Boiling sap to make maple syrup

April 10, 2014 – Thursday

50 degrees/partly cloudy/very windy

Pentoga Road

The internet began working again on Wednesday afternoon after a two-day hiatus. I’m not sure what happened but several of the local communities the company supplies were without service.

Amazing how much we depend on the World Wide Web. I’ve gotten into the habit of checking my email several times a day, usually answering a question or two from my students. It’s become something I rarely think about, much like one checks his watch and doesn’t realize how much he glances at his wrist until he leaves his watch at home.

The past two days have revolved around collecting and boiling maple sap. Neighbor Mike and his son, Dr. Paul, were here on Tuesday. Mike wanted Paul to have the experience of collecting sap so I had all kinds of help. In fact, in the afternoon, they told me to stay by the fire and boil and they’d do a father/son collection.

I think they had a lot of fun. With the sun bright and the temperatures in the mid fifties, I could hear them talking with an occasional laugh through the woods. Thanks guys! Dr. Paul has just finished his internship and will be receiving his final degree in physical therapy next month. I’ve watched him work towards his goal for several years and it’s gratifying to see such a nice young man accomplish his goals.

The various songbirds are arriving in large numbers now. These yellow ones landed and hung around the bird feeder for a couple of hours on Tuesday. I was lucky that I could hear them and simply began taking multiple photos.

I’d gone over to Iron Mountain on Tuesday evening to ride back with Sargie. After riding back with her to get the car on Wednesday, I stopped by Pine Mountain on the way home to walk the steps… all five hundred of them.

I’ve been worried about my left knee, the one that had the torn meniscus problem. It’s never seemed “right” since the operation and since it’s less than a year until I begin my attempt at hiking the 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail, I figured that if it wasn’t going to be healthy enough to hike up and down two-thousand miles worth of mountains, I shouldn’t begin to get my hopes up.

There was only one way to find out if the knee had grown strong enough. I began climbing the steps. Halfway up, the knee seemed to be as strong as the other. By the time I reached the top, I was almost ecstatic.

Hmm, going down? That’s where the REAL stress is. I descended in the same manner as I’d gone up, absolutely no pain.

Could it be an accident? I turned back around and climbed and descended again. Other than feeling as though I might have a heart attack at any moment from being out of shape, I felt great. In fact, I had to fight the urge to climb a third time.

The more I climbed and descended, the better I felt. I’d passed! It’ll be fairly rigorous training from now until next March 10^th when I plan to leave Springer Mountain, Georgia, and begin hiking north.

I hope to climb and work out on Pine Mountain twice a week all spring, summer, and fall, until snow falls. I’ll then move into the local gym to work out until March.

I've been working and doing maintenance on the blue four-wheeler, the real workhorse around here. It's used much as a light duty pick up truck on the property during the summer months. New tubes for the tires should be arriving today. 

I arrived home at mid morning and fired up the boiler. The sap was running and I added a third pan.

The day was spent collecting, adding wood to the fire, and doing odd jobs around the house and yard. It was sixty degrees and with the strong wind blowing, one could almost see the snow disappearing.

At one point, I waded out to the garden and removed the snow from one of the raised beds. If this warm trend continues, I’ll use the Walls of Water and set out some early arctic tomatoes under cover. It’s awfully early, but at least it was a gardening activity.

The sap was boiled down last night and I finally raked the coals away from the finishing pan. I’ll finish and process the syrup over propane this morning. As warm as the temperatures are, I don’t expect any sap to run again until early next week when we’re to resume having cold nights and warm days.

Sargie had to close and didn’t arrive home until almost 9 last night. She’d had her annual physical earlier in the day and was pronounced healthy. We had just a few minutes to catch up on the day’s happenings before heading up the stairs to bed. Both of us were exhausted.

I’m going to walk five miles this morning then get started on processing the syrup. Hopefully, it will be completed by noon. There are a million little chores to do around here and with the weather so warm, it’s a pleasure to once again work outside. If this trend continues, our snow will be gone in a few days, something that I don’t believe any person will be sorry to see go.

A squirrel trap is set and ready. If not kept in check, the rodents will overrun the property, get into the barn, garage, and if given the chance, the house.

I have to play catch up on the assignments for my classes. I’ll keep busy, of that I’m certain. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…