Niece, Aria, is jammin' out at Grandma and Grandpa's 

March 26, 2020 - Thursday morning

31 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I think we've got an out-of-control munchkin rocker in the family. Aria even has the wild hair to go with her persona. 

That's okay, as long as she keeps away from the tattoo parlors.

Hey, how about the price of gas? With every dark cloud comes a silver lining. 

What, below two dollars a gallon locally? I took advantage yesterday in Crystal Falls and filled the Kia as well as a five gallon gas can.

Unfortunately, in Iron River, due to some perennial greediness, gas remains at $1.99, a full .35 a gallon more expensive than in neighboring Crystal Falls, just fifteen miles away.

Guess where we're buying our fuel?

I was surprised Wednesday morning to discover many of the sap bags were full to overflowing. With Sargie's help, we gathered close to another forty gallons.

So far this week, the sap has been pouring from the trees. Looking at next week's forecast, it appears we should have another good run. As long as the snow remains on the ground, the water (sap) ought to stay clear making for the best syrup. As the very short season progresses, the sap will cause the syrup to be darker with a stronger maple flavor. Many people prefer it that way, especially for cooking.

Talk about wet and gloppy. A fine mist and fog permeated the air and the snow was soft. Thankfully, we have the Tundra which is a real life saver.

That's the same model of Ski Doo that I rode during my arctic Alaska days.  Riding 10,000 miles or more in a single year wasn't unusual.

We use the machine to ferry water to the boiling shed, five gallons at a time.

The mist turned to rain and that to hard rain. The sap quit running and Sargie and I were able to enjoy a much lazier afternoon than in the previous days.

Between the melting snow and rain, there's a reason why it's called mud season.

Some of the afternoon was spent in the shop, preparing to assemble the new evaporator.

I noticed during yesterday morning's walk to Pentoga Village that people are sneaking across the border between Wisconsin and Michigan, navigating their four wheel drive vehicles on the very soft and muddy snowmobile trail. It's like Prohibition and running moonshine all over again.

I also saw a tow truck followed by a car coming from that direction yesterday.

Hmm, someone got stuck, did they?

The garden pond continues to open up and I was delighted to see how very clear the water is. So far, there's no sign of the goldfish, but they'll be along once the water warms. Meanwhile, they're remaining in a near hibernation state eleven feet down towards the bottom.

I'm excited. The Fed Ex truck is to deliver the new evaporator at some point today. Assembly will be in the heated shop before moving the several hundred pound beast to the wood shed and installing the firebrick. Thankfully, I ordered pneumatic tires so it should be fairly easy to move... I hope.

Plans are to start boiling tomorrow. We'd better as two more barrels were purchased yesterday in which to store additional sap. Simply put, we're running out of room.

My friend, Eileen, sent this from Maine. Had I had it last fall when I was the principal at Florence Elementary, I'd have worn it around my neck.

It's almost daylight and time to strap on the hikers to take my daily stroll. I'll check the sap bags after, then make sure I've got everything ready to assemble the evaporator. It promises to be a busy day.

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

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Today's random Alaska picture:
Six of my Inupiaq teacher education students in Noorvik, Alaska.
My job as a professor for the university was to travel from village to village above the arctic circle on snowmobile in support of our Eskimo students. Almost all were employed as teacher aide's in their village schools. The majority were unfamiliar with computers or technology of any kind, so my job included instruction on how to power up and log onto their local school's computer(s), then teach each student basic commands so she could enroll in online courses. You'll notice in the above picture that ALL are using good old fashioned pen and paper without any digital assistance.