Busy year if you are a Pearl Jam fan!

Then bring back winter, please. The first couple of days of spring have been filled with some of the worst winter weather of the year. Where is that thaw? I know it’s staying lighter longer…but that only allows me to see the snow on the ground. I thought we were making some progress with the warm spell during the last few days of winter. But no, spring had to turn it around and bring us more snow, ice and sleet. Where is that groundhog named Phil hiding these days?

Sorry I’ve been away from the blog for so long. I’ll try to do better.

Anyway, like the title says I haven’t been abducted, but Sammy Hagar says he has! By Aliens!

It’s a million hours of work for, like, a quart of maple syrup.  I mean, I knew this going in, that it took forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  But I didn’t realize I would spend four entire weekends doing nothing but boiling sap, from sun up to well past sundown, all day Saturday, all day Sunday.

The thing you see the pots of sap boiling on is something everyone in Wyoming County has, a burn barrel..except most of ‘em are made of cinderblocks.  Perfect for keeping the sap boiling all day.  However you have to have a pile of wood the size of the Wyoming Valley mall to keep the fire hot enough to boil the sap.  Every FIVE MINUTES you have to throw in more wood.  I collected and broke up every scrap of wood on my property.  A lot were still wet so I had to dry ‘em out on top, as  you can see behind the pots.   I had 2 friends give me literally TRUCKLOADS of scrap wood from construction.  Even one of the engineers here in the Mountain Cabin gave me an entire truck bed full of broken up pallets.  It was the most exhausting thing ever.  I can’t wait to get back to the gym and rest!!

However, it is very very delicious.  I’m going to freeze my 11 or 12 half-pints, and give ‘em out at Christmastime.  But will I do this again?  Maybe, maybe not.  I mean, I really like the idea of being able to glean something from stuff already growing on my property, but dear sweet Lord A-mighty,  it’s labor intensive!

Yes it is that wonderful time of the year again when white baseballs are being hit and thrown against the green grass of Florida. I know the games don’t count…some players are working to make the team for the first time….others are hoping to stay for one more season…and everyone is 100% sure they will win it all this year….but I still enjoy watching it. Last year I friended Ike Davis the young first baseman for the Mets….and he recently posted LGM….I agree.