Rolling the dice in Salisbury, 2007

[Parker]

Finally got all the details sorted out at Quimbys in Hill, started the pump and 10" vacuum????? had 3 spiles out,,2 laterals disconnected,,and 3 leaking t's,,some loose mainline entrances ,,and 3 hours later 17"!!!! Really wasent running that hard even with good vac,,,brought all the supplies home,,might try to tuugh it out at start in on RTE.11 tommrow,,,or might clean up in the sugarhouse,,mess with some pumps-releasers,,what does everyone use to lube there releasers? mine are sticky,,,,

[powerdub]

Slow down son, rest a second. You burn out now and you don't make the season. There is a lot of sap to run yet, you will get there. I would hate to see you get injured or sick before the season starts.

[Parker]

But Massive Marvin is thirsty........gotta get the old boy a drink,,,,,,

[markcasper]

Parker, Are using the leader adaptors again this spring. It seems last year when you finished you were not impressed with them?

[Parker]

I am not useing the adaptors this year,,they really did not seem to extend my season last year and they seemed to pop out of the taphole in certin bushes,,we tried dipping the spiles on Hoit road in vodka,,,we will see what diffrance that makes,,,spent yesterday (and probably a good portion of toady) moving snow.......still need to tap Rte 11 and hattans,,set up vacuum at hoitrd-putney hill-rte.11,,,might run up to Hill and turn on that pump if it really warms up.

[markcasper]

I am using the ones I used last year. I believe last year they probably didn't help a whole lot b/c in my area we had very stable runs and never had a big long warm up where the sap stalled for days. Thats when the bacteria starts to go rampant. My wife and I are basically going over each one and lightly scrubbing/brushing the inside and out of them. I then run them through the wash machine with hot water and some bleach. I then will boil them all for a few hours.
In all honesty, its probably a better deal to just by new ones, rather than invest the time needed to clean and sanitize them properly.

[Parker]

I would like to switch over to the LaPierre stubbies,,I think its the right idea and they probably would work under the right conditions,,I just dont like that type,(Leader's),,would like to try a few hundred next year,,mabey on Hoit road,,that all pretty old,,6? years
Got all plowed out (except the snow that just slid off the sugarhouse roof) tapped for 2 batt. packs on Rte.11,,,snow heavy-wet- knee deep,,Tuckermouintian must have been boiling today,,his evaporator was making it rain-snow downwind at Rte.11 bush,,,,,clean up the sugarhouse tonight,,,tappin tommrow,,will miss these first runs,, .....

[powerdub]

Keep the faith Parker, if the snow is knee deep to that ten foot indian, you won't get a good run for a while. I was in the bush today and managed to fix another two hundred. Just think, eight hundred to go, yipee. I am switching to Lapierre stubbies this year, I will let you know how it goes.

[Parker]

Got all the snow cleaned up around the sugarhouse,(its a bear when it slides off the roof then freezes),started cleaning up the huge mess inside,,rinsed out the headtank,,have 400 or so gal. in the top tank on the bank above the sugarhouse to run thru the system,,gotta get the vacuum cleaner down there,,just stepped ouside,,feels like it is right around freezing out,,will go to Hill and start big bertha (Massport senior) this AM,,,try to set up some vacuum at hoit and rte.11 today-finish tapping? tank to hoit?? tanks on trucks?

[Parker]

I have to remember that it is one heck of a lot colder in Hill (North side of Tucker mountian) than it is at my house,,waste of a trip driving up there,,,,I did turn the elec. on to the therm-pump and left,,,got the tank out on Hoit road-brought the vac. pumps to hoit road and rte.11, cleaned the tank out on putney road,,I am thinking no sap till this weekend???Might have time to get everything in order??? GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!!!!!!!!