November Journal

[Wanabe1972]

I got the new doors built and installed on the sugarhouse yesturday with what felt like it was 70 degree weather. We also got half the floor painted . Got up this morning to snow and rain so I guess I'm not going to work outside. I have to work tonight so only a few hours to mess around. I think ill move everything to the painted side so we can paint the rest this week. I would love to get the RO plumbed in and the tanks set in side. I'm waiting for a new sink to arrive e so I can plumb everything at once.

[Tweegs]

Working on a wireless link between the shack and the house.
Thought it would be nice to see the tank levels, vac level and temperature without having to suit up and trek out there.
Added bonus is keeping an eye on the RO closet temperature, remotely.

Need to get up on the shack roof to mount and aim the antenna, but strong winds are gonna keep me on the ground today.
At this age, I fall with greater velocity and don’t bounce nearly as high.
No need to tempt fate.

Plenty of wood to split.
‘spect I’ll busy myself with that instead.

[wnybassman]

Spent an hour or so before lunch stringing an overhead cable from the propose tank location to the road area, about 125'. Got chilled to the bone and just now came out from the comfort of a blanket. Never got that cold that fast before, must be getting old. lol Will need to pick better days I guess.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Sent my pan back to Bill Mason for a float box. He will be making me one float box and cutting both sides of the pan so I can move it from one side to the other. I get a lot of niter so I need to reverse each boil. I am hoping a float box will increase my consistency and safety since I almost scorched the pan last season. Actually, there was one little area I had to scrape blackened syrup...maybe the size of a quarter. Am I a real sugarmaker now?

I figure if I can't expand/upgrade this year I will focus on better process and better product. Next, I have to build a stand for the head tank. I might put half the taps on tubing this year too. Also, I finally have a pickup truck to haul sap. The Jetta didn't seem to like towing 200 gallons of sap. Working up to the idea of a small filter press too.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

First day up in the big woods since May. Started cutting out downed trees and got soaked to the bone after a couple hours of working in the rain. Went back to the shack, got a change of clothes and made new drops for the rest of the day. Feels good to be back at it, albeit a couple weeks later than I wanted to get started.

[Sugarmaker]

With the exceptionally warm weather last Friday I decided to move all of the items out of the sugarhouse and power-wash the floors and mats. How come I have so many things that get in there during the off season? Guess I need some additional storage. Got soaked twice but the sugarhouse looks much better! Have some value added product to make for a event Dec 6th. Just ordered some plastic jars from Burch for putting maple granulated sugar into. Before we know it the 2017 season will be on us.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Regards,
Chris

[Wanabe1972]

Happy Thanksgiving. I felt I needed to work off some turkey and fixings so I framed up a new RO closet In the new space. I put in a raised and insulated floor this year as ive had a feed line to the pump freeze before while sitting on the concrete. I started to insulate the box but I'll finish in the morning. I'm making good progress but still have lots to do. My new wash sink arrived this week and I'm still waiting on the ss drop in sink for the ss workbench. Jeff

[K.I. Joe]

Still working on the tank room. It is mostly sided, tanks are in place. Gonna wire up lights and outlets for heat tape next