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Last night the great horned owl came back and landed on our sugarhouse right at dark.We hadnt seen him since last year at this time. I think this is a good omen for us if you believe in that sort of thing. I am a little rusty on my horned owl but I think he said" hoot hoot BIG SAP hoot hoot." -ss
SS-
That's pretty $hitty. I'd run a length of electric fence wire and charge it and connect it to something shiney and I'd leave it out in the open. Just asking them to come back. Give them a good jolt when the hook onto it.
Boy if you had a deer trail camera I'd se that up too and get a shot of who's doing in.
You can get a stealth camera at wal mart, just takes 35mm film for not much money. I'd get one and set it up and bait the bastards in. Then go on a non traditional hunting trip.
just make sure the camera doesn't use a flash or the camera might be missing also.
Sorry to hear that the low-lifes struck again.
If you were a mind to a fella may just want to load up the 12gauge with rocks salt and a thermos of coffee and take up residents there for a night. I can still remember the sting of the salt when I upset the last corn stalk at the end of the field, the tractor lights came on and the 12 barked And that was 40 years ago LOL
Jim
well i think the electric wire id the best with thr rock salt what if you shot them in the chest and have a weak hart your the one in trouble for shoting them but with the wire its there falt for going there but the best way is to have the wire at knee level and that would really get them out of there also charge the door to the building were they put the bords with nails and take those bords with nails and barrey them under the snow on there walking paths
supper sappy,
Sorry to hear about the tank incident. That really stinks. I also read your post about the owl. I hope your right about the good omen. A few weeks ago Zach & I were working on my new property and looked up and seen a huge Bard owl perched on a maple branch watching us. I don't know how long it was there, but we never seen it fly in. I hiked back to my truck and grabbed my camera. when I got back to within about twenty feet of the tree it flew off.
Update: Tapped Saturday, test boiled the new evaporator yesterday. All went well. Sap ran good today. Oh yeah, one of the best runners and one of the fullest buckets was at the tree where the owl was. Good Omen. I say yes.
BIGSAP update- Just finished up and came in the house. Had a pretty spectacular day. No sap when I went to bed last night at about 10 pm. It was still thawing out. Woke up at 430 and went out to check it quick in my shorts and the releaser was dumping regular. Looked in the tanks and there was maybe 6 700 gallons. Looked at my lines going into the house and one of the fittings was ready to blow out and loose my sap. Called my dad and told him to come over so if I was standing there holding it I wouldnt be stranded. Fixed it and the sap really started flowing. Dad and I worked all day to make things operational. I walked the lines once and felt they were pretty good. By 11 am all 4 bulktanks were 8" from the tops. Sugarmasters man came right over and hooked up the ro. Richard and his guys are terrific. The support theyve given me has been second to none. I consider them more like family than an equipment dealer. He got the ro going and it was concentrating at 9%. Thats what it came to so I told him good enough. Started boiling in the afternoon. Took it easy to get some confidence and found it very easy to take the syrup off. My neighbor, also a sugar maker came over and helped me put the ro through the wash and rinse and showed me how to filter press. Had a little accident and used some light weight plastic line by mistake instead of the heavy line that came with it. It looked the same but it was flimsy and on the second 12 gallons blew out and Sprayed Roger and I with hot syrup. Might have lost a gallon I dont know but no one hurt so thats the main thing. Also Tom from the trader came by and his friend so I had lots of support. Everyone left about nine and I boiled till it was done. Talked a lot with Matt and he helped me a lot on the phone. Any way near as I can tell made 49 or 50 gallons of syrup I think. Its in a bunch of containers becouse I couldnt press after I was alone so Ill do it tomarrow. My nighbor Jim asked me what the grade was. I told him I didnt know becouse I dont have a grading kit. Told him if it tasted good and was at density I was happy. He said he thought it was close to fancy so sounds good to me. It did taste good. When I got that syrup all over me it turned to candy. My whole pants are maple candy. Think ill eat them for breakfast. Thats the rundown on bigsap monday. From here henceforth Im calling every feb 18th BIGSAP monday. Today was the first time ive ever really ran a real evaperator by myself. I think 50 gallons was a pretty **** good first day. Theeron
Good work TheROn,
Sounds like you had a good day and didn't make any critical mistakes. It must feel good now to know that you can run all of the equipment that you have got. With all of the stuff you've bought you don't have a grading kit? At least they are not to expensive. Have fun with the BIGSAP.
Russ
Russ- I was supposed to get it but it didnt come in yet. Was kind of the least of my concerns with all the big stuff I had to figure out. I figure whatever syrup I make I can figure it out later. Im sellin it to Richard probly hell let me know what it is. Hes as honest as they come. Theron
Theron, 50 gallons on your first day boiling not bad! Glad to hear things went well. Sugarmaster and his crew sound like a good bunch of guys. Too bad more dealers weren't like them.
As for BIGSAP Monday as a Holiday I say go for it! Of course it would be a PA thing as here in Maine Matt, myself and the rest of us are getting ready to celebrate "BIGSAP MARCH" that one will be a month long holiday! LOL
Mark