Monday, March 29, 2004
Weekend Update
No, I'm not Chevy Chase, and you're not either.
Saturday - Gina takes the kids to a swim party, so I'm solo at the house. I (finally) take the Christmas lights down from the roof (noting how the orange extension cords has bleached to a pale pink on the roof). I then roll the Miata out of the garage, check vital fluids, put the battery back in and she fires right up. Ah, fuel injection! I remember the carburator tango I had to do with my old Pontiac every time I got her going in the spring - prime the carb, pump like crazy, finally spray some ether down the intake, etc, etc. No more. I let the Miata warm up while I listen for untoward noises, drop the top and we're flyin' down the road again. Get home, apply some soap and ArmorAll and she's pretty as a picture.
Sunday - take the dogs for a long hike early in the AM. Get back, wash them up, load up the car and we're down the Pike to Gloucester to visit my sister Jen for her daughter Charlotte's 3rd birthday party. Very nice time had by all. All the nieces and nephews are there, but chaos is limited. Eat snacks, talk cars with Ed, deck design with Ben, Dora the Explorer with Charlotte, and we're off. We stop at my brother Ben's house on the way back to Amherst as he is conviently (did I spell that right?) located 5 minutes from the 95/Pike interchange. Nephew Brendan grabs Alex and they're off to do guy stuff. New niece Ariana is cute as a button. We get the new kitchen tour, see all the things Ben has done to the house (impressive - added 2 heating zones, installed an alarm system, is in the process of building a deck), eat pizza and we're off again. Get home around 8:30, put kids in bed. Whew! A worthy roadtrip and a fun day.
This week - maybe I 'fess up to my mad plan to convert the Miata from an automatic transmission to a 5-speed. And they dared to call me mad at the university! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
teebee
Saturday - Gina takes the kids to a swim party, so I'm solo at the house. I (finally) take the Christmas lights down from the roof (noting how the orange extension cords has bleached to a pale pink on the roof). I then roll the Miata out of the garage, check vital fluids, put the battery back in and she fires right up. Ah, fuel injection! I remember the carburator tango I had to do with my old Pontiac every time I got her going in the spring - prime the carb, pump like crazy, finally spray some ether down the intake, etc, etc. No more. I let the Miata warm up while I listen for untoward noises, drop the top and we're flyin' down the road again. Get home, apply some soap and ArmorAll and she's pretty as a picture.
Sunday - take the dogs for a long hike early in the AM. Get back, wash them up, load up the car and we're down the Pike to Gloucester to visit my sister Jen for her daughter Charlotte's 3rd birthday party. Very nice time had by all. All the nieces and nephews are there, but chaos is limited. Eat snacks, talk cars with Ed, deck design with Ben, Dora the Explorer with Charlotte, and we're off. We stop at my brother Ben's house on the way back to Amherst as he is conviently (did I spell that right?) located 5 minutes from the 95/Pike interchange. Nephew Brendan grabs Alex and they're off to do guy stuff. New niece Ariana is cute as a button. We get the new kitchen tour, see all the things Ben has done to the house (impressive - added 2 heating zones, installed an alarm system, is in the process of building a deck), eat pizza and we're off again. Get home around 8:30, put kids in bed. Whew! A worthy roadtrip and a fun day.
This week - maybe I 'fess up to my mad plan to convert the Miata from an automatic transmission to a 5-speed. And they dared to call me mad at the university! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
teebee
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Life Update
Syrup: no sap on Monday or Tuesday; Wednesday saw 5 gallons. Cooked it all down to 3-1/2 cups. Not sure if I'm boiling it enough. Thermometer sez I am (boil until temp rises 7-1/2 degrees above boiling temp of H20, so that's ~220 degrees), but it is still a little thin. I plan on going up a degree each time I boil to see how far I can push it without ending up with maple sugar.
Woodworking: finished up another cherry end table for a friend. Found 2 things: it can be tricky to color-match cherry from different boards; you should wait 1 day between coats of polyurethane (despite what it says on the can) or you can end up with funky hard-to-see swirls of opaqueness in the finish. Not sure what it is but I've only seen it when I rush the 2nd and 3rd coats. Am currently building flower boxes for another friend. Might build a pair of adirondack chairs in exchange for some upholstery work on our couch.
Misc: going out to Gloucester on Sunday for my niece Charlotte's 3rd birthday. Gina and I were one of the first to have kids in our family so I have a lot of younger nieces and nephews. Fun to watch them grow up. Also nice to have older kids. Gonna stop at my brothers house in Newton on the way back, for pizza and first visit with new niece Ariana.
teebee
Woodworking: finished up another cherry end table for a friend. Found 2 things: it can be tricky to color-match cherry from different boards; you should wait 1 day between coats of polyurethane (despite what it says on the can) or you can end up with funky hard-to-see swirls of opaqueness in the finish. Not sure what it is but I've only seen it when I rush the 2nd and 3rd coats. Am currently building flower boxes for another friend. Might build a pair of adirondack chairs in exchange for some upholstery work on our couch.
Misc: going out to Gloucester on Sunday for my niece Charlotte's 3rd birthday. Gina and I were one of the first to have kids in our family so I have a lot of younger nieces and nephews. Fun to watch them grow up. Also nice to have older kids. Gonna stop at my brothers house in Newton on the way back, for pizza and first visit with new niece Ariana.
teebee
Monday, March 22, 2004
Sap's a-runnin'
Gathered 5 gallons of sap on Sunday. That's 1-2/3 gallons per tree in one day. Cooked it all day; finished it at around midnight. Produced about a pint and a half of syrup. Didn't burn it this time.
teebee
teebee
Lose weight now - ask me how
I gave up beer and dessert for Lent - have lost 6 pounds so far. Who says Christianity isn't relavent anymore?
teebee
teebee
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
You call that a snowstorm?!!
Barely 4". All light and fluffy. Had driveway cleared in 20 minutes. Not that I'm complaining. Kinda expected this after all the hyperbole.
Needless to say, sap buckets remain dry.
teebee
Needless to say, sap buckets remain dry.
teebee
Monday, March 15, 2004
Ohfercrissakes!
From our local 22 News meteorologist Rick Sluben:
"A major winter storm is expected tomorrow. It now appears it could potentially be our biggest winter storm since early December. The snow should develop around noontime tomorrow or shortly thereafter and become heavy late tomorrow or tomorrow evening. Temperatures will be close to freezing so the snow will be of the heavy and wet variety and may cause some scattered power outages. It should fall heavy enough to stick to the roadways, making for a very difficult Tuesday evening commute. The heavy snow will continue into Tuesday night but should taper off to snowshowers and flurries overnight. The snowshowers and flurries will continue into Wednesday but most of the accumulating snow will be over by early Wednesday morning. Total accumulations at this point will be in the (my emphasis) 8-12" range here in the Pioneer Valley"
Jeez Louise - enough already!
teebee
"A major winter storm is expected tomorrow. It now appears it could potentially be our biggest winter storm since early December. The snow should develop around noontime tomorrow or shortly thereafter and become heavy late tomorrow or tomorrow evening. Temperatures will be close to freezing so the snow will be of the heavy and wet variety and may cause some scattered power outages. It should fall heavy enough to stick to the roadways, making for a very difficult Tuesday evening commute. The heavy snow will continue into Tuesday night but should taper off to snowshowers and flurries overnight. The snowshowers and flurries will continue into Wednesday but most of the accumulating snow will be over by early Wednesday morning. Total accumulations at this point will be in the (my emphasis) 8-12" range here in the Pioneer Valley"
Jeez Louise - enough already!
teebee
First batch of syrup
Finally got some sap boiled down to syrup this weekend. ~2 gallons of sap cooked down to a little over a cup of syrup. I overboiled it a little so it is very thick and taking a long time to settle. There's this sand-like stuff called (natch) "sugar sand" that precipitates out of boiled sap. I usually put the syrup in the fridge and in a day or so all the sugar sand is at the bottom and I can (carefully) pour off the syrup. This batch might take a bit longer to settle.
Weather report for the next few days: winter storm watch in effect, with 5-10" possible. Translation: no sap.
teebee
Weather report for the next few days: winter storm watch in effect, with 5-10" possible. Translation: no sap.
teebee
Friday, March 12, 2004
Vocab, signs of spring, sap
Vocab word of the day (found in this post on my friend Henry's site):
- pithy: adj : having substance and point : tersly cogent
Ok, so what's cogent mean?
- cogent: adj: having power to compel or constrain
Word Power!
In other news, the red-wing blackbirds are back and are busy staking out their territories all around my office building. They like to hang out at the tops of trees and lightpoles and sing out their challenge for all to hear. It is loud enough so that I can hear them right through the windows - "o-ka-la-DEE!"
The sap has grudgingly started flowing again. Got maybe a gallon yesterday. Weather doesn't look great over the next week - not very cold at night and not very warm in the day. My concern is that if I don't cook what I gather, it might spoil. But I'm not gathering enough to make cooking worthwhile. I guess things are going great-guns for the sugar houses, but most of their trees are at higher elevations where the temp swings are greater. Good thing I'm not doing this for a living.
teebee
- pithy: adj : having substance and point : tersly cogent
Ok, so what's cogent mean?
- cogent: adj: having power to compel or constrain
Word Power!
In other news, the red-wing blackbirds are back and are busy staking out their territories all around my office building. They like to hang out at the tops of trees and lightpoles and sing out their challenge for all to hear. It is loud enough so that I can hear them right through the windows - "o-ka-la-DEE!"
The sap has grudgingly started flowing again. Got maybe a gallon yesterday. Weather doesn't look great over the next week - not very cold at night and not very warm in the day. My concern is that if I don't cook what I gather, it might spoil. But I'm not gathering enough to make cooking worthwhile. I guess things are going great-guns for the sugar houses, but most of their trees are at higher elevations where the temp swings are greater. Good thing I'm not doing this for a living.
teebee
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
Where is the Sap?
Mother Nature has turned off the spigots - no sap since last Monday. Temps have either been too warm at night, or not warm enough during the day. Today and yesterday it snowed. Spring is gone; winter is back.
teebee
teebee
Friday, March 05, 2004
Alistair Cooke - the first blogger
Was out at lunchtime (seeing if there was any wood at Amherst Woodworking's seconds bin - nothing but the 3 P's - pine, poplar and plywood) and was listening to The Connection on AM 1430. The topic of the show was Alistair Cooke's long-running series "Letter from America". I had never heard of this series, knowing Mr. Cooke only from his Masterpiece Theatre work. Apparently he's been doing this series for 58 years, broadcasting his thoughts and impressions of American life over the BBC. Great stuff from the little I heard on the radio; I want to find out more.
Seems to me he was blogging before blogs, the Web or even computers. Just goes to show there's nothing new under the sun.
teebee
Seems to me he was blogging before blogs, the Web or even computers. Just goes to show there's nothing new under the sun.
teebee
Thursday, March 04, 2004
Maple Syrup Update
Cold nights, warm days. That's what the book says you need for the sap to run, and they are right. Over the weekend, I gathered 3 gallons of sap in one day. Yesterday - nothing; nada; zip. That's 'cuz it hasn't been below freezing at night for 3 days. More of the same coming. Looks like my next chance to burn the sap won't be until next week.
teebee
teebee
So who's reading this, anyway?
According to this Pew study, 11% of Internet users are reading blogs. My friend Henry suspects the number is even higher, 'cuz people might be reading blogs without knowing what it is they are reading. Interesting - this survey was done over a year ago. Wonder what impact the current presidential brouhaha has had on blog usage?
teebee
teebee
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
Burnt
The sap, that is. I was doing my taxes last night, checking occasionally on how the sap was cooking. Spent too much time on phone doing state taxes via Telefile. Smelled something awful. Went out and sap had turned into a black-brown bubbling cauldron of foul-smelling gack. Expletive deleted!
Added some water to dilute goo, dumped it in the yard, then spent 45 minutes with brillo, sandpaper and ultimately a drill-mounted wire brush to get burnt sap off of bottom of pot. Am still stewing about it.
Expletive deleted.
teebee
Added some water to dilute goo, dumped it in the yard, then spent 45 minutes with brillo, sandpaper and ultimately a drill-mounted wire brush to get burnt sap off of bottom of pot. Am still stewing about it.
Expletive deleted.
teebee
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Maple Syrup Update
By yesterday afternoon, had gathered ~4 gallons of sap. Cooked that down by 1/2 last night. Raining today, so probably not much will be gathered. If rain stops by evening, I'll resume cooking.
teebee
teebee
Monday, March 01, 2004
A Taste of Spring
Got a real taste of spring this weekend. Brilliantly sunny, 55 degrees, no wind. Daffodils are up 4" on the west side of the house. Snow cover is relinquishing its hold on open spaces. Buds appearing on some trees. Got the bikes down from their hooks and we all went 'round the neighborhood (with the kids gleefully striping their backs with muddy water by racing through every puddle).
This weekend was also the start of maple syrup season at our house. I cleaned up the buckets and spigots on Friday night, and on Saturday morning Alex and I hung them up. 2 on our silver maple, one on our neighbor's silver maple and one on their red maple. By the end of the day we'd collected about a gallon and a half (enough for ~1/2 cup of syrup). I'll wait until I get 4 gallons or so before firing up the cooker. I use a turkey fryer rig that I borrow from Gina's sister. It is a big 10-gallon stock pot that sits on a clambake-style propane burner. I can just keep on dumping in sap and dumping in sap until it reduces down ~90%. I then finish it on the stove, using a candy thermometer to judge when it is done. More on this topic as the season progresses.
We also went to a UMass basketball game, vs St Bonaventure. UMass won, 81 to something-less-than-81. A very entertaining spectacle, marred only slightly when the UMass mascot, who was tossing t-shirts to the crowd, threw one to Alex and some other weasel kid dived under a railing and snatched it. But I'm not bitter, noooo. I hope he gets a rash from it. Some fast parental skills and Alex's generally positive outlook on things saved the day.
Oh well - back to work.
teebee
This weekend was also the start of maple syrup season at our house. I cleaned up the buckets and spigots on Friday night, and on Saturday morning Alex and I hung them up. 2 on our silver maple, one on our neighbor's silver maple and one on their red maple. By the end of the day we'd collected about a gallon and a half (enough for ~1/2 cup of syrup). I'll wait until I get 4 gallons or so before firing up the cooker. I use a turkey fryer rig that I borrow from Gina's sister. It is a big 10-gallon stock pot that sits on a clambake-style propane burner. I can just keep on dumping in sap and dumping in sap until it reduces down ~90%. I then finish it on the stove, using a candy thermometer to judge when it is done. More on this topic as the season progresses.
We also went to a UMass basketball game, vs St Bonaventure. UMass won, 81 to something-less-than-81. A very entertaining spectacle, marred only slightly when the UMass mascot, who was tossing t-shirts to the crowd, threw one to Alex and some other weasel kid dived under a railing and snatched it. But I'm not bitter, noooo. I hope he gets a rash from it. Some fast parental skills and Alex's generally positive outlook on things saved the day.
Oh well - back to work.
teebee
