Clean up went well yesterday with full sun and temperatures in the 60's. It was just the kind of weather one prefers for an outside job which involves water. The taps were pulled and cleaned with a scouring pad to remove all organic material. The bagholders were disassembled and washed before being boxed up until next year. The filter can was washed. Part of the evaporator was disassembled and washed. The two pans (sap and syrup pans) were left with the last sap of the season to sour and dissolve much of the scale that built up during the season. (In 3 or 4 weeks, we will dump the soured sap and do the final clean up.) The evaporator stack was topped with an old bucket to keep the rain out. The collection buckets were washed along with the bulk tanks. The latter are stored inside during the off-season; they have an outside location during the season. The cupola doors were latched so that they are not rattled by the wind during the off-season. The syrup house was swept, and the garbage packed up and brought home. The empty LP cylinder was dropped off to be refilled. A final note was made on the calendar.

Mid-day today, the weather turned sour with rain and rain mixed with snow. It has continued into the evening and is forecast to continue through much of tomorrow. There has been some accumulation of snow with more expected. The wind has been gusting making for some winter-like conditions. How different from yesterday.

I finished late yesterday with a trip to the library to pick up some new reading material. More on that to follow.

We have called an end to the 2011 syrup season this afternoon after evaporating the last of the sap collected yesterday and finishing the last 2 and 3/4 gallons of syrup. We ended the season with a total of 47 and 1/2 gallons of syrup.

Clean-up remains--pulling the taps, dissembling the bags and bagholders, and washing all that stuff and more. We will tackle those tasks on Monday.

The snow and snow mixed with rain of last night and this morning with moderate temperatures helped mark the end of the season. There has been no sap flow since yesterday. Our sense is that any sap now will not be good for syrup,

When I returned home mid-afternoon, the snow had pretty much melted. The lawn appears to be considerably greener than it was yesterday before the snow. Moisture and nitrogen are probably responsible.

I need to make a trip to the library to replenish my reading materials. During the syrup season, I read a biography of Ted Geisel (better known as Dr. Suess) and a memoir by Susan Brind Morrow entitled "The Names of Things." Ms Morrow writes of her travels in Egypt and the surrounding countries in the 1980's and 90's. Her work is an insight into a very different Middle East than the one now making the nightly news. It was also a much more cordial place, at least for a European/American woman, who spoke the language, and embraced both the antiquity and the earthiness of the place.

It is easy to forget what day of the week it is. This is the last week of my syrup schedule, that is, the "day job" on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and general leave, aka vacation, on Tuesday and Thursday, which are then coupled with the weekend for syruping. I guess I am good to go as long as I make it to my "day job" on the right days.

Yesterday was a 12-hour day evaporating. We didn't gather sap at the end of the day choosing to leave it until this evening. Today we gathered 175 gallons of sap that had run yesterday and today. That means tomorrow will be a long evaporating day. Rick and I handled the collection today, so it was a workout gathering sap in five gallon buckets and hand carrying it all to the sugarhouse. Rick's adult children and very young grandchildren weren't available to help out today. Today we earned that end of the day beer--just one.

Friday morning when I return to my "day job" for the day, Rick and Bill will finish the estimated 10 plus gallons of syrup that we will have ready for the final bit of processing and bottling at that time. (Bill will be in town for a couple of days; the extra pair of hands are welcomed.) After that we will evaporate any remaining sap on hand and gather what may become available.

The forecast seems to bode well for a couple more days of syrup weather before we can expect overnight low temperatures above freezing along with some cold spring rain. It probably won't make for a very nice Easter weekend in terms of the weather. But I will welcome the end of the season; we've been at it since the 19th of March. It's been hard work and long days. I have lost a few pounds; I have acquired a bit of a tan; I have a sense that I am a bit more fit. Those are on top of a respectful volume of syrup "in the can." It is time to start thinking about next year, replenishing the woodpile, and other preparations.

If it is the end of the season, there will be clean up to do, which is a far from pleasant chore in the rain. Hopefully, we can schedule those tasks around the rain. There is bud swell on most of the maples so a bit of the poet's April showers/May flowers weather will result in bud break and a change in the sap, which means the end of the syrup season.

This afternoon we finished evaporating the remaining sap from yesterday and then collected 110 gallons of sap, which ran yesterday and today. We decided to call it a day rather to continue evaporating. I took the opportunity to rinse out the one bulk tank that we had been using most regularly. It appeared to be growing a bit of mold or bacteria and had an undesirable odor. A wash with a mild chlorine bleach solution and a thorough rinse seemed to take care of things. I have a 5:00PM meeting tomorrow night, so I will probably not get out to the sugarbush tomorrow. Tuesday is a vacation day, which will give me the opportunity to catch up on the evaporating, if there is catching up that needs to be done.

As we approached the 10-hour mark tending the evaporator yesterday, we decided to call it a day even though there are 40 gallons of sap remaining in the bulk tank. The resulting syrup is much darker when compared to our product from earlier in the season. It seems to taste fine, but the color is a bit of a disappointment. Despite temperatures yesterday in the low 30's and intermittent snow showers throughout the day, the sap did run. We plan to get together after lunch today to finish with the evaporating and later to collect yesterday's run and the expected run from today. The forecast continues to indicate the likelihood of runs for the next several days. Today's forecast calls for lingering snow showers this morning before clearing and temperatures in the high 30's. The flurries have come and gone since I've been up, that is, unless they come back again. As we have seen in previous years, Easter can be rather winter-like, which makes it a challenge to outfit oneself in the new spring finery often purchased for the occasion. Maybe that practice is no longer in vogue. My practice has been to work my way through the closet to find a dress shirt, tie, and sport coat--reclaiming items that have served that purpose in years past. Winter's footwear may have been cleaned up, but it is also readily available should the need arise. Yesterday, when I went out to shovel the driveway before heading out to the sugarbush, I found that a bear had gotten into the neighbor's dumpster and dragged three bags of household garbage into our yard so he, she, or they could picnic under the pine trees. Cleaning up that mess--garbage mixed with 3 inches of new wet snow--was the start of my day. This morning, it appears the bear revisited last night. The dumpster is tipped over, but there is no evidence of picnicking, at least in our yard. A blog entry from a neighbor made earlier today reports on a bear visit last night. A bird feeder on their deck provided a late night snack. I am congratulating myself on my good judgment; I took down the feeders earlier this week, when I raked the yard. Was that good judgment or just fortunate timing?

It certainly doesn't look like it nor does it feel like it, but it is syrup weather. We collected 200 gallons of sap late today; this is out first collection since last Saturday, the 9th. The run occurred yesterday and today. Tomorrow, we are planning on a long day tending the evaporator. The forecast for tonight and tomorrow calls for 3 to 6 inches of snow and blustery winds. It certainly will be a change from last weekend in terms of the weather. The sugarhouse is tight and provides ample protection from the weather.

I still have this week and next week on my syrup schedule, that is, with Tuesdays and Thursdays off. I am sure there has been no action in the sugarbush today. I haven't checked, and Rick hasn't called to say that I was needed.

I spent most of the day raking the yard. The neighbors were working on their yard this past weekend, when I was busy in the sugarbush, so I took the opportunity afforded by the day off to keep in synch with the neighbors. I finished up the front; the side yard is too wet and there still is a small snow bank. That is okay. After some six hours, I was more than ready to call it a day. The birdfeeder is down; the birdbath will take its place; a couple of lawn chairs are on the deck. With a sunny day and temperatures in the 60's, birdbaths and lawn furniture seem the more appropriate lawn fixtures. I finished my outside chores by cleaning the cab of the truck--a wipedown and vacuuming.

As the details of the 2011 federal budget, as contained in the current continuing resolution, become known, I find myself painfully disappointed with all three units of government responsible for the document. I sense that the final bill due later this week will be even more troubling. The second shoe, that may fall, is the bill to raise the national debt limit. If that gets encumbered with social issues and policy statements, it could be chaotic.

It looks and feels like the 2011 syrup season may be over. Over the weekend, we finished up everything that we had on hand. There was no sap flow on Sunday. The 60 gallons we collected on Saturday were quite cloudy, but it tasted okay. We worked until early evening on Sunday and finished the season, if in fact this is the end, with 32 and 1/2 gallons of syrup.

It was late in the day and two of threesome needed to be back to regular jobs and stuff today, so we scheduled the first clean-up of the season for the 19th, when we can all be together again. I plan to keep an eye on the overnight temperatures which are forecast to be in the high 20's late this week. I am curious to see if there is a flow at that time and if the sap is of syrup quality.

The ice went out of the bay mid-morning today. It simply disappeared. It must have been mortally weakened by yesterday's early morning rain and warm temperatures through last night.

The "almost syrup" from this morning resulted in 12 gallons, and 5 pints of finished syrup. Added to the 11 gallons and 1 quart finished earlier, we now have 23 gallons and 7 pints of finished syrup for the season total to date.

After evaporating the remaining sap from yesterday, we collected 130 gallons of sap late this afternoon. We will put that through the evaporator either tomorrow (Friday) evening or first thing Saturday or some part of the total on both days and times. If the weather cooperates and we enjoy additional sap flows, it could be a busy weekend in the sugarbush. Optimism springs eternal, even in the face of marginal weather forecasts.

Despite what appears to be rather marginal weather syrup weather, we experienced a nice sap flow Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. There are several gallons of "almost syrup" in the finisher, which Rick and I will finish later this morning. Then we will evaporate the last of the 90 gallons of sap that was collected yesterday, part of which was evaporated last evening.

The sap stopped running yesterday mid-afternoon. The cold temperatures of Monday night into Tuesday morning resulted in the Tuesday-into-Wednesday flow. I am not sure that it got cold enough last night to reset the process. I am hopeful.

There is not much snow remaining in the woods, so it is beginning to look like a new season. The red maples appear to be in bud swell or the initial stage of budding out. The sugar maples are typically slower to do so in the spring. Once that happens, the season will be over. The weekend forecast is calling for rain; rain with moderate temperatures may hurry the end of the season.

All in all, it has been a good season from any number of perspectives: syrup production, physical activity, companionship, outdoor experience, warmth of a wood fire, and tanning.

It appears to be quiet day in syrup country. It started raining or rain-mixed-with-snowing about 6:00AM today. The temperature is in the low 30's coming off an overnight low of at or just below freezing, which will probably make for another day without a sap flow. What flow there was yesterday "didn't amount to anything" (as Dad used to say, not necessarily about sap, but about lots of things) coming off a warm night Friday--warm in term of syrup making.

Yesterday, Rick and I finished evaporating the sap that we had on hand from Thursday and Friday. The "crew," in my absence, collected just under 100 gallons on Friday. During the day, also in my absence, Rick ran more than half of the 200 gallons of sap, that was collected on Thursday, through the evaporator. Yesterday, we put all remaining sap through the evaporator. We estimate that we have 6 gallons of "almost syrup" in the finisher.

Looking at the forecast, it now appears that it will be Tuesday before the weather cooperates and another sap flow can be expected.