Sugar Shack

For years, my husband's side of the family has had a "Sugar Shack" to

make maple syrup from the sap of the trees on their land.

If you haven't ever tasted REAL maple syrup, please make it a point to do so.

Nothing else tops the taste!

So this year, when the sap started running, I asked the cousins if we could stop by the Sugar Shack

and

take some photos of the process so you can see how it is done.

They happily obliged me, and called the last day of March and told us to hurry over

because the sap was almost done dripping because of the warmer-than-usual spring days.

In order to get good sap output, the days need to be warmer and the nights cold.

This year, our evenings were warmer than usual, which for maple syrup making, is not good.

So, upon receiving the call, off we went to take some photos.

This is a picture of their Sugar Shack!

I loved their homemade sign.

Right outside the back of the shack, was the much needed woodshed and pile of wood.

You need this to keep the fire burning to boil down the sap into the syrup:

And some other tools you might need?

Snowshoes!

Because often, when the sap begins running, there is often a LOT of snow still on the ground:

You can gather the sap from the trees in several ways.

Usually, you can just tap the trees and hang a bucket and the sap can be gathered there.

You  have to go and get the buckets and pour them out every day:

Here is a closeup of the tap in the tree, yielding the yummy sap:

But, the fastest way, is to use runs of lonnnnnng tubing that twist through the woods and connect downhill:

See how the tapped tree is hooked to the tubing instead of dripping into the bucket?:

The buckets are downhill, where all the tubing runs the sap into larger buckets.

Some Sugar Shacks have the tubing run right down into the Shack and into big vats where it can be steamed:

But our cousins just hook the smaller tubing into larger tubing and into larger buckets:

See all the tubing running from wayyyyyy up the hill on all those trees?:

(Isn't  that amazing?)

Here is a photo of some of the large vats where the sap is stored before being boiled down in the steamer:

Here is some sap that has been in the steamer a while. YUMMMM!:

At the Sugar Shack, they have a large steamer and also use small stoves to help boil down the sap too:

Here are the Sugar Shack owners, Mary and John, standing by the BIG steamer.  Aren't they just the cutest??:

(And they are as sweet as the syrup. Genuine, sincere and sooo nice.)

Here is John by the steamer. He asked if I wanted a "ghost picture" of him behind the steam. :0}

Checking the syrup. Is it done YET???:

I thought the large steamer was amazing!

What was even more amazing is that our cousins took an older steamer and made it into this gigantic one all by themselves and set up the Sugar Shack to be a well-oiled operation!:

The secret pantry full of little bottles of finished syrup!!!:

And did I leave empty handed?

Oh, no....I did NOT.

Even though it was a bad year for output, they gave us a bottle of syrup to go home with...
to which I was SO grateful.....

Guess who's  having pancakes these days???

We would like to thank John, Mary and cousin-in-law Dan for all the time they took to tour us around their maple syrup Sugar Shack operation and for being such gracious and generous hosts....
it will be a memory I will cherish for a long, long time...
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This month's theme is:
"RAIN, FOG, MIST or DARK SKIES"

Just follow THESE RULES and send in your photo by midnight, April 30th, 2010!!

A New Fundraiser...

Yes, indeed!

It is time again for some Weird News Articles, along with MY COMMENTS in bold italics!

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WOMAN SELLS SOULS TO HIGHEST BIDDER

(03-08) 20:33 PST WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) --
The rare spirits that went under the gavel at a recent online auction in New Zealand weren't aged brandies or hard-to-find liqueurs.

Instead, two glass vials purportedly containing the ghosts of two dead people sold for $2,830 New Zealand dollars ($1,983) at an auction that ended Monday night.

The "ghosts" were put up for bidding by Avie Woodbury from the southern city of Christchurch. She said they were captured in her house and stored in glass vials with stoppers and dipped in holy water, which she says "dulls the spirits' energy."

She said they were the spirits of an old man who lived in the house during the 1920s, and a powerful, disruptive little girl who turned up after a session with a spirit-calling Ouija board.

Since an exorcism at the property last July led to their capture, there has been no further spooky activity in the house, she said.

The auction attracted more than 214,000 page views and dozens of questions before the winning bid, Trademe auction site spokesman Paul Ford said Tuesday. The name of the winning bidder was not released.

Woodbury said that once an "exorcist's fee" has been deducted, the proceeds of the spirit sale will go to the animal welfare group the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

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1. How many ways can you spell "SUCKER"????

2.  "The name of the winner was not released".  Umm, yeah.  I am sure (s)he wouldn't want the ridicule that would definitely be received.

3. Remind me to buy some holy water, so I can "dull the spirits' energy"...I mean, you wouldn't want them to hold wild parties at your house in the jars, would you?

4. I TOLD my kids not to play with that Ouji Board!  They are dangerous!!!  See? This one called up a little girl!

5. An exorcism "led to their capture"???  Well, heck.....this is a great fundraiser, people!! No more baking cookies for those bake sales, no more rummage sales or craft sales needed.....just hold an exorcism, get  your glass jars ready (along with the obligatory holy water) and capture those buggers in a jar....then auction the spirits off and Whola!  you can raise a thousand or so bucks.

We will go into the ghost capturing business for fundraising...."Ghosts R Us, for your Bucks" is what we will name it.....

6. Wonder what the "exorcist fee" was?  How much did these suckers pay for a person to say they captured spirits in a jar of holy water????  Maybe THAT would be more profitable than the Ghosts R Us, for Your Bucks business...we will just be the ghostbusters.....!!!

7. Poor economy? Phssht....no problem.....we'll just go capture all the spirits, put them in a jar and make a million dollars together.....meet you at the holy water supply store.  I'll be the one wearing the big smile......

Doe a Deer, a Female Deer....

We went out in the woods for a drive a few weeks ago (I pre-published this post)

and

we had the fortune to see several deer!

Here are some of the deer that we saw on our journey:

Four in one group!:

We were so happy to see they looked healthy after the long winter!:

This could be a male, without his horns!:

I thought it was funny that I caught this one licking his face!:

This is either a menopausal female (notice the beard hairs) or a male!:

Here is a closeup. Lovin' those beard hairs!:

This is a backed up shot of the one licking it's face:

Sniffing the ground, and grazing:

I hope you enjoyed seeing them as much as we enjoyed spotting them in the woods!!!

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Don't forget to enter my FREE April PHOTO CONTEST!!

Look in your archives or get outside and enter a photo to fit this month's theme, which is:

"RAIN, FOG, MIST or DARK SKIES"

Follow THESE RULES and send me your photo by midnight, April 30th, 2010!

C'mon, you know it will be fun!

More Local Police Reports!

 Yes!  Time again for MORE LOCAL POLICE REPORTS, along with MY COMMENTS in bold italics!

Just the other day, this jewel was in our local police reports...read the circled entry on the article below!:

 

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1.  Oh Boy....!!  Does the word Alzheimer's come to mind??

2. I want whatever drug she is taking. NOW.

3. A "suspicious silver and shiny substance falling from sky"????  Wow.  Maybe the Aliens were peeing?  Maybe a fairy was sprinkling fairy dust?   I SO TOTALLY want to see this silver and shiny substance exactly the way SHE saw it.

4. I want to give an AWARD to the person who took this call at the Police station for not immediately cracking up giggling so hard that (s)he could not finish the report.  Or at least for not putting the caller on speakerphone for the staffs' entertainment.

5. How cold WERE her hands that the snowflake did not immediately melt in her hand, so that she didn't have to call the police in the first place....

6. Besides, why did she call the POLICE even if she thought it was a "suspicious substance" falling from the sky??  Maybe HAZMAT or  UFON, but not the local police!

7. Maybe she was from the south???  Never saw snow before???

8. It "looked like a snowstorm but knew it wasn't snowing".......hmmm...I'd call this DENIAL, folks...she REALLY must have wanted spring and just totally refused to believe it could possibly be SNOW! 

9. Maybe if we ALL denied seeing any more snow, if it in fact continues to fall....from now on, when I refer to snow after March 15th....I am just going to call it a "suspicious silver and shiny substance"....................are you WITH ME ON THIS???

Spring Swans....

On a trip down to the southern part of the U.P., we went by Lake Michigan again.

Right outside of Escanaba, Michigan

on  a the only little patch

of open water.....

I

saw

THIS!:

Two lovely tundra swans swimming about!

It is very early up here for sightings of swans!  They usually don't migrate up this far north until April, but this has been a warmer-than-usual March...(I am writing this on March 27th and prepublished this post):

So beautifully graceful!:

(Of course, I made my husband turn around on a busy four-lane highway so I could jump out of the car to capture them!)

But just LOOK at him/her:

Wouldn't YOU jump out of a car to see them up closer?

And not ONE beauty, but TWO!!:

It MADE MY DAY!:

Like a dream...

I hope, like me....

looking at them

made you

calmer...

  quieter...........

and

even more thankful

for

Nature's gifts.

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Have you entered my FREE PHOTO CONTEST for April yet?
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Just look up the RULES  HERE.

This month's theme is:
RAIN, FOG, MIST or DARK SKIES
Enter by midnight, April 30, 2010!!

Freedom Flight....

We were heading down on a trip to visit a friend and on the side of the road was:

THIS!!!!:

He was eating road kill and then took off in a wonderful, wide wing-spreaded flight!

A glorious sight!:

This is an over-exposed shot of him on the side of the road, right before he flew:

(I was in a hurry. It was very sunny....so I just shot the shot from my camera, no time to make adjustments!)

When he took off, he soared and soared above my head.  I thanked him for letting me take his photo, but I was also a little scared he was going to land on my head with those claws!:

Here is a little blurry version of a closeup:

Look at the wingspan and those feathers!!:

And those white tailfeathers fanning out!:

Wow!!!:

One gorgeous, huge eagle:

I know they can be mean and kill other animals.

But I am still in awe of this majestic breed of birds.....

and I was SO happy to catch one on camera that day.

More Useless Tidbits!

It is time again for MORE USELESS TIDBITS, along with MY COMMENTS in bold italics.

Ready????

Ok, then....let's begin.

1. The average ear of corn has eight hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows.

I know. You are going to go to the store, buy a ear of corn and check this. That's okay. Go ahead.
I'll wait right here.
Now, are you back? 
Good.
How did it work out for you???
If it isn't exact, you need to re-read the above.
It does say "AVERAGE" ear of corn.
Are you sure you picked the right ear?
I know. You are going BACK to the store, to buy 5 or 6 ears of corn to check this. That's okay. Go ahead.
I'll wait right here.
(But this is getting a little tiring for me).
Now, are you back?
Good.
How did it work out for you???
You know to get an accurate average, one needs at least TEN of something.....

2.All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
I know.
After the ear of corn thing, you have lost some trust in these Useless Tidbits.
So go ahead.
Grab your wallet and take out a $5 bill.
I know you want to.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
How did it work out for you?
Oh, you forgot your magnifying glass?
Sigh.
Go ahead.
I'll wait...............

3. The maximum weight for a golf ball is 1.62 Oz.

Again???

For cryin' out loud.
You are NOT going to get your food scale out and weigh a golf ball, now, ARE YOU?
Ok.
Go ahead.
I'll wait.
(But we really gotta talk about your trust issues)...Just sayin'

4. Dudley Do-Right's Horse's name was "Horse."
Well, isn't old Duddley a witty and imaginative guy???
Wonder what his dog's and cat's names were.....shall we guess?
Nell better get off the old railroad track and rescue HIM.

5. Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain was born on a day in 1835 when Haley's Comet came into view. When He died in 1910, Haley's Comet came into view again.

Poor guy! Wonder if he watched the sky every night, wondering when his "number" was going to come up to die?  Did he KNOW the next expected date of Haley's Comet's next viewing? Did he have an inclination that the heavens were against him in some way?

This is just another sign that we are all from the Aliens, people!!!



6. Charlie Brown's father was a barber.

Who knew this?  Poor guy never even got to cut Charlie Brown's hair...I mean Charlie was BALD, for goodness sake.
And how come he never sat Pig Pen down in his barber's chair (or what about Linus!?) to cut their hair???
Wonder what his mother was like? Does anyone know if the comic strip ever mentioned his mother?

7. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
Don't get any ideas out there people!  If your significant other or your Ex suddenly dies, we are going to do a CSI on their blood to see if you did this.
Ahhhh, now I have the plot for my next novel ...I'll call it: "The Thanksgiving Perfect Murder".
(It will be harder to figure out, because of course, the main character will be putting nutmeg into pumpkin pies around Thanksgiving, when the perfect murder occurs).

8.  Ohio is listed as the 17th state in the U.S., but technically it is number 47. Until August 7, 1953, congress forgot to vote on a resolution to admit Ohio to the Union.

What do you mean "congress FORGOT"????                    

What did they say to cover THAT one up??       
"Ooops....My bad!"
As you noticed, they didn't forget to vote on the healthcare plan, now DID they?

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Don't forget to enter my FREE April PHOTO CONTEST~!

The theme for April is:

"RAIN, FOG, MIST or DARK SKIES"

follow the

RULES stated HERE

and get your entry in by MIDNIGHT on APRIL 30th!!