January Journal/Happy New Year

[jrthe3]

dan i just picked up a roll of 1000 6 inch at home depot today for $13

[Gary R]

Went for a road trip with Jim Brown today. Meet his son, half way through Ohio. Picked up his new sap hauling trailer and their 4" sap pump. He'd better be careful or he may pump his tanks up to the top of the hill

We spent hours talking maple. I think we have everything figured out

Andy, Hello, hope things are going well!

[Clan Delaney]

Picked up some hi-intensity LED lights from my brother today - he salvaged them from a job dismantling some mall store signage. Think I mentioned them somewhewre here earlier. I've cleaned them up and tested them out and they are BRIGHT!!! You almost can 't look directly at 'em. And efficient - each set of lights only uses 1 watt, and stay cool to the touch. I'll try and post some pics. These are gonna make a great addition to the new shack.

[maple flats]

I put in another 300 of mainline today and 350' of support wire for another 300' branch line today, (in this case my main and wet lines are both 3/4") The snow was real deep on the leeward side of the woods for about 50' width or so, before that and in the woods it was about 16-20" rather light snow and a hard crust under it, but that 50' wide section just outside the woods was over 3' to the crust. It was still fluffy enough that I was able to walk it without the snowshoes. On the steep hillside it is sure slippery when I step on a piece of wood with no bark or smooth bark. I had to pick myself up a whole bunch of times. On the other side of the coin the steep hillside will help the sap flow well. This hillside runs anywhere from about a 30-60or 70% slope. The steeper parts I have to hold onto the trees to keep from sliding to the bottom, but those areas are only in a few sections on the hill, most are about 45% or a little less. I ran to the end of a roll of tubing on the branch line when I called it a day and need to add about 50' more to connect to my manifold. After this I plan to add one more branch line and then all of the latterals go sort of straight up hill. This season I will still be on gravity but I have designed it to add Vacuum hopefully next year if i can get an RO. At that time I will add a dry line above the wet line and the branch lines come into the wet line at a manifold for good vacuum up and down the system. I hope to get enough cash to add latterals and taps for 400 more at this location but I have not even begun to calculate how much 5/16 tubing I need, I will likely get 8-10 coils and go til it is gone and then guestimate how much more might be needed. I may even go up hill picking up 10-12 taps per lateral while designing it for a future branch line in the middle to devide them when I add the vac, haven't decided that yet one way or the other. It would mean tossing or re using a few feet where I cut each line in the future, but if cleaned properly that should be OK, would make good drops.

[Sugarmaker]

Folks, Should be staring to get caught up on the trader chat soon.

First, 57 years ago I came into this old world but for some reason today I felt like I was about 15!

Our son Adam, the computer whiz, was here over night and rebuilt this new computer and found all the bugs and got it set up for us.
Then our neighbor Keith came over and we worked on layout and fab for his stack base for his new arch. We started using 3/16 sst pop rivets to put it together. They really are though to install with a hand riveter, any ideas?

About 4:30 I decided to go squirrel hunting with the dong and shook some nests and came home with a nice fox squirrel. Was nice to just grab the .22 a hooded sweatshirt and go. The sky was a beautiful orange sunset and the sky above was all blue with only the moon and one star showing. Great evening! Temp was still in the low 20's.

Cheryl made one of my favorite desserts. Suet pudding, its a old recipe like a steamed raisin bread with sweet sauce, very good.

Sold $100 in maple products today while I was resting too.

Regards,
Chris

[dano2840]

dan i just picked up a roll of 1000 6 inch at home depot today for $13

6"? main line?????
i bought a whole bunch of fittings at home depot and i noticed how low the price was of wtr pipe there, i noticed there isnt as much plastic used in home depot fittings eather, they are 1/2 as thick as the ones i get in town

[jrthe3]

wire ties !!!!!

[Jim Brown]

Well Gary R. and I fixed all the Maple problems in North West Pa as he so rightly stated. Was great having him along on the trip!.(my wife is tired of hearing me talk maple when we travel)got the "BOSS PUMP" home and after some minor fixes she fired up and set and ran for about and hour. Can't wait to get some sap and or water hooked to it to see just how she will do!4 inch inlet and out let should move a ton of sap up the hill!(less wear and tear on my pick up)not to mention the MUD and the ruts.
Now have to get the vacuum pumps and the gen mounted on the same trailer as the pump and off to the woods we go. Got three more tanks to clean and disenfect and that will be done. Have our big vacuum pump(30cfm) to get remounted to the trailer it sits on and it will be ready to take to our small bush.So many things-so little time!


Jim

[brookledge]

Nice day to work outside today so I brought in some more wood into the sugarhouse. Need to replace about 150 drops in the next few weeks and then should be about ready to tap.
Keith

[dano2840]

terrable day, broke the wire, nothing worked right several unnessesary trips up and down the hill, and i ran out of pipe to boot, uhg not good