Maple creek 2008

Weather got up to 49 deg. today with rain,,,hrd to keep pulling hitches knowing its runninging,smelled like sugaring season,,,,,time to start all things maple in a serious fashion,,,,,plow out tanks,,walk lines,,,,set up pumps,,get adaptors,,much to do,,,,,,,,will try to be tapped out by 3-1-08,,,,will start watching the forcast closer,,,,,,,,,,early for me just yet.....last boil last year was 4-23-07...........but sure I would be making a barrel or two tonight if I were tapped.......................PRIORITIES

Parker,
Sounds like you have a pile of work to do. Keep us up to date on those 2000 taps.

Chris

OOHHHH MMMMYYYYY,,,,,,I went over to Rte.11 yesterday afternoon,strapped on the snow shoes and took a hike,,,the snow is up to most of the mainlines and a lot of the lateral lines,,,I dug some of the lines out of the snow,,,,was about 3' deep,,,deeper in spots,,,,I know it is deeper in Hill,,,,I will do the littel I can to get ready with this deep snow but here I would like to see it settel a littel befor I do too much more in the woods,,,will start getting the sugarhouse ready next,,snows not to deep inside,,,,

Parker did you find the 12pack on the top at RT. 11?

Parker,

Good news, 6' more coming Friday night. I'm planning to tap 1 location Sunday and start playing around with the vacuum.

Matt- I have not put one out there for this year yet,,,,,just a littel too cold,(nothing more dicouraging than a frozen can after a long-tough hike),pretty much wait till we are tapping,,,might go with a 30pack this year,,,real encouragment to check for leaks,,,,

Mark- 6'!!!!! That would really slow me down,,,,,,,,,

Thinking I might just get started on hoit road and putney hill late next week (southern exposure),,,,but it really depends on the weather,,,not too much sugaring weather on the 15 day forcast,,,,,but I still have PLENTY to do to get ready,,,,

Now I have to figure how to get the 8N up from the sugarhouse,,got it stuck down there last storm (wet heavy snow-slush),,I left it down there overnight thinking I might be able to drive it up over the frozen tracks (yeah-right) the next morning,,,,,,,,next morning snow had slid off the sugarhouse roof a lot further than normal,,filling the road the tractor is at the end of (70 feet long) with 2-3 feet of snow which froze hard as concrete,,,, YEAH! I thought I would be bringing my skidder back to town this weekend and plow the homestead out,,,but looks like I might stay logging where I am for another week,,,,I have a buddy with a kaboto with serious tire chains on the other side of town,,,,might move him over for a day,,,,,,,,,

Parker,

I discovered after a few years of trying that the old Ford's are a summer tractor. Between the 6 volt system, 2 wheel drive and lack of weight on the rear end it is just not worth the fight.

Ops, meant 6" not 6'. Now that would be discouraging. I'm tapping Sunday as I only have 1 day off after that for the next 2 weeks. Better to have them in the trees and frozen than the other way around.

If I'm picking up on it right; you put a few boiling sodas at the top of your lines to encourage and reward you for checking for leaks. BRILLIANT.

I have my logging job in Warner done and am moving my skidder home to plow out(pull the 8n over the hill) mon-tues.,,then to Rte.11 for a couple of day of logging-plowing there.
Plan on trying to have Hoit Road and Putney Hill Road bushes tapped by end of week,(600?total),Went to Hoit road yesterday afternoon and shoveled out the tank (3+feet of snow and about6"of ice on tank cover) was very suprised that the cover on the tank did not colapse under the weight,,,once tank was shoveled out strapped on the snowshoes and grabbed my square pointed long handeled shovel (long handeled 490D) and struck off,,,,,Walked the entrie system and dug most of it out,,,found one maple top (big) over a lateral mainline and 3 lateral lines, enterances,,,shoveled on that one spot for over an hour,,,have it 1/2 dug out now,,gonna grab my small saw this morning and try to get the rest dug out-cut up-back in place,,then start on Putney Hill if I have time,,,,
Heading over to Bobs at 9am to try to finish installing boosters,,then his install will be complete (Vacuum system on a budget)
Mark- yes,,I like to have a littel extra encouragement to check for leaks smoetimes,,,

if i had a 30 pack at the top i would not get anything done till that was gone

It's a shame Al Gore couldn't have moved up there for the winter, bet he wouldn't have been talking to much about global warming! LOL

Parker--it's great to see you back at it this year. Would have hated to see you had to hang it up.