Don't feel bad Pete, the first year I tapped all my trees at the end of february and as soon as I got everything set up, it went down to 27 below and stayed below freezing for over 2 weeks. Hindsight is always 20:20 with sugaring and I have also missed runs by tapping too late. Maybe someday I will get vacuum so I won't have to worry about tapping too early but I doubt it. Too much of a luddite for that!

I guess I underestimated the number of hole remaining to bore. I went through all 4 batteries and still have 20 or so more to go. Even with prolly 600 tapped on the big bush, there was only 10 gallons of liquid in the tank. Mostly last year's rinse water so I dumped it. I'm guessing that the 50 degrees predicted for tomorow (with some sun) will thaw things out enough so maybe sunday or monday things will let go.