April 4, 2015 - Saturday

Pentoga Road

Grady getting a bath - April 4, 2015

First load of firewood - March 27th

New tool shed for the garden - March 29th

March 28th - Out for dinner with Yooper Brother Mark and Sheri

March 29 - Brutus encounters a skunk just before bedtime. Is sentenced to multiple days of doghouse confinement accompanied by many outdoor baths of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda.

April 1st - a blueberry branch with leaves

Began building a trellis/barrier for the living room crawlspace

April 1st - reconstructed the maple boiler

Boiling begins in earnest 

Morning of April 2nd - most sap that is stored is coated with several inches of ice

April 2nd - emptied the last sap bag and pulled the taps

The plow is removed from the red four-wheeler

"Summer-type" storm clouds blew in - no rain

Neighbor Mike comes and helps boil

The entire season's concentrated sap waiting to be processed into syrup

Brutus is finally free and free of skunk smell

April 3 - this season's syrup is processed over propane and just shy of two gallons is canned for the upcoming year. Quality is just average... dark with a light sugar content. Still, it'll "eat."

April 3rd - Grady and Macrea come visit Grandma, Grandpa, and Grady's best friend, Brutus.

He REALLY wanted that picture of Great Grandma!

The indoor greenhouse with sprouting seeds and tomatoes planted in six-backs

Tomato seeds that had been sprouted between warm, damp, paper towels.

Planting the sprouted seeds on April 3rd

Wild turkeys cross the road in front of me on the afternoon of April 3rd

The evening of April 3rd - Clean and ready for bed