August Journal

[chipa]

One month closer to sugaring!

[maplekid]

yes one more month closer to phaesant saeson also.and deer season

[Fred Henderson]

Closer to cooler weather and working in the bush. Repairing tubing, putting in new and cutting more wood.

[Sugarmaker]

HOT!
Wood is cut for 2008 Maple season. 10 cord of pallets.
MapleHound hope the knee operation is a success! Youngstown is not to far away form us. You are more than welcome to come to any of the NWPA events.

Speaking of which we just had a great tubing seminar hosted by Gary Bilek our President and given by Jim Cermak (CDL Dealer north of Middlefield OH.) and Les Ober of Ohio Extension office. Would have like to get more producers to these events.
Fair season is upon us and our Association is big into these as fund raisers.
Most monies come from Maple shakes (Awesome) and maple sundaes and maple cotton candy.
Good luck to all those working on maple sugar houses and or improvements this summer.
Still working on maple barbecue recipe. 4th batch may be the best. More maple less other ingredients!
Regards,
Chris

[Parker]

Just TOO HOT to log yesterday afternoon so I took a ride to Bascomes,,,They have ALOT of (new to them)used stuff in the bargin barn,,,picked up some jugs for the last of my syrup

[andyp]

Too hot and dry need rain. Cutting firewood yesterday till noon . Just to hot for that kind of work. Especially for two old men. Need about 1 or 2 cords yet. It will have to wait till it cools down. Ninetys again today, taking the day off .

[Jim Brown]

Cutting 2009 wood, got about 4 cord done need 4 more. '08 is split stacked and covered. Show season and farmers markets are in full swing. Wife and I are doing our best impression of Willy Nelson(on the road again) to another show.
Chris- see you at the CC Fair
Jim

[Russell Lampron]

Too hot for just about everything. It was even too hot to ride the motorcycle (I did anyways), 4100 and counting so far this season. The wood will have to wait until next month.

Russ

[maplekid]

yeah it got into the ninetys today so i worked on one of my model airplanes for 2 or so hours and then went and cut some wood and split it my boots had atleast a half inch of swaet that accumulated. will be getting pictures on my web page monday

[firetech]

We are headed for the county fair. 9 head of sheep are washed,two pigs are on the trailer for the night and washed. So tomorrow is haul in day. This year I will be showing my syrup for the first time ever and I haven't exibited for myself since 1978. I a 4-h project leader in sheep dah and garden crops superintendent. We have a livestock club with +40 members and 9 cloverbuds, what a group. So if any one is in mid Michigan stop by the Shiawasse Fair and look in the sheep barn for Herb or the Sandy Ridge Farm display of Dorsets. Have fun and stay cool this week I won't be near the computer.

[hard maple]

I've got the new 8x14 woodshed filled for the 2008 season. Some of that wood has been cut for three years now. Soon I will start on the 2009 wood supply.
Russ
you are really crankin up the miles. I'm only about half of that! This morning I took a ride up to Keene it was actually nice on those back roads that are shaded by the trees!!! Tomorrow (sat) a bunch of us are heading up to the castle in the clouds and probably a big loop around the lake. Should be a great day for a ride.

[Russell Lampron]

Hard Maple,

My bike will be 1 year old on Aug 6. I currently have just under 7200 miles on it. I save alot of gas by riding it to work instead of driving my truck.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Super hot today cutting wood. Started early this morning and just got back from clearing a lot down the road. I should buy stock in poland spring water after days like today. Hopefully it cools off a bit tomorrow.

[Al]

He everyone, just got done my hours at the Franklen County Field Days here in Vermont. I was promoted to the cotton candy machine this year. It was a little breezey in the sugarhouse so I wore about two bags of candy home! The wife loved it. Checked out the Leader tent. Besides the new pans they have come out with a Food grade 100 gallon open topped tank for $130.00. Looks like a Rubbermaid tank. Didn't get to many samples for grading. Alot of talk about B grade with a med amber taste. Thats not good for making maple creamys. Of course the best part of any work like this is the kids. We may have alot of problems in the world but it's still nice to see that we have a pretty good group of youngsters behind us!
Take care,

[mountainvan]

Al, sent some maple cotton candy my way. My wife may like it too. Had a good weekend of sales. This week is splitting wood for 2009 and maybe going fishing.

[TapME]

sounds like we could use some cooler weather and at least here some rain. Going on 6 weeks with about a half inch. Need to keep the maples happy. Matt, I live about 5 miles from the bottling plant and 3 miles from 6 16" Poland spring wells. Keep on drinking that good water.

[Parker]

WOW- nice to have a littel change in the weather!! Jerry-802 maple and his wife came by today,,gave me the down low on turning Mighty Marvin into an almost INTENS-O-FIRE,,gonna have to hunt up some steel,,spark up the red wrench,Thanks so much for comming by!!!
Now have 8 cords stacked in the sugarhouse, and about that much split and waiting to come in ,,need to split the rest of it,,,,,Thanks agine Jerry!!!

[3% Solution]

Yup got to agree with you Parker, **** nice weather today, but it's still August and you know about the "Dog Days" of August.
I've been over your way the past two weeks (Mondays and Wednesdays and yesterday) teaching a fire class at the fire station.
I would have looked you up but didn't have the xtra time.
Maybe next time.
Get the Mighty Marv soupped up for next spring and crank it!!
Keep us posted about the Mighty Marv.
Stay safe!!

Dave

[Parker]

I saw a fire ranger truck at the fire station sat.?,,,I am about 3 miles from there down rte.127,towards Franklin,,next to the Daniel Webster birthplace, cant miss the sugarhouse stop by any time.

[3% Solution]

Hi all,
Another HHH day, just think in another month the weather will be just right for everything.
Got the SS stovepipe for the new arch on Monday. Got that installed after sweating out about 15 gallons of liquid!!
It's fireable ( is that a word?) right now, but I'll hold off for a day or so.
Alright, now, the steam-away is next, got a few more $$$$ to save up.
I'm like a kid Christmas Eve thinking about that thing!
Everyone stay hydrated!!!!!

Dave

[Pete33Vt]

Same here HHH. But by the calender its starting to go the other way. Things are finally starting to calm down with the land despute and my suagring operation. I am hoping to get the final go ahead this weekend. Then it wood wood wood. I need quite a bit I have some ready but would like to fill the woodshed before hunting season. Plus a few little project to do before snow flys. Then I will be ready. The rig my uncle and I were going to build has been put off for a while. His health took a down hill try this summer and He has been outa comishion for about a mounth now and not sure how much sugaring he will do this year so we will see. Other then than everythings going good.

Stay safe

[Sugarmaker]

Change of subject from Maple.
Just got home from removing a colony of honey bees from the gable end overhang of a house. Fellow beekeeper Charlie Schroeck helped and he brought along a photographer buddy (Jim) so we may get some good shots. The bees got several good shots in too, as I have several pennys taped to my wrist where they stung through the mesh of my glove. We did this in the pouring rain also, to make things worse! Lots of brood but not really a lot of bees or honey. I took the comb down and we used rubber bands to hold it into empty frames in a brood box. If I get some pictures I will try to post them. Yes I know its not maple related but there are several beekeepers on the trader, and honey is almost as good as maple. :)

Regards,
Chris

On a maple note I did build a tubing tool to cut off the fittings and cut tubing.
Father and Son and I traveled to Ohio last saturday for training and tubing supplies. We got a nice tour of Jim Cermacks sugarhouse (AWESOME).

[maplekid]

sugarmaker,what part of ohio were you in or what county

[Mike]

Got the oil tanks filled..Bought 24 rolls of new 5/16 line....hope to have all of the new lines in before november... Saw a dandy 8 pointer at camp last week....Should be a great year......Will be working on the rd next weekend to the sugar house....Need to bring in 8/10 lds of gravel....Had my 30th here at work Aug 1st.......Would of retired this year but I have one more daughter in college...Looks like 2010......Hope every ones having a great summer........Mike

[ennismaple]

Got more 4-seasons lines up in our main bush on the weekend. I've now got the smaller half (about 700 taps) of that bush converted over to 19/64 spouts and semi-rigid tubing. NOw I only need to get the other 900 taps on the "big hill" on health spouts and we'll have a lot less work in the spring!

There's so much prickly ash in the bush I had to wear pants and just about melted away because of the heat! Drank 1/2 gallon of water in 2 hours and was still dehydrated. It still beats stretching lines in February!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just wondering what prickly ash is?? Never heard of it??

[maplekid]

wow looks like only one more post and your at 3000 wvmr

[super sappy]

The lady down the road sold my syrup for 18.00 per qt. ????????????????? HOly COW .You guys can have your bees My eyes are swelling as I type.SWOLEN SUPER SAPPY

[ibby458]

Prickly ash is one of the NASTIEST thorn bushes around. It can grow to 12' in height, and so dense you can't push your way thru it, even if you don't mind getting cut up. Imagine wading thru razor blades - - -

You should be thankful you don't have it there.

[mountainvan]

Had another good weekend at the farm markets. Lots of tourist in the hudson valley this weekend. Picked up a bakery this weekend, another 100+ gals of syrup a year. SS, $18 a quart is great. Too bad we all can't get that. Maybe in a couple years!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

After the 2008 presidential election, we might be getting $ 20 a quart out of it by 2010 if the liberals have their way.

[maplekid]

well you got to 3000 now they should add a new rank for over 3000. congrats wvmapler thats by far the most post ive seen

[super sappy]

The lady that is selling syrup for me had made a mistake in labeling. It went on the shelf at 18.00 per qt. We went back and changed the price but I still shake my head that people bought it. I have made up my mind that I do not want to get into the bee business.Mutiple stings around the eyes was the deal breaker for me. I will continue to purchase honey for maple and honey gift boxes. Got lots of slab wood cut on sunday.The new cupola is just about finished all I need now is my new evaporator,More tubing, and trees,A set of forks for the tractor.An outhouse, and a bikini model and Ill be all set. -Super sappy (PS How did your gardens do this year? We seemed to have an excellent year with everything planted except peppers.)

[maplekid]

did you ever sell the 2x4 you had supersappy?

[ennismaple]

Just wondering what prickly ash is?? Never heard of it??

All the small stuff behind the good-lookin' guy on the 4-wheeler is prickly ash. It's responsible for a lot of scars on the legs and arms of my family. If you pasture cattle on the land they keep it from getting big enough to scratch you. Unfortunately, the cattle do more damage than they fix so we have to cut it either with the bush hog or the brush saw.

[royalmaple]

Had a fun time last night at the Patriots Game at the gilette stadium in foxboro. Too bad it poured for the first quarter and good steady rain for the second quarter. Russ lampron went down for the event. Whole different game 5 rows up from the field.

Splitting some wood today with my nieces, at any age the help is appreciated.

[super sappy]

Maple kid - I still have it. Put it in storage in my neighbors barn.Royal maple- LIVE NFL football is AWESOME. $7.50 for a beer sucks.How is the " new stadium.I saw a bunch of concerts at the old one never an nfl game though.My NFL happens at the Meadowlands.I remember a real bad parkinglot at foxboro. It took me 8 hours to get out of there after a grateful dead concert one year. Have to go, stone delivery at the sugarhouse today.-SS

[royalmaple]

The new stadium is great. I really doubt there are bad seats there. But when I get the opportunity to go I take it. The seats we have access to are on the visitor side, 40 yd line and 5 rows up from the bench. You can talk to the team if you like, your that close.
It is quite an experience.

I haven't parked in the stadium parking lot yet, we normally get raped across the street somewhere. It was 50 bucks the other night, normally I thought we paid 30-40.

[maplekid]

ss did you get a new evaporator?

[Russell Lampron]

Just got back from a wild weekend. It started out at Matt (royalmaple) Roys house where we met up to go to the Patriots game Friday night. From there I rode over to Corinth VT for a pig roast. Had an excellent time at both places. Now it's time to rest up a little and get ready to go back to work tomorrow. Thank you again Matt for inviting me to the game and letting me sleep over.

Russ

[mountainvan]

Had another great weekend of sales. Almost out of syrup again. Maybe 15 gals left in the barrels. So I'll be heading up to NH again soon. Found a used delaval pump, maybe for free, so I'm planning vaccum in another bush for next year.After seeing how well it works, I don't think my wife will give me too hard of a time!!

[TapME]

We did some tailgating 3 years ago at a Pat vs Miami game, what an awesome experience. Had 50 yd on the Pats side 25 rows up in rain at 35 degrees, and it didn't matter with all the antifreeze in our system. Boy the smells of all the different foods cooking in the parking lot was fantastic and the trades that you can do are great too. Great time and the price was right too. I'm glad you had a good time.

[royalmaple]

I forgot to mention, russ and I did a trial on a compressor motor for vacuum.

The other night I picked up a small old piston pump compressor with a 1/4 hp electric motor on it. Plugged it in and it ran fine. Covered up the inlet side and put a vacuum guage on it, got a good tight seal on it and anyone want to guess the inches of mercury it maxed out at?

Russ you are not allowed to vote... :-P

I have no idea how many cfm's it will pull or how long it can run without over heating but for a small bush it might be worth considering, hint hint.

[TapME]

It's not a canister type vac so it has to be more than 2.5". Royalmaple you gave us a hint, so it probably pulled 16" but she was getting warm in the process. That's my guess and I'm sticking to it.

[Russell Lampron]

TapMe you are half right it is more than 2.5".

Russ

[Parker]

Looks like this is one heck of a seed year,,where I an working the oaks-beeches and maples are loaded.

[3% Solution]

Parker,
Just might be mother natures way of getting some food to her critters for a hard winter.
What cha think of this weather, good for logging?
It's good for pounding nails.
I live for this weather.
Have a great day folks!!

Dave

[Fred Henderson]

When there is a lot of nuts and berries for the wild critters it is said that it will be an easy winter. Meaning easy for critters and hard for humans.

[royalmaple]

Tapme, 26 inches is what we recorded.

[TapME]

I did a test on my small compressor and from the sounds of the motor and pump, my impression is that it would not last long. Some kind of valve would have to be in place to allow or keep it at 16". Still working on the pump and lining up 150 more taps. may look for a sugar bush of 150 or more. Thanks for the test that you and Russ did on vacuum, I'm sure that it will help the small guy in getting more sap from fewer trees, or more sap from more trees. Have I mentioned how great a tool that the Trader is in finding answers.

[Russell Lampron]

When Matt and I did the test we only plugged a vacuum gauge over the inlet to the compressor head and took a reading. I don't think that we let it run for 5 minutes. It didn't even have time to get warm so we don't know how long it would run that way before it overheated. You could regulate the vacuum with a ball valve that you could crack open to let in enough air to keep it cool and maintain the vacuum level you wanted. It looks like a compressor head can be used as a vacuum pump and that it would be a better way to get vacuum to a small amount of taps than a shop vac. Matt had that one given to him.

Russ

[TapME]

sounds like a small compressor will work. What type was it and how large? Belt driven or direct drive and size of motor? just curious.

[royalmaple]

It is an oldie, not sure of the brand. But piston type pump, with v-drive belt from electric motor to pump head. It is pretty small, not sure but probably had an 80 cu ft tank that it charged in its former life.


You talked me into it, I just took some pics.

http://www.diecastwarehouse.com/compressor.jpg

http://www.diecastwarehouse.com/compressor1.jpg

http://www.diecastwarehouse.com/compressor2.jpg

Quiet as a mouse too...

I had it running for about 20 mins and not even above room temp. There are air scoops on the pulley on the pump head so it throws a little bit of air across the pump as it turns, like the ones on the sp-22.

[TapME]

How many taps do you think the pump will vac Matt?

[Mike]

****. I run 20" of Vaccum and it works great....Thats on 5500 ft of pipe with 800 taps and ill be adding 500 more this year.......No dry line....One of the best sugar makeres up here says your moneys in the woods.....Small leaks can kill ya.......

[royalmaple]

Lou-

No idea, I guess you'd either have to try it or figure out the cfm's it is capable of pulling, you need 1 cfm to start then typically 1 cfm per 100 taps.

I don't have a cfm-o-meter.

[PA mapler]

Back to the bees again, we were surveying on a hill up Bolivar Drive yesterday and came across a honey bee hive in an old pine trunk that had fallen down. I've been kinda following the whole honeybee-thing with interest, and was glad to see at least some "wild" bees are still hanging in there.

Sugarmaker- know anyone over here that might be interested in it?

[mountainvan]

I had a busy/interesting week. Cut and split another 4 or 5 cords of wood. Dropped 3 trees behind my house. The first two went where I wanted them, but the third proved a bit more difficult. It was a dead elm leaning over the house, so I tied a rope 3/4 of the way up, put my son on the pulling end( up hill and far enough so that it would'nt land on him. He's 16 and taller than me, yep I don't like that at all!), I cut the wedge, do the plunge cut, put a felling wedge on the downhill side, cut the back hinge, and there it goes in the right direction! It gets hung up up top!! I go to the rope with my son, we give the rope some truly heroic pulls, the tree comes lose, starts to go toward the house.... We give it one more big tug and it swings away from the house! At this point my son decides he is no longer interested in the holding of the rope, so he let go of the rope. You guessed it, I didn't. I flew over the mountainside attaining a cruising altitude of roughly 10-15ft. At this point I decided to sacrifice my head to save my body. Bounced a couple of times, my head decided the rest of me should get in on the fun, and came to a stop in some sort of a lump shape. My son yells down,"are you ok dad". I reply, after feeling no serious pain, " I'm ok, get me a beer". He got the beer, a labatts, which I drank still somewhat in a lump on the mountain, got up, picked up my saw, and finished dismembering that evil elm tree!! It will go to make the best maple syrup in the known universe. I did have a helmet on, otherwise I would be even dumber next week than this week. Yesterday I bottled 30 gals, which I hopefully will sell this weekend. That's it from the Catskills until I pull some other dumb stunt.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Van,

Maybe you have nine lives, is that # 2??

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Check this out and I would like to hear what others have to think about this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Maple-Syrup-Evaporator_W0QQitemZ140151625544QQihZ004QQcategory Z20474QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[maplekid]

wow that is wicked looking. i bet that cranks out the gph with the fire going straight thruogh the tubes. pretty inovative

[Russell Lampron]

By looking at the sellers address I think WF Mason is the builder. It looks like a good design as well.

Russ

[royalmaple]

That is bill.

Neat design. I'm sure he has tried it,but I wonder how well the fire will be drawn through the tubes, vs going around the pan? Flames might take the path of least resistance? Maybe if you had a blower on this it would help force the heat into the tubes?

Regardless looks like he is onto something.

Bill better get to the USPTO.

[fred]

I Dont Think It Will Boil Much More Than A Flat Pan. The Restriction In The Tube Is Too Much And I Dont Think The Heat Will Go In As Much As Go Around. At This Point With Technology If There Was A Faster Or Better Way Than A Flue Or Max. Surface Area It Would Have Been Out There Already

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I didn't realize it was Bill and wouldn't want to throw off on anything he makes as it all seems to be first quality but I think that it would be much harder to clean.

Sure would be interesting to see how the fire and heat pulls through those pipes??

[Jim Brown]

You got to give Bill an 'A' for being creative and and who knows the darn thing may work really GOOD! Iwould be interested in hearing from the person who buys one and uses it.

Jim

[TapME]

Seems that he has the interest to try new ways of doing things, who knows what the large manufactures are doing for research if any at all. Keep up the great work. Sounds like a cross between a steam-way and flues. I would sure be interested in meeting and talking with the builder, maybe the maple trader myth busters would like a meeting too.

[RileySugarbush]

I think it might work great. It's basically the same as a boiler for a steam engine. Those were optimized for heat transfer efficiency in the 1800's! The advantage in this application is the sap is at atmospheric pressure instead of 100psi like the boiler water. That allows thin wall tubes for good conductive heat transfer. If you are worried about which way the flue gasses g, reducing the gap around the sides will force more through the tubes.

[mountainvan]

Looks like the turbo oil fired rig made by waterloo-small. I think that has tubes for the flame to go through in the flue pan. Brandon, I think I'm on life 6 or 7. I did some crazy stuff when I was young in Ohio/Kentuckey/ Wv. Bottled 15 gals so far today, trying to get ahead so I can go fishing this week.

[Dave Y]

Theres a fella in new york Makin pans like those also. His Name is Scott Lester.

[mapleman3]

Hello everyone... long time, been real busy with the family this summer, lots of cub scout and boy scout stuff... my son Jimmy (12) and I just finished a 5 day 45 mile backpacking trip on the long trail in VT, starting at rt 140 in wallingford and headed north over killington to brandon gap on rt 73 Goshen?
it was a great trip, We also opened up our barn more for fun with a 10foot screen and projector for watching movies in full surround... needless to say I'm out there too much watching the Red Sox games with the guys!! lets see the pool is green from neglect and I am scouting out a new Bush... time to get out of the bucket business!! So now it's get ready for the Ya'll come... kids back in school tomorrow!! yahoo!!!

Oh and the snow flies soon !!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Take it easy on the "snow flies soon" stuff. I'm having a new rear tire put on my Harley today and want to put on 2 or 3000 more miles before I put it away for the winter. I've got close to 8700 miles on it now.

I've still got some wood to cut up and split and then saw it up and get it in before snow. I should be able to get some of that done this weekend. After the wood is in the leaves should be off of the trees and it will be time to repair and improve the tubing situation.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ you only need two wheel barrows full of wood now with your set up to make close to 100 gallons. Are you getting wood ready for 2020?

You definately got the right wood to syrup ratio.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt I have about 1 wheel barrow load more to cut and split for the coming season. I used 1/2 a wheel barrow more last season than the season before because of all of the small runs we had. Low fuel usage, just one of the advantages of owning an RO machine.

Russ

[Maplewalnut]

Speaking of splitting wood. Buyer beware on MTD brand log splitters. I have one about 3 years old and the hydraulic pump went. No big deal or so I thought. Evidently MTD's configuration requires you to buy only MTD parts and not any other pump. The price for a replacement MTD pump.... $638 Ouch! More than half of what I paid for it new. Luckily, I had most of my wood split and was just cleaning up some older piles of rounds. Time to get the maul out.

Anyone else have such a problem.?

[gearpump]

Jim that section of the long trail is one of my favs. I finished the LT a couple of years ago. I miss all the planning and weeklong backpacking trips. If my life ever slows down I want to do it all over again! For the moment my Nov. wedding plans are keeping us plenty busy. Bottled up the table favors this weekend, learned not to heat up syrup with shorts on! Still have to cut up 25 cords of wood for the outdoor stove... oh dear. Anybody want to come to a woodsplitting bachelor party?!

marty

[royalmaple]

Marty-

I'll be over if you are going to have beverages and entertainment.

[TapME]

here too. As long as its not on the week of Sept 12th, that's my fair and a lot to do for it. Parked about 12,000 cars in four days last year.

[super sappy]

Jim- did you get cought in any of the nasty storms last week up there? We were camping in Danby on Sat nite and a good one went to the north of us. I finally sold my evaporator ,Talked to maple pro and they said that the new one was on its way. I been spending time this month splitting wood with the ax, getting stung by bees (4 times in one ear last friday after dark.) I want light speed on my next tractor to get away from those buggers. I like the Idea of a wood splitting bachelor party ,I will run it by my wife and see if I can have one too.-Super Sappy

[Russell Lampron]

Marty you can count me in too. Just let me know when you want to do it.

Russ

[maplekid]

ss i was picking apples and steped right in the nest and 12-15 of them went right up my pant leg.

[TapME]

Maplekid, I bet that was the fastest 100 yard dash that you ever ran. Hopefully nothing important was affected, have to have future maplers to keep the business going.

[maplekid]

boy today its really hurting and on the count of football practice its hurting worse. nothing got afffected but my leg it is swollen.really need to do something about the bees though. thats why i love sugaring when you go to put a tap in you dont have to worry about bees going up your pant leg.by the way i wasnt trying to tap the apple tree. the snakes are bad here i restacked the wood pile and had 3-4 come right out the snakes dont bother me but bees im dead scared of

[mountainvan]

I had fun with nature thursday. Went for a run up the road, got about a mile from the house and up on a large rock pile was a black bear, a very large black bear. I yelled and clapped and it just sat there. I went another 1/2 mile up the road, turned around, and on the rocks the bear was still there. I yelled, it woofed and clicked it's teeth. I ran faster and looked for a tree to climb, it just watched me run down the road. Talk about a cardio work out! Made a bunch of cream and sugars for the weekend. Labor day weekend started early here, sales have been very good at the saphouse the last couple of days. Beautiful cool weather in the mountains= lots of folks from the city up here= good syrup sales= paying for my wifes new car!
MK, watch the bees in Ohio. My right ear is a liitle irregular from getting stung many times when I was your age growing up in Ohio. My friend and I were stupid enough to put a stick in the hive, they don't like that too much.

[tuckermtn]

We have had major bear activity out here in BC also...its been very dry so most of their wild food source isn't doing too well this year. They are mostly black bears, and so far they seem to be coming into town munching on folks landscape trees and the gardens...we had one climbing in our woodpile two days ago and my 5 year old daughter startled 3 young adult bears in the neighbors garden yesterday. Probably the most noticeable sign is their are good sized piles of bear sh*t all over town. One or two piles per block seems about the average.

Noticed quite a few silver maples out here being used as ornamentals...not sure if there are the temperature fluxuations here like there are back home-or how sweet the sap is- but if its anywhere near 2%, I might just have to do a little BC backyard sugaring...

-tuckermtn