March 30, 2014 – Sunday

24 degrees/clear/calm

Pentoga Road

I awakened at 3 this morning, my mind speeding a mile a minute. I was still awake two hours later and finally gave up any hope of falling back to sleep.

For whatever reason, usually during the very early morning, my mind can find the smallest minute subject and dwell on it for hours. This morning’s dealt with yesterday’s dismal failure at installing tubing in the maple woods. I can’t see the clear plastic and ran into all sorts of difficulties, everything from wrong cuts to tripping over it.

Installing the tubing is easy enough, but seeing the stuff is a different story. I tripped several times and generally, I’d regain my footing. But those few times I didn’t, I found myself lying in deep and wet snow resulting in my clothes getting soaked. I wasn’t having any fun. In fact, I was miserable and for one of the few times in my life, I just wanted to get out of the woods.

I tried using the magnifiers so I might have a clearer picture, but they are too strong and did nothing but make me seasick. I was constantly flipping them up, then putting them down, then flipping them up, and so on. I began sweating and they continually fogged up.

I also think I’m having trouble switching methods of sap gathering. I’ve used the same spiles or spouts, most made and hand forged during the Civil War era, for years. I love my hundred and fifty year-old spouts, those used to tap into a tree. I delight when I see a full bag and feel the weight of the sap.

I made a corporate decision while lying on my back and staring up at the ceiling during the wee hours of this early morning. I'm going to rip out yesterday’s tubes and plastic ware. As the kids say, I’m going Old School, which is exactly where I belong. Yesterday’s efforts are going to be replaced with simple cast spouts, meaning that this year, I’ll do as I’ve done in the past, walk from tree to tree with five gallon buckets. I won’t have to worry about cutting tubing then not seeing and tripping over central lines. How well I see won’t matter. The weight of the water will tell me what I need to know.

Rather than tap almost two hundred trees like last year, I’m going to pare my efforts down to fifty, maybe seventy-five. But the number of trees isn’t the point, it’s that I enjoy doing it. This old dog thought he wanted to learn a new trick, but that’s not going to happen. I love the woods. No amount of plastic is going to change that.

Sargie took the following pictures Friday morning after the big snow. Almost all show me chewing on my tongue like a little kid. I thought I gave that up when I turned five years old.

I walked my usual five miles Saturday morning. It was a perfect morning, warm temperatures, lots of sun, and no wind, and had I not wanted to begin working in the maple woods, I’d have probably continued around “the block” and hiked another seven miles.

The used tubing and plastic spouts were filthy and I spent most the morning in the kitchen disinfecting everything. In the end, I’m still not sure it was as clean as it should have been, but I gave it the old college try.

I already described the frustrations encountered in installing the newer collection method. By mid-afternoon, I’d only tapped sixteen trees and fallen twenty or thirty times. Frustrated and exhausted beyond belief, I quit and came back to the house thinking that I might skip this maple season.

Sargie had to close last night and didn’t get home until late. I was tired, had a headache, and was in a lousy mood. We gabbed a bit and had a bite to eat, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I headed up the stairs and immediately fell asleep. I’m not sure what time Sargie joined me.

So today’s going to be a better one. In fact, I can hardly wait for daylight to begin ripping out the tubing installed yesterday and replacing the plastic fittings with real, honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned, Civil War era, forged spouts. In fact, the sooner I get that plastic out of my woods, the better I’ll like it. It will be one less thing for me to trip over.

Sargie’s off today. Hmm, I wonder if I can talk her into becoming Maple Girl for an hour or two. Actually, I don’t have to talk her into anything. She gladly helped last year and we talked and gabbed while tapping trees. With a sunny and warm day forecast, I bet history will repeat itself and we’ll be back in the woods together this afternoon.

It’s time for this old dog to get another cup of tea and begin grading assignments. The sun will be up soon and there’s plenty to do in the woods. As they say, I’ve got to make hay while the sun shines, or in my case, tap some trees.

After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Brutus is good at getting me out of the woods, but he's a pain in the backside when I'm shoveling snow.