The empty buckets are ready for another day of gathering sap

April 5, 2013 – Friday

18 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

There’s a brilliant display of stars shining this morning. Earlier, I was standing on the back deck using a pair of binoculars to scan the heavens. Beautiful!

It appears the stars are about to disappear for a night or two. There’s a forecast for several inches of wet and heavy snow over the next twenty-four hours. Though spring snowstorms aren’t unheard of, nor are they particularly unusual, this seems like the winter that will never end.

From the National Weather Service:

.. Heavy... wet snow expected late tonight through Saturday evening... 

Low pressure tracking across the northern plains tonight and into
northern lower Michigan Saturday night will spread heavy... wet snow
across west and central Upper Michigan. The snow should begin in
western Upper Michigan late this evening and will spread into
central Upper Michigan late tonight into Saturday morning. During
Saturday afternoon and evening... the snow will mix with and possibly
change to just rain over south central Upper Michigan. Some sleet is
possible in the transition zone between the rain and snow.

2 to 5 inches of heavy... wet snow is possible across south central
Upper Michigan tonight through Saturday morning before precipitation
mixes with or changes to rain. Farther north... total snow
accumulations of 6 to 8 inches could occur in a swath from
Ironwood... Ontonagon and Marenisco extending east through
Herman... Marquette and Gwinn... then on to Shingleton... Grand Marais
and Newberry. Slightly lower amounts of 4 to 6 inches are expected on
the Keweenaw peninsula and along and just south of a line from
Crystal Falls through La Branche east to Blaney Park. The snow is
expected to taper off from west to east Saturday evening.

Because the snow will be very wet and heavy... shoveling and snow
plowing will be difficult. The wet... slushy snow on roadways will
also make for very slippery roads and very hazardous travel
conditions late tonight through Saturday evening. Stay tuned to the
latest forecasts from the National Weather Service concerning this
late season winter storm.

On the bright side, there are definite signs of spring. The bottom has gone out of the drive as the frost is driven from the ground. I attempt to drive the four-wheeler in the driest places to keep from making ruts. Last night, I put small pieces of plywood from the back deck to the drive. What is usually thick grass has given way to a muddy path.

Possibly Thursday’s biggest thrill was that of making a series of canals, locks, and dams that bridged the base of the drive. Helping to direct the flow of melting snow brought back some wonderful memories.

I wish I could find the newspaper column I wrote in another lifetime about the melt-water canals that three generations of Pennington’s have carved from the muddy earth over the years. It contained all the history of my family’s expertise in constructing and diverting springtime water around, over, and through various drives and walkways.

Dad was the best. Armed with a hoe, or even a sharpened stick, he’d release torrents of freshly melted water and often, help me select a small twig to float in the current. My little boy imagination ran wild and I well remember how cool it was to have a dad who played in the mud puddles with me.

I passed my learned springtime engineering skills onto my sons. All four excelled as architects of multiple water-moving projects in their earlier years. Our driveway in northern Maine was quite long and each spring the boys could be found making canals, dams, locks, lakes, streams, and rivers, in the name of flood diversion. The truth be known, I enjoyed it as much as they did. As I said, it’s a generational Pennington thing. It’s a legal way of playing in the mud and water, even if one is a daddy or even a grandpa. One might even call it our private way of celebrating the end of winter and the anticipation of warmer months ahead.

Neighbor Mike helped to gather sap on Friday. We enjoyed our time together, hauling sap, talking about hunting and fishing and education (Neighbor Mike’s a retired math teacher) and taking advantage of the beautiful spring day.

In all, seventy-five to a hundred gallons of sap were gathered, certainly enough, combined with Wednesday’s take, to begin boiling today.

In between the expeditions to the woods, I transplanted the tomatoes started from seed over a month ago into three-inch peat pots. Hopefully, all will be moved to the greenhouse on a permanent basis next week.

I made a table from plywood and saw horses so I might do the transplanting chores in the greenhouse. It was heavenly soaking up the eighty-degree temperatures while digging into the bagged potting soil, breaking any chunks into smaller pieces. I think once it’s permanently anchored in the garden area, that greenhouse and I are going to have a long-term love affair, especially during the winter months.

After having dinner with Mr. Milligan, Sargie didn’t get home until later last night. It will be the same for the next two as she closes the Vision Center both today and Saturday.

Other than boiling, I’ll be collecting more sap later today. At some point, I’m going to have to go to town and get fuel. I’ve broken my cardinal rule of always having spare gas for emergencies by using the last drop yesterday in the four-wheeler. With the forecast, I’ll need to have enough to run the snow blower and in an emergency, the generator. This forecast storm sounds like the kind that could produce enough heavy snow to bring down transmission lines.

The skies are beginning to lighten and so far, it’s looking like a perfect day. I guess I ought to get this uploaded and begin to contemplate what needs to be done in preparation of making syrup. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales of Pentoga Road…