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.