Hop Kiln Road 2017

[Hop Kiln Road]

Ace In The Hole

New doctor took me off Placebo and sold me these pills to block my bater instead. And don't ask me why god gave us a bater cause I'm not suppose to get excited, but it's down by the gall bladder I think. There are a couple traders out there who seem to know all about anything so I'm sure they can more precisely locate the little fella. But, then M put me on a leash. Can't work alone she says. So she gets this young man down to Concord to be my driver, Ace. Nice enough guy I guess, lives in his mom's basement, cleans pools and gives tennis lessons in the summer when he ain't working out in front of a mirror. Me and Ace start tapping on February 23rd and finished on the 27th. Didn't go too well, I mean, yes, Ace could carry a cage tank over his head uphill through the snow, but he snapped a lot of .225 bits cause his hands moved so fast and he never got the hang of the tubing tool but the sap just came a pouring out anyway.

[n8hutch]

Lol that's some good old fashioned Humor right there, funny and nobody's feelings should be hurt.

[Russell Lampron]

Hey Bruce it's good to see that you are posting again. I'm sure there's a bater master out there somewhere that can pinpoint the little bugger. Good luck keeping Ace from falling in a hole!

[maplestudent]

M sure seems to be a fine woman, always looking out for your best interests.

as far as that bater....I wonder if the diuretics I once took made mine work overtime

[sweetvt]

Hey Bruce it's good to see that you are posting again. I'm sure there's a bater master out there somewhere that can pinpoint the little bugger. Good luck keeping Ace from falling in a hole!

Hey, as long as this person is a "bater master" and not a "master bater" type, I'm all for their help and for the good of all of us traders with potential "bater" issues.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Gosh, like Junior High way back in Vermont. But talk about clever, after that sap deluge last season, M let me bury a tank in the driveway. It was a trade actually. She drove a tough bargain with a lot of talk about curb appeal and made me sign an impact statement. But anyway, now I got a 2" discharge off the sap trailer, whoosh, into the dump tank and down a 1.5" line down to the sugarhouse right into the RO, and no raw sap storage in the sugarhouse.

[sweetvt]

It's good thing your not still in Vermont with that tank thing, heck up here you would need a local permit, a design and review hearing and an act 250 study, plus the Pope's blessing before you could of put it in.

I was thinking about that bater issue again, and was wondering if has anything to do with a bater-max? You know the machine we use up her in VT to watch movies on? Part I couldn't figure out is why would your doc want to block that.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Well with all this inclement weather now it looks like a late start for Ace down to the Country Club. Meantime he applied for that bartending gig over to the Ambassador's AirBNB spread to help his mom with her taxes but it turned out he needed a bartending license and he didn't have one. So I've been using him to help me fire. Man, he's quick on his feet. He kinda hunches over, neither foot touching the floor at the same time, staring at the evaporator and BAM FLASH: he's turned around, out to the woodshed and back, fire door open and shut, and the boil never blinks.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Well that got out of hand. The Ambassador's wife was over to pick up some syrup for the included breakfast at the AirBNB the other night and spotted Ace firing the evaporator. Yup, in no time flat, her elder sister, Miss Evangeline, who lives in the palace at the tippy top of the hill, and three of her bridge club show up with folding chairs to, "see how Adonis makes maple syrup." Course Ace is wearing a Under Armour getup that looks sweat wet and he starts bare handling wood, backhand, forehand, left door, right door and right into the evaporator from 4 feet away. Oh, man, sparks flying everywhere, steam bellowing, the gals ooohing and aaahing and clapping. First time I tried to draw, one of 'em hissed, "down in front." I mean, he does have great form: on one foot, follow through above his head, and the wood just floats right in the little door. They left talking about seats for two tables. Now not only do I gotta clean the tanks and the syrup pan but I gotta sweep up all the blue hair.

[sweetvt]

Sounds like a new marketing strategy to me! I bet Ace can get you top dollar pushing your product retail... imagine the possibilities and the potential 😄