August Journal

[Russell Lampron]

Well it's August 11th and time to start the monthly journal. I haven't been up to much sugaring releated other than cleaning the RO room and selling a little syrup.

My dad is 95 and we moved him into an assisted care facility last Thursday. I've been busy cleaning out his house since. Most of the big stuff is gone and I'm making good progress cleaning out the cupboards and stuff. I'm going to have a full truck when I go to the dump next Saturday. He can still drive and they are letting him keep his truck. He stopped by this morning to see how things are going and seems to be adjusting well.

[n8hutch]

Hey Russell, thanks again for showing me your Bubbler a few weeks Back, I think that I may try to build one myself this winter. Glad to hear your Dad is doing well. You sure have alot going on..

went Camping this weekend at Maple Woods campground in Johnson vt. It was a nice place. The kids had alot of Fun, this week was one of those hot weeks for syrup sales, its amazing how it ebbs and flows. Summer is slipping away but these cool evenings are nice and I will take it over the hot and humid July that we had.

[maple flats]

We went camping last month, took 3 grand kids with us. They had a blast, lots to do there. We were all in our motor home. Might go again, different camp ground in a week or 2, unless we sell the motor home. We put signs in the windows last week because it looks like I will not be driving it to Alaska and that was why I got it 3 years ago. My wife decided she doesn't want to drive that far and take 8-10 weeks out of summer. I wanted to go and spend at least 3 weeks there. I have a cousin in the oil business who lives in Anchorage and he would let me park at his place and loan me a car to drive around. But mainly we calculated the costs and decided it was not a good fit for our budget. On level ground, good roads the 34'motor home with a 454 V8 gets just over 9 mpg. I guess I should have gotten one with a 9 liter diesel. I had an 84 diesel with a 9 in it back in the 90's that got 14.5 mpg on all trips. Unfortunately those don't meet current emissions stds and adding the required equipment to diesels bring the mpg way down. I think the industry is gaining MPG now days, but those motor homes are out of reach for my bank acct.

[maplenutter butter]

It's been a crazy month for me. I make a lot of sales between now and mid to late September. I've bottled over 300 gallons, made roughly 300 pounds of cream and 80 lbs of sugar. Tomorrow is the last day of packaging products. Then its sell sell sell!! I love this time of year! Then after this big rush I will start again for the Christmas push!! Happy sugaring everyone!!