LOL Thats GREATTT gotta love it!!!!
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LOL Thats GREATTT gotta love it!!!!
Theron- his bark is bigger then his bite. He is a tough guy to keep up with that is for sure. He probably didn't know what to do with that mountain air with all that sea salt in his viens. Sounds like you are on your way.
another day locked out of the bush 30 mph winds temp +3 and falling. hopefully monday or tuesday
RICH
Wow Rich lets talk about global warming. I got the roof on the sugarshack yesterday and will move the sand in next weekend place the cement slabs and have the floor completed. Then I can set the evaperator ,level and start rebricking it. Yaaa!!!!!!!!! It was a good day to go to the antique tractor club meeting and a 4-H meeting tonite. Keep warm looks like at least 2 more weeks to tapping.
YES FIRE TECH
thats what i figure around feb 24
RICH
Gotta Love the 'global warming' on a day like this up here near the lake:)
Gary R, his cousin and I froze our bejibbers off in the sugarhouse today. I thought I was going to have to fill the rig with water and fire it up just to take the chill off!
Tapping next Sat and Sunday unless the weather man is wrong.
BTW all the tubing is staying up this year. Even some trees falling on the lines have not pulled any connections apart. The tensioning system worked great on the tubing.
Chris
Chris- I looked at the loop/tensioning system in the photos...looks slick..are you planning on capping the end that is hooked onto the "loop"? Like the ability to take down each year, as we have a few tote set-ups that have come down each year...
thanks for getting me thinking..
Tuckermtn,
The end with the hook is a dead end line coming from a green CDL one way tee. So that line with the hook will not have sap in it. The CDL hook is heavy duty. It is meant to take a drop into it, but I am not using it that way. Seems to be working so far. I did some quick adjusting in 3 sets yesterday and snugged the lines to remove potential sags in about 10 seconds.
I have also developed a tensioning system so the line from the last tree to the gathering container ( 39 gallon) stays tight.
Couple more years and I should have this tubing stuff figured out.
Chris
Chris
What is the longest span that you have between trees with this system?
Andyp
AndyP,
My guess is 40 feet max. I have never put a tape to it. I did have one spot that was 75 feet last year and I could not get the tubing tight with out a sag. I just did not have enough drop in that distance. So I just passed the 75 distance tree by this year.
Chris
Larry,
Absolutely - feel free to stop when you are in the area. we are located about 20 minutes south of Lexington. You can call me at the house at 859-858-8975. Where is Hebron, NY?
Andrew
Back to the motherland. And its certainly cold. I guess either the guy upstairs didn't want me to leave PA or didn't want me to go in the first place.
Boy oh boy, delay after delay. I also think sunday is pilot training day. Had some very interesting take off's and landings. I guess the wind didn't help much but one time I was on the window seat and the wing, and I could have swore we were about 1/2" from hitting the wing on the runway then slam on the right side tires, then corrected it and pounded the left side then did a nose dive on the front. I could have sworn we did a bunny hop. I wish I had some captain on me. Could have taken the edge off.
Then I took a cab to my van that had to be towed since my wife's office needed to get plowed out from the storm and I was in the way. On the way I learned all I needed to and about 300x more about Allah. Unreal. Not the right mindset to be taking in all this info on 1.5 hours of sleep. So I learned that since I am not muslim I am S.O.L when it comes to the afterlife. So I guess I'll just keep on making syrup till then and have to enjoy this life as much as possible. Maybe I'll convert.
Brandon, not sure about kevin. I talked to him a week or so ago. He was getting ready for sugaring. But I got the feel he's pretty much over it. Maybe he just needs to splash some syrup on the arch doors and get the smell going.
Theron has really an amazing set up really nice trees great slope and probably the nicest sugarhouse on record. And for a first time set up on tubing, he's got it covered. I think he took it too much to heart when I gave him some pointers on sags etc. He's got too many man hours making that 99.9% I was just trying to get him that extra .01%. And across the road is something that people just get to dream about. Absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything like it. Go and get permission all signed and a lease worked out buddy. Those are serious trees.
We were trying too hard to get sap to run, the days I was there it was just too cloudy and just not right. I wish he would have let me stay up the first night and get the pump working, we would have had big sap for sure.
We definately punished the checklist of to-do's. Glad we got the bush tapped in, vacuum, tanks and evap all set up and running. That does boil nice. I could tell theron was a little apprehensive when I said that's an ok, boil but we can get it going much harder. Then I got the deer in the head lights look. He got the hang of it not too much after that.
I will say that is the first time I have run one of the new CDL RO's and it is top notch. I like the way they have everything set up, valves and wash tank. Very nice design. It is pretty much bullet proof. The instructions on the face are flawless. I think they could have spent a bit more time on instructions for first time set up. I think someone with no clue could get a little turned around but all in all it is great.
It was nice to have it to pump sap into the feed tank. We didn't have enough sap to run the RO and boil, so I just hooked it up and ran it like a very expensive sap pump to get sap into the feed tank. And maybe that would be par for the course at therons. He may want to buy another RO for actual RO'ing and keep this one as a feed pump. We figured he's closing in on 100 bucks/ tap. Not a bad average. Kidding.....
Great trip, you have a fantasic set up, super nice family and you can be very proud of what you did. You are on the right track for sure. You didn't need me but I'm sure the extra set of hands helped. You do need my push though, the get it done pretty it up later approach to sugaring.
Took a ride over to meet the king himself. Sugarmaster Richard and his left hand man Todd. Nice to shoot the bull with those guys. He's hardcore for sure. I bet if he wanted to be right there with us working all night, I could tell he's got sugar in his veins.
Glad I could come down and do all I could to sabotage his operation. Wait till he finds the 1 1/4 mainline I cut in 1/2 just before the releaser. That will be a handy leak to find during the big run.
I'd do it again tomorrow if I had the time. Ok, now it's time to go working by myself and see what I can get done. Probably not going to move any mountains today. Just get into the swing of things.
Matt, Glad you made it home ok and you are not wearing a turban That would look funny with no beard. Next time you get a hankering for some warmer climate., I will be putting on another 1500 taps next year and could use a hand from some one that knows what he is doing.
Andrew,
I'll do that. Not sure when I'm headed that way next. Hebron is roughly 1 1/2 hours north of Albany. About half way between New York City and Montreal Right on the Vermont border. Off the beaten Path. Need a good map to find it. That's a good thing in my opinion.
Larry
Dave-
Sure thing. I'll let you know. You better start resting up cause if I do come we are talking marathon work days.
Matt, You may be younger than me but I have been known to work more than one man in to the ground. so if you come down make sure you bring your Wheaties with you and the captain to help you carry them. :)
Matt, nice lob helping out a fellow sugarer . Look forward to talking to you in the future. Lou
Theron and Matt,thats was something else the other night. I dont know how you guys did it for so many days. i was there only one night and i was exhausted the next two days. i wish i would of stopped over sooner because i would have loved to help out and talk some more about maple syrup. Hey Theron i was also wondering if i could take up that offer on useing some of those tubing tools to finish up some lines. If so let me know a good time to stop over. Thanks Tom
Tom- We were real happy to have your help and you can come over and borrow tools anytime. Just stop over anytime you want. I should be working in the woods all weekend and just let me know what you need. Some of them Ill need this weekend but well figure something out. Theron
Theron,
You are working in the woods all weekend? I thought Matt got you ready 100%.
Are you putting more taps? I know, you are hitting the woods across the road from the house, aren't you?
Dave- Im actually still working at the sugarhouse but im about done there I think. Just some more cleaning and plumbing. I think im going to tap some cull trees up in my young stand I know im going to cut out. Nothing special but if it doesnt really run for another week now maybe I can put some more taps in. Im not going across the road. Thats a real big project. I really need to make sure that at the sugarhouse im 100% but I think ill have that done. Theeron
As I saw posted here some where the only way to be 100% ready is to tap, then you have to be ready
I think we all could put in an extra hundred or so if we didn't spend so much time typing on the Trader.
But...what fun is that?
Brian,
I did put in an extra couple of hundred. And still found time to waste on the trader. But you are right about the fun. If I put in all the taps I could I would have to quit working. Then I would be poor. Wait ! I am a poor and I think sugaring might have something to do with it.
Figured out my trees for this year and it looks like I'll be over 200 taps. What's the problem you say....look at my signature for the size of my rig.
I'm taking a play out of Theron's BIG SAP playbook, good thing I get an extra week vacation this year. What the heck you only live once and I just can't stop......is there a maple trader hotline for addiction?
My wife suggested I start a chapter of Maplehaulics anonymous...
"Hello, I'm Eric and I only made 102 gallons last year...."
flying home (thanks to the frequent flier miles) in a couple of weeks to get my fix...
Maplewalnut- We'd of been the kind of guys that went for it in the gold rush. Its the anicipation of the big run that revs you up. I see a valley full of maple and all I can think is man that would be fun to tap the whole thing. See how big a stream you get. Theron
My wife Cheryl has summarized this maple issue pretty well for me several times!
She tells me in a, don't tap any more trees tone of voice-
"YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!"
She may be correct. If its not the trader and working on maple stuff then its the trader? Hum maybe I do have a problem? Whats that hot line number? Are there good folks standing by to help us 24-7 during the sugaring season?
Alone in Albion
We are here for you brother.
For all you "mapleholic's a tidbit of information. My Quebec equipment supplier told me yesterday that their syrup stash is at 0, zip, nothing. He told me that client of his makes 80% of his product into sugar, candy and butter and he can't find light syrup anywhere. He said to get as many taps in as possable and make as much as possable.
Now isn't that like giving a alcoholic a bottle of wine!!!
Maybe there might be a "PROFIT" this year????? No, I'll just spend it on more equipment.
Better hope it is a banner year or the prices are going to go thru the roof and kill the market and we will be back to trying to give it away again.
Brandon,
That is a sugar maker's outlook if I've ever heard one. "Prices will be so high that the market will go to crap." We are like economists; it is always doom and gloom on the horizon.
Not trying to be a pesimistic, but the economy is not real stable now and maple is not a neccessity. Higher prices are going to kill demand if they get too high. The one thing that will help is that maple is an organic product and we need to push that end of it as people are getting more organic conscience.
Jon,
Thanks I may need some help!
I finished fabricating my draw off station frame to hold a sst container and ball valve combo. I need to paint it.
Does anyone draw off into a container with a ball valve? Then empty that into a bucket, then dump syrup into filters in another tank? Wasn't sure if the syrup might cool to much to filter well? I can always go back to the cone filter directly under the draw off too. Or draw directly into a bucket/s then move syrup to the filter tank.
Doesn't look like and sap flow for another week?
Chris
We won't hear from theron anytime soon on here. He got over 2000 gallons of sap today.
Big boiling session tonight.
Matt,
Thought it was a lot quieter here tonight. :) I just knew something was up. Did he have it shipped in?
We do not have any syrup weather at this time.
Chris
Or did someone hook up one of his mainlines to a stream??
Sure sounds like something is up! Rumur around here last year was Matt was still making syrup while the rest of us were mowing our lawns! Then we heard DEP was concerned that the Saco river was running way to low below the town of Buxton, ME but levels were normal upstream. Last week wasn't Matt at Therons getting him ready for BIGSAP! I'd be checking those sap filters for signs of brook trout! LOL
Mark
Matts messing with you guys. Ive just been working a lot getting ready. No end it seems. Id like to get some more taps in but ive got to get everything shipshape. Im hoping for the big sap monday. 39 sunday 30 at night and 43 monday. Hopefully BIGSAP. Hopefully have the sugarhouse shipshape and I can start boring more holes. Theeeron
Mark-
Last year was the truth, no one believed it but anyone was welcome to come over and see. I think we'll all be boiling pretty long this year. Well into april I bet. If I could RO the saco river and get some sugar out of it I'd do it.
Theron does have a nice little brook right behind the sugarhouse. And I just felt pretty bad that he didn't need a single sap ladder to get that hill of maples to the sugarhouse. Or this "shed" he keeps talking about.
Theron, might want to test the sugar % in those tanks before you boil it just in case.