The way it's going, if I don’t try to finish today’s entry out here, it won’t happen. The internet was down early this morning and once I start boiling, I have to add sap and check on the levels of the pans every few minutes. Running in and out of the house and kicking off my boots gets tiresome, plus it’s hard to concentrate in small segments.

In the weather department, Saturday was a real mess. The weatherman had forecast that the day’s weather would begin with a bit of snow in the morning and turn to all rain in the afternoon. Once again, he lied. The day started with rain that quickly turned to snow… lots and lots of gooey, wet, sticky, heavy, snow.

Sargie's wrapping Easter presents on Saturday morning while a snowstorm is raging outside.

I wore a rain suit when collecting sap in the morning, only ten gallons from all the taps. It was fairly warm, but damp… which made it seem much colder than it really was.

I told Sargie that with the sap running so slowly, there was no reason that I couldn’t attend the Milligan Family Easter gathering. Looking out the window, I pronounced we’d be taking the Blazer rather than the Kia and in fact, we drove the entire forty miles locked into four-wheel drive.

We had a lot of fun at the Milligan gathering with the aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, girlfriends, fiancés, and friends. One could walk from group to group and choose which conversation he wanted to join. 

Personally, my favorite was the one I had with great-niece Brielle. We had a wonderful talk. She cooed and giggled, I made funny faces and strange sounds that only she could translate into something intelligible.

Macrea and Mel followed us home and we had a wonderful evening playing Mexican Train dominoes. As seems to be the norm when playing games, Sargie won, Mel came in second, and Macrea and I… well, we were along for the ride on the train. The entire game lasted almost three hours and at the end, the girls said they wished it could have lasted longer. That didn’t happen.

The kids were up early this morning and headed towards Mel’s family for Easter celebration and meals. Sargie and I are enjoying a quiet Sunday together.

The seller of the large containment tank called and I hope we’ll get together in the next day or two although according to the forecast, the sap won’t run again until later this coming week.

Time to stoke the fire and transfer more sap into the warming pan. It’s a continual process that goes to reinforce the fact that a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Partridge tracks going across the deck

April 1, 2013 – Monday

13 degrees/clear/windy

Pentoga Road

I was happily writing on Sunday when I noticed the finishing pan was beginning to bubble much too easy. That’s a sure sign that the sugar content is becoming thick. Translated: the sap is turning to syrup. It took some tap dancing, but I got the fire shut down and drained the pan. The thick concentrate, along with another batch, will be carefully reduced down to syrup over propane heat today. Hopefully, there will be two to three gallons. I’ll let it sit overnight so any impurities can settle to the bottom, then filter and can it tomorrow.

These raccoon tracks crossed those of the partridge and continued into the barn. If he doesn't get back into the woods where he belongs, I might have to temporarily reopen trapping season.

Sargie and I took an afternoon drive. With the wind howling and experiencing occasional white-out conditions, it wasn’t your typical Sunday sight seeing excursion. There was no green grass to be seen and the only Easter Lilies in bloom in these parts are only found inside someone’s home. There’s still well over two feet of snow on the ground and winter continues to be firmly entrenched.

We finished the day with huge bowls of popcorn while sitting in front of the television watching the conclusion of The Bible on the History Channel; a fitting ending to a very relaxing Easter Sunday.

Sargie’s back to work today and I’m planning to reduce the concentrated sap from the finishing pan. Sargie came up with a great idea for a holder to support my commercial filter bag and I’ll be working on that. I’m caught up with all the assignments in my classes so I may begin to work on the summer session content’s over the next two days until the sap once again begins to run.

No doubt, I’ll keep busy. You know, that’s why it’s said that a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…