Steaming Drill Bits- 2010

got back from the Northcountry this afternoon and headed out for some maple time-

washed tanks and set up three tubing runs-

tapped two 5/16 gravity runs- 50 and 30 taps each- were running well.

after dinner put headlamp on and headed over to one of our vacuum bushes and swaped out 130 5/16 taps to stubbies in anticipation of check-valves.

beautiful night to be in the woods- 38 deg, no wind, very little snow- easy to get around. Looked at a forecast tonight and someone is saying we might get two feet over the next few days....no thanks...

finally getting used to the two-handed tubing tool that a buddy made for me this fall. Wonder how I got along without it for so long...no more chewing on tubing...at least not by me- the squirrels on the other hand have been busy this off-season.

may tap rest Thursday/Friday in anticipation of warmer temps this weekend...

Glad to see you up and running Eric. Did you figure out the ro? Saps been running very good down here. Not sure what we've made yet. Still have to bottle it. Keith

Keith- no I haven't set the RO up yet- hope to get that on-line this weekend. Won't need it just yet as with we can handle the early season slow output of sap without the RO...when we are fully tapped it will be a big help...

good luck in your season...

Got the first bush on vacuum up and running today- 130+/- on check valves.

started switching a bush thats new to me in Salisbury over to check valve/stubby combo...hope its worth the time.

got gas powered sp-11 set up today- just need to get 5 gal gas pail set up and that should be good to go

got two more stock tanks from tractor supply so should be set with tanks for a while-

electrician is coming tomorrow so hopefully rest of RO can get set up monday...

running a little bit here, but nothing gushing- think I missed the first good run last weekend- I told myself in August that there was no way I wouldn't be ready- but now its the end of Feburary and guess what- I not ready...

Any of you NH people have any idea where West Manchester is I have a very old glass paper weight sitting here from a wine room there but can't seem to find it on a map of any kind.

Saps slowely working it's way north.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KenWP

Any of you NH people have any idea where West Manchester is I have a very old glass paper weight sitting here from a wine room there but can't seem to find it on a map of any kind.

Saps slowely working it's way north.

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Ken,
The West Side sits west of the river, as well as Rt. 293. If you use the Granite Street Exit off 293, it will put you in the heart of the "west side" of Manchester.

Okay thanks. Wondered why I couldn't find it on a map. I am one of these guys that gloms onto lots of old things. Ones asleep right now.

gathered 400 gals late yesterday and after a cleaning frenzy had our first boil last night - 8 hrs and finally 1.5 gals of some dark cloudy syrup.

only have 250 taps in to date, but hope to get rolling monday. Logging job is winding down and then its full time maple.

marginal temps yesterday so only stuff running was on vac.

no electrican yet- he has been full on with fixing generators for all the folks in New London and Warner without power. So no RO yet...

lots to do...

-Eric

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KenWP

Any of you NH people have any idea where West Manchester is I have a very old glass paper weight sitting here from a wine room there but can't seem to find it on a map of any kind.

Saps slowely working it's way north.

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West manchester is about 20 mins from me. Im in Nashua. 5 mins from Massachusetts. Manchester is due north of me. Probably a 1/4 of the way up the state from the south.

425 gallons this afternoon/evening-

my girls and I hung 60 or so buckets late sunday, and by tonight at 7pm I averaged 2 gals per tap. couple 16 qt buckets were almost full- strange when you figure it didn't really freeze last night and the wind was cranking out of the NWest all day.

Mark did some afternoon boiling- made another 3 or 4 gals of nice flavored syrup- no sense on grade yet.

heading home from logging early tomorrow to try and get RO plumbed and running- should have done that in Janurary-

once the RO is up and running bring on the BIGSAP-