Day #4

Huge huge day. Couldn't type last eve! 18 ton of stone moved into large mud hole plus 2 trailers of field stone, made only small dent, but certainly major progress! Mark & Trevor distributed stone and neighbor Mike loaded wagon for transport. Mechanical issues led to Mark heading for Gibbs for hydraulic hoses and Bob & Mike spending significant time pulling parts off one 560 and onto another. Trevor took over tractor driving since Bob needed to work on 560 (broke his little heart to drive through all that mud!)Everybody else assigned to the bucket briggade distributed buckets all morning and began tapping in the late afternoon. Finished well after dark with the help of friends Mike, Kevin & Jenny-the later most notable for being the only person smart enough to show up with a flashlight! 2 inches in a few buckets by the end of the day. Made a Sandhill Rd. run for Chuck's generator but didn't get it hooked up! There is always tomorrow.

Day #3 (with a few days in between!)

To Clear up any concerns the mouse is on the right (my left) and the rock is in the other hand! I thought Grandma Wilson might enjoy this one!!

    Monday, picked up new syrup jugs! Tuesday, the David Brown Tractor found its’ way back into another mud hole, it has WAY too much fun playing in the mud! Chris prepared the military trailer for picking up rocks to help with this situation! Wednesday, worked with Slingwine Excavating to develop a plan to get the rocks into the mud holes! Today, Chris and Kels picked up 4,596,387 Rocks! Gigantic, Muddy, Heavy, Yucky, rocks, with the exception of one field mouse!! Dad refers to these as a fine specimens of Lime stone with intriguing fossils! Talked with the neighbors and seems to be ok that we haven’t started to tap yet, but we’re still pressing the matter! J

Day #2

Cody swept out camp & hauled water to camp and got the evaporater all scrubbed out! Chuck, our personal boilermaker, finished a sample glass etching on a syrup bottle that looks awesome! Much warmer today. million calls "when ya gonna tap?" No answer.

Day #1

Paths are cleared. New tractor fits through woods! Heater does not work!! Cody also found the bottom of big mud hole. Mud Flying. Smoke rolling. Dad swearing (again). 1/2 hour later time investment, priceless life long lesson!  18 inch Cherry tree sucessfully cut, dragged, out of woods with much effort (more than 1/2 hour). Chains all worked well. Minimum 1 foot snow pack whole woods. Great start to this years season!