OT; Spring is sprung!

"norma woods" wrote in
:

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz,
I wonder where the birdies is.

I saw our first robin this morning! Spring is now
officially here! Yaaaaayyy

we've been sugaring for the past 3 weeks. that's spring to
me! since we're in the process of moving the saphouse
closer to the house & farmyard area, we're boiling the 'old-
fashioned' way over an open fire. sure is fun on a sunny day
(but not so much when it's drizzling).
lee

Hi Lee. Gosh, I remember sugaring when I was a little girl. Dad dug out a
clay bank near our house. He made huge pans of sheet metal, and used an old
spring set from a bed to rest them on over the fire. I think he used two
pans one to warm the sap, and the next to boil it. Mom would take the boiled
syrup into the house to finish and strain it into the preserve bottles. My
sisters and I would carry the sap from the trees to the pans. I could only
carry a tiny amount ( I was very young), and of course Dad carried as well.
I still love the smell of spring, it always brings back that memory. (I
still love to get my hands on a bit of sap to drink, too, although I rarely
get the chance any more.) Ah, memories....

--
Star love,
Norma
PM OES
"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
"norma woods" wrote in
:

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz,
I wonder where the birdies is.

I saw our first robin this morning! Spring is now
officially here! Yaaaaayyy

we've been sugaring for the past 3 weeks. that's spring to
me! since we're in the process of moving the saphouse
closer to the house & farmyard area, we're boiling the 'old-
fashioned' way over an open fire. sure is fun on a sunny day
(but not so much when it's drizzling).
lee

"norma woods" wrote in
:

Hi Lee. Gosh, I remember sugaring when I was a little girl.
Dad dug out a clay bank near our house. He made huge pans
of sheet metal, and used an old spring set from a bed to
rest them on over the fire. I think he used two pans one to
warm the sap, and the next to boil it. Mom would take the
boiled syrup into the house to finish and strain it into
the preserve bottles. My sisters and I would carry the sap
from the trees to the pans. I could only carry a tiny
amount ( I was very young), and of course Dad carried as
well. I still love the smell of spring, it always brings
back that memory. (I still love to get my hands on a bit of
sap to drink, too, although I rarely get the chance any
more.) Ah, memories....


Tom brewed coffee with the sap last weekend. it was good! he
drinks coffee black usually, but he said the slight sweetness
was a good difference.
i'm hoping to make some sugar sometime this week. i have to
use a hand beater, so it's really tricky. those machines to
make maple sugar are almost US $1500! i'd have to sell a LOT
of candy to justify that expense!
did you make syrup on snow when you were little? i really
wanted to do that with Boo (age 3) this year, but there's no
snow here now. i guess we'll make ice cream & use that instead

the cardinals are singing out thier territory songs, momma
hawk is building a nest in the sugarbush again, we're knee-
deep in mud... it's cool, but definately spring! oh, & my
snowdrops are blooming!
lee knitting dishclothes while watching the fire

Hi Lee, yes we did make the sugar with the snow. Too bad about not having
any. I could send you some. LOL But the ice-cream sounds wonderful. I'm up
to my neck in mud now too. We live on what was an old farm, and the mud is
quite "odiferous" when the sun comes out on a warm day! And we get the
wonderful cluster flies. Anyone out there know how to get rid of them? I've
yet to find a way. Between them and the Asian beetles, we are inundated!

--
Star love,
Norma
PM OES
"enigma" wrote in message
. ..
"norma woods" wrote in
:

Hi Lee. Gosh, I remember sugaring when I was a little girl.
Dad dug out a clay bank near our house. He made huge pans
of sheet metal, and used an old spring set from a bed to
rest them on over the fire. I think he used two pans one to
warm the sap, and the next to boil it. Mom would take the
boiled syrup into the house to finish and strain it into
the preserve bottles. My sisters and I would carry the sap
from the trees to the pans. I could only carry a tiny
amount ( I was very young), and of course Dad carried as
well. I still love the smell of spring, it always brings
back that memory. (I still love to get my hands on a bit of
sap to drink, too, although I rarely get the chance any
more.) Ah, memories....


Tom brewed coffee with the sap last weekend. it was good! he
drinks coffee black usually, but he said the slight sweetness
was a good difference.
i'm hoping to make some sugar sometime this week. i have to
use a hand beater, so it's really tricky. those machines to
make maple sugar are almost US $1500! i'd have to sell a LOT
of candy to justify that expense!
did you make syrup on snow when you were little? i really
wanted to do that with Boo (age 3) this year, but there's no
snow here now. i guess we'll make ice cream & use that instead

the cardinals are singing out thier territory songs, momma
hawk is building a nest in the sugarbush again, we're knee-
deep in mud... it's cool, but definately spring! oh, & my
snowdrops are blooming!
lee knitting dishclothes while watching the fire

norma woods wrote:
Nora, where is that weatherman? I'm thinking of coming down there and
slapping him ! LOL
The driveway here is so soft that the ambulance just about buried
itself yesterday. The frost is coming out too fast. We've had three
days of rain and evidently more to come mixed with snow.

What was the ambulance doing in your driveway??? Enquiring minds want to
know.
Hugs,
Katherine

"norma woods" wrote in message
. ..
Spring is sprung, the grass is riz,
I wonder where the birdies is.

I saw our first robin this morning! Spring is now officially here!
Yaaaaayyy

--
Star love,
Norma
PM OES


I found out an interesting trivia fact about Robins from my DD#1 just
recently. They are Raptors. Once I thought about it, it made sense as they
eat worms (meat).

JJMolvik

we are going to be down to 45 degrees tonight.Stella

"norma woods" wrote in message
. ..
Nora, where is that weatherman? I'm thinking of coming down there and
slapping him ! LOL
The driveway here is so soft that the ambulance just about buried itself
yesterday. The frost is coming out too fast. We've had three days of rain
and evidently more to come mixed with snow.

--
Star love,
Norma
PM OES
"NoraBalcer" wrote in message
...
Hi Norma,

Our resident robins are back too, and the little juncos have gone.
Spring
was
in the air earlier this week, but now it's the return to winter, wet
snow
due
tomorrow night. Weatherman said we can expect to have a frost right up
to
the
middle of May.

Hugs,

Nora

Hi Katherine, you've probably figured it out by now, but the ambulance was
for Mom.

--
Star love,
Norma
PM OES
"Katherine" wrote in message
...
norma woods wrote:
Nora, where is that weatherman? I'm thinking of coming down there and
slapping him ! LOL
The driveway here is so soft that the ambulance just about buried
itself yesterday. The frost is coming out too fast. We've had three
days of rain and evidently more to come mixed with snow.

What was the ambulance doing in your driveway??? Enquiring minds want to
know.
Hugs,
Katherine

JJ, I guess you're right! Never thought of it that way, either.

--
Star love,
Norma
PM OES
"JJMolvik" wrote in message
...

"norma woods" wrote in message
. ..
Spring is sprung, the grass is riz,
I wonder where the birdies is.

I saw our first robin this morning! Spring is now officially here!
Yaaaaayyy

--
Star love,
Norma
PM OES


I found out an interesting trivia fact about Robins from my DD#1 just
recently. They are Raptors. Once I thought about it, it made sense as
they
eat worms (meat).

JJMolvik

norma woods wrote:
Hi Katherine, you've probably figured it out by now, but the
ambulance was for Mom.

I did, Norma, and so glad that things are starting to improve.
Hugs,
Katherine