OCTOBER JOURNAL

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I was able to get started stacking wood in my new wood storage today. I leveled the floor of it with gravel and then stacked aprox 1/2 cord. I spent part of the day washing out the floor of the sugarhouse and cleaning out all the trash and excess lumber. My brother helped me with that and after the cleaning, we moved all my sugaring stuff other than the evaporator which was already in place from my uncle's building to the sugarhouse. Everything is stacked randomly in the building, but I will wait until cold weather to work on that.

Got to maintenance all the lines as I have some limbs on them and squirrel damage and cut a few more cords of wood. Hunting season starts next Sat, so I will work around getting some hunting in. :D

[syrupmaker]

HOW BOUT THEM YANKEES :lol:

Splittin wood this morning and watched three doe and a spike sneek down over the valley were we were dragging tops out of. Seems they like the open areas left from the dragging. Hoof prints all over the area down there. Archery opens here the 15th so wood will have to wait for a spell after that. Heading back out after a little lunch to get some more done.

Rick

[backyardsugarer]

I am in the process of cutting and sacking wood now (thank god it is free from the saw mill). My next project is to build a finishing unit. I am going to Dick's sporting goods to get a dual propane burner for camping. Then all I have to do is weld a pan that fits the dimensions (my wife has had enough of me finishing in the house. I hope all of you are well and prep. work is coming along. Only about 5 months left! :lol:
Chris

[Al]

Hi Chris, I use a turkey fryer kit for my finishing unit. Had a spout welded in to make it easier to use. Just an idea. I think it's in my album. I do think that a square pan would have alot more heating space on the bottom. I purchase the turkey fryer kit because to have a finish pan welded up or to purchase a finisher wasn't in the budget. :D
Just finished framing off my tank room/woodshed. Now to get the tin and rough cut on.
Have a great day and good luck with the deer hunting.

[Parker]

Steve has just about got the roof finished on the woodshed!! I have 20 feet of it allready filled,,the new section is another 16 feet long,,I think I have enough wood down there to fill it,,will definatly be enough to get en through the season,,no more digging in the snow and mud for wood!!!! 8)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I repaired and checked nearly all of mine lines on Thursday afternoon and sawed two 5x8 trailer loads of wood. I hauled in those two loads this afternoon and saw and hauled 2 more loads part of which was cut a couple of years ago.

Hopefully get my wood splitter back by next week sometime and I will probably spend most of next Sat splitting and stacking wood. :D

[powerdub]

Parker, I'm glad to see that after last season you haven't gotten discouraged and quit. One of these days I (and Marty) will road trip to your place to check the operation out. As for us, Marty has rebuilt his sugat house and I, as usual, am running behind getting wood stacked and lines fixed for the long cold hard winter. Too much caming weather this summer you know. As for the rest, good luck and God bless this coming year and hope to see more posts on here.

[Parker]

To dumb to quit,,,Give me a call and shoot down,,we are getting ready to do some site work in the next week or 2,,get all this water running away from the shack,,,better yet let me know when your comming and we will fill the rest of the woodshed,,ha,ha, just kidding

[Al]

Hi everyone. Just went to the grade opening of the new CDL-Maple Pro store in St. Albans. Boy what a nice place. On a sadder not it looks like Leader Evaporator may be leaving St. Albans to go to Swanton. 12 miles down the road. Can't imagine St. Albans with out Leader there. I now have all the major dealers within 20 miles of my house. :D
Boy they had some great used equipment at the new place. Almost done my tank room. Just four sheets of tin to go. :D

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Along what Al just said, Leader is the last US company left standing. If the Canadian companies can push Leader out which appears they are trying to do, then the US will be at their mercy. I wouldn't put anything past Lappiere. 8O I am not asking anyone to support anything, just making a point. :?

[themapleking]

Got 2700ft of 1" main line installed. And I got 1/2 of the lat lines instlled to the mains and added a few more. I figure it out I have 4600 ft of 1" mains and 16000ft if 5/16 and still going.

[Parker]

That is some serious lines,,,how many taps does that handle,,how many acres does the bush cover,,Ill take my hat off to yah,,I havent done JACK this summer,,,time to get on it and get some lines up,,repair others,,I know hoit road has serious rodent damage,,I have herd reports of lots of moose activity in the area of rte.11,,,been putting in serious hours at work to try to make some $$$for the Hill install,,,kinda been waiting for leader to come out with the new spiles (how is that for an excuse)that I herd about at Maplerama................Ill have to give randy a call I guess? Knowing me Ill wait till march to set up hill,,,still need to put another 18 cords in the woodshed,,I need to win megabucks so I can do this sugaring full time,,probably still would not get caught up,,,good luck to all,,,,

[brookledge]

Parker do you ever sleep? I have noticed that alot of your post are early in the morning like 3:30. I'm in the same boat I haven't done much at all since the season ended. Now that cooler weather is here its time to think about getting things ready before winter sets in.
I have had some nice orders lately that have kept me busy.
Jim,
Did you respond to the person looking fo 1,000 50ml. leafs? I did but didn't get it. That would have really kept me busy. He got a price of 1.51 each.
Keith

[mapleman3]

Hi Keith no I only have enough syrup left for Xmas orders and family.. would have been a nice order... gonna need a filter press soon to do glass. did you woirk the Big E? I did 2 days, had a good time

[brookledge]

Jim,
No I didn't work at the Big E.
I didn't even make it there at all. To much going on with work and kids plus sports,keeps me running.
Keith

[Parker]

Keith- For some reason when I post the clock records the time as an hour earlier than it is??dont know why, my clock on my computer has the correct time...1000 50ml botts...that would take a while!!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Was able to get started splitting wood this evening. I had forgotten how easy it is with my splitter. It is a monster and it just eats wood. Hope to get the majority of wood that I will need split and stacked Sat.

Also, took my little boy squirrel hunting this evening and shot a squirrel out above his head. He had been hunting at 14 and 26 months without any luck, but we were able to get one this year at 38 months and he loved it! :D

[forester1]

Things are wrapping up for the summer work. This summer I built a 10'x14' storage building so I can get all my tools and junk out of the sugarhouse. I bought an open top storage tank and installed it. This weekend I move three stainless bulk tanks I bought. They all add up to 550 gallons but each are way heavier than the one 650 gallon open CDL tank I bought. On the down side my land didn't get logged so the tubing is not up. I hope to borrow a digital camera and get pictures later this fall.

[mountainvan]

20 cords of wood cut and split, 12 stacked kids do the rest. Almost done fixing up the house/yard from the flood in april. Lots of fish caught, biggest was a 8lb channel cat. Farmers markets done in two weeks. Then it's time to add 500+ taps. Getting the itchin' to start tapping and boiling and trudging through the snow carrying full buckets of sap. Late nights in the saphouse with the dog and a beer. Nothing like it in the world, and boy I got it bad.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Nothing going on here today. Spent all day with R&R and the family. I did spend some time earlier in the week and several hours Thurs afternoon and got lights in my building. I know the light issue has been coming up, so I will help some of you. I went to Lowes and bought two 8' flourescent lights. They are high output bulbs and a touch expensive, but appear worth it. Two of them in my 18 x 24 center section which is my sugarhouse section lights it up very well. They are a touch pricy, $ 58 per light and the bulbs are between $ 6 and $7 each. The good thing is that they ballast is rated to -20 degrees Farenheit. The bulbs are supposed to last for a long time and the way the fit into the unit is really secure.

Also, on Tues, they came and drilled my well. The went 200 feet deep which is twice what I wanted, but guess they didn't hit any water or at least that is what they told me which I find hard to believe due to the extreme amount of water around it. They came back Thurs and wired it up and dropped a pump down near the bottom and installed a Frost Free next to it. This will work good since I won't have any water in the building this year due to it not being finished and heat. I didn't have a 30 amp breaker, so I didn't get to see any water flow. Seems to be plenty of water as it was 10 to 12 feet from top of ground.

Hope to be able to nearly finish up my wood by next Sat and get some outlets in the building to have some power. :D

[mountainvan]

Winters here. Two inches of snow in the valley, 6+ on the mountains. Sales were good saturday but had something today so slept it off, kinda. Start hanging mainline tuesday in the snow, should have 500 new taps by November. Still thinking about tapping trees that were chewed up by the catepillars in May. Leafs came back full and tapholes,5/16 healed completely. Probabaly put a 3/16 tap in early and check sugar. If 2 or over I think I'll tap them.

[syrupmaker]

Well we survived the Adirondack trip over the past weekend. As usual we ate well and laughed lots! Jim supplied some great tunes to listen to around the campfire and hill billy golf. Ouch watch out when Joe (mapleking) is tossing back to ya. Mapleman proved he's not the brightest bulb in the box and slept in his tent the first night. Only got down to 33 degrees :oops: inside the tent he said.Funny the second night he slept in the popup with the heater. Good thing with the dusting of snow we woke up to.

We also found out that if you supply Jim with a couple bowles of chile, he can produce enough methane to keep him snickering all night. :cry: A couple of times we thought the camper top was leaving us. 8O Quick flashes as it past the heater helped to produce some added BTU's.
:wink:
Missed Al and Karl but there is always next year.

Rick










'

[mapleman3]

We did have a great weekend,don't listen to Rick, I didn't smell a thing thanks to a stuffed up nose :wink: I saw a few sugarhouses in the area but they sure looked deserted. I'll tell ya, those woods sure have alot of untapped maples in them, enough to make a grown sugarer cry.

Al & Massey Jack this ones for you

http://www.desjardinsmaple.com/Adirondak1.JPG

[lharris1]

We finally got some sugar camp work done. My brother Richard & I picked up our steam hood from Paul Beachy and supplies from Brennamen Store last Friday. Saturday we installed the hood, the steam vent and flue pipe. Our flue is galvanized and we took it down an painted it early in the spring. The new steam hood fit perfectly – can’t wait to see it operate. I only took one picture and it was as soon as we set it on the evaporator. See my photos. I’m now working on the pre-heater.

I just set up my Yahoo photos and I’m not sure how to get the link in, so that may come later.

[Al]

Almost didn't recognize Rick without his hat. Must of been chilly. Who brought the heater?
Well alot of snow damage already this year. Just to many leaves left on the trees for the wet snow we recieved. Lost one maple and a apple tree with numerous limbs down also. Finished hanging the outside door on my tank room/woodshed. I'm now at a 10x32 sugarhouse but thats it. :wink: Of course I want to finish off the inside especially the back room. Still looking for a small wood cookstove but may have to settle for a wood stove for now. Finding a good used one takes alot of running around. What people think is good condition is a bunch of junk. Oh well!! You all have a great day.

[mapleman3]

Al, Rooster bought a heater, the first night I slept in my tent... only got down to 31deg in there, not too bad untill I had to get out at 3:30am to take care of nature's calling... then it was nippy. the next night it was raini ng a bit so I had taken down the tent early and slept in the trailer with the whimpy heater hogs!! :wink: I am surprised Joe hasn't piped in about what he thought of the weekend seeing it's his first time actually staying all night... he usually ducks out early and goes home when we are at the Ya'll come :lol: but he stuck it out the whole weekend although not sure he will next year if the chili is brought out again 8O


Tomorrow morning I'm meeting up with Maplemaniac(bodie)and picking up the woodsplitter, had to rent a trailer, the wheel base on the splitter is much wider than the trailer I have, but with our company discount it's only 40 bucks... not too shabby.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Al,

We love you a ton but you got to quit saying that's it! 8O 8O We know you mean it, but it won't happen! 8O :P :lol: :lol:

Just kidding! :D :D

[Parker]

Al- I have a hot lead on a 5x16 oil fired,,just get that and then you can say thats it,,save on a whole lot of remodiling over the years,,,good luck

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I didn't get anything done today on the sugarhouse as I was preocupied with the 8 point I shot this morning. I shot him about 8:50 this morning after ratttling him up and watching him tear up the woods looking for the intruder and trying to intimidate him. I hit him a little back as he was walking and I gave him to 1:30 before going and looking for him.

He wasn't huge, but a nice buck and definitely the biggest I've ever harvested. He had 15" inside spread and his G2's were 8.5 to 9 inches. Got him caped out this evening and will get him to the taxidermist tomorrow.

Now I have plenty of time to work on syrup stuff as I have waited for years for a buck large enough to mount passing on smaller ones for the past 5! :D :D :D

[brookledge]

Brandon,
Well done :D
Keith

[mapleman3]

Saw the pictures Brandon, she's a beauty! of course your going to have to wash off all that drool from you when you get it mounted!!! :wink: great job, I guess many years was long enough to wait for the good one to come along :D

I picked up the woodsplitter from Boden (maplemaniac) this morning then ran it early evening for a few hours on some real big chunks of wood, sure is nice having a splitter do most of the work!! :lol:

[Parker]

Nice job brandon,,,,Jim- Now you can make big money selling cordwood too, tell me how it works out for you,,just ribbing yah,,,

[Al]

Well you know I like to build things just as much as I like to make maple. :D So I'm not going any larger but still have to finish off some inside work. :D

Congrats on the deer Brandon.

Boy Jim I just don't understand how you could find the time to sell cordwood? :D :D I need to pick up a splitter someday. Maybe next year.

Went down to the new maple store just to look again. Boy is it nice. Tried to sell me a 330 gallon second stainless tank. Did good. Walked out with out it. :D Plastic tanks cleaned up fine. :D

Glad to hear you got a nice trator Parker. I'm sure you'll enjoy it especially the loader. My wife calls mine an expensive wheel barrow. :D Now you need a snowblower for this winter.
Take care,

[mapleman3]

No selling here just burnin!!! it's mine.. all mine!!!!!! hehehe :wink:

[syrupmaker]

Brandon...... sweet ! Good eatin for sure. But in the last picture Mapleman3 sent me you can see the steel wire that attaches the horns to the doe you shot 4 yrs ago. Whats up with that? JUST KIDDINN! LOL

Tried lettin the wind out of a deer myself today but decided it was better spent splitting some more wood. Found out that We have a member close to home that is also a trader member.

Folks, I would like to introduce Maplegate, :wink: took me a bit to find her and it turns out she has stealthfully :oops: been watchin our every move on the Trader. She has even met some of you 8O at my ya'll come shin digs and we never new it was her.

Yes it's true. The wonderful ladie that lets us use her trees and shack is a trader 8) member. She has been helping us split wood and cook for a bunch of years. She even has given us some ideas that changed the way we boil! :twisted:


Now to see if she decides to respond to my calling out?


Rick

[maplegate]

Yes, I have been found out. I have told Rick for a long time that I was on here but he couldnt figure me out. So I gave him a hint this past weekend and got cought.
As he said I have been a member for a couple yrs, just reading and learning. I have been helping Rick, Dick and Roy make syrup from the beginning every year doing a little more. Still haven't done the the job of draining off the syrup though! :( This past year when they were complaining about the fire going to far back on the pan, I suggested that we put the logs in crossway under the front of the pan instead of going with the length of the pans. Wow what a difference this made on the syrup out put. The back pan still got good and hot but the heat was directed under the front pan and the syrup draws increased dramaticly. Sometimes ya just need another way of lookig at the job to see how to improve it. Anyway the idea was a hit and I am so glad I cam up with it.

As Rick said I guess I have met some of you local guys if you have been out to the shack, and I have been to the party in the woods. So Howdy to one and all.

Peg

[mapleman3]

Welcome aboard Peg... Nice to see you here, (The Traveling Massachusettes gang says Hi) :wink: