Saturday March 6, 2021

Another busy Saturday. The morning found everyone making errands to town for supplies and the obligatory bank and grocery runs. The sun once again looked warm but peaked the temperature out at about 38 today. There was no wind to speak of and the trees apparently appreciated that as they ran more than expected. 

Backtracking to Thursday March 4th, the whole gang (except Gerri) worked for 4 hours or so on boiling in what did not get finished on Wednesday night. Kelsey made philly beef sandwiches on the griddle. There was apparently a lengthy and somewhat hilarious video discussion with Dave G. and his neighbors about their newby syrup making....the synopsis of which sounded like judgement calls on taking syrup off depended on the availablity of beverages and how close to bedtime it was getting. 

The view from on high of the front pan!

on Thursday March 4th

Total Syrup Off: 5 gallon

Total To Date: 32.5

Bob seriously considered NOT gathering today (Saturday) and waiting until tomorrow. Some buckets had little sap today and few were half full..so this was a harder call. Good thing we decided to go though...560 gallons found there way back to the camp. Brad wrote the number on the wall today and it says 561 because Brad is Brad. In this very poor picture you can see that we have added a white board to the dump area in the storage barn. The idea is to help us remember how much is dumped each time. This is a really great idea that is not working at all......yet. We will keep trying. 

Kelsey and Evan waiting for Walle to dump. 

Please do not miss enjoying Dave in the above photo in the background. Photographer never noticed that. Shot about 4 pics of this. Made for a good laugh at 11 pm. 

Dale drove again today relating that he felt a little stiff getting out of Walle 2 hours later. Nancy, Adam, Dave G. , Gerri, Kelsey, Evan, Brad and Vivian gathered. It was a nice walk and rather amazing how the water has gone down in the woods since the the middle of the week. 

Directing traffic, Brad has been our gathering leader. This is about as gratifying as herding cats. Brad gets our fun award for today as he requested 3 people follow him,.....he walked 20 yards...looked around...and said woops..i am not where I thought I was. The 3 girls following him took a moment to celebrate this as this almost never happens. We savored the moment. 

3 dumps tonight to our surprise...2 of them even got written on the board!

Adam outworked everyone once again by splitting some wood that did not want to be split. Brad was asked to help Adam and he retorted that he wanted Adam to sleep well so he let him go a bit. 

Brad and Vivian cooked campfire hotdogs outback and we had a rather quiet dinner. 

Apparently contemplating how to make SMORES . They were sucessful! Vivian did some waitressing.  Dave provided us with reggae music that nobody liked and only Brad really voiced opposition to his face. Bob talked finances with the guys while he intermittently tried to school Dave in syrup making. Dave interjected occasionally while laughing "that's not how we do it." And Bob replied "I know." The girls discussed dog washes and why it felt SOOO cold in the camp tonight. (The dogs are incredibly dirty, if you pet them, a cloud of dust arises like the cartoon Pigpen from Peanuts!)

Total Sap Today: 560 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 2,120 gallons

Total Syrup Off Today: 15 gallons

Total Syrup Off To Date: 47.5 gallons

Total Sap Today: 590 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 2,120

Total Syrup Off Tonight: 15 gallons

Total Syrup Off To Date: 47.5 gallons