Bible Verse of the Day

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Fire Photos

Before picture, from maybe three weeks ago. Note the large blue storage tank...actually, there were two of them and they each held 60 gallons of sap.


After, pointing toward the side where the blue tanks were. You can see the black area extending out from the front of the cooking area. The woodpile has greatly diminished because much of it was at least partially burned, so he has finished off burning it in the cooking fire.

Charred stump that has been used as a chopping block in the past.

Trash by the road, awaiting tomorrow morning's pick-up. The blue things are obviously the storage tanks. The greenish thing between them used to be a very large trash can. The buckets are his 5 gallon pails that he used to carry the sap that he emptied out of his tap containers.

Other side of the trash pile.
The good news is that the fire is still burning and the sap is merrily boiling away. Takes a lot to shut down Poppa's Syrup Operation!









Monday, March 23, 2009

Sad news for the maple syrup operation

There was a fire at the maple syrup operation tonight. Not the fire that was supposed to be. The area around the stove burned in a small brush fire. Gone are 150 gallons of sap that were waiting to be cooked, along with the two large storage drums and a few buckets that held the sap, plus equipment, including damage to the nice big floodlights my dad used at night (I think a new cord will repair those...hopefully anyway!) I'm not sure if his woodpile burned or not. I'm at work...my poor mom was home alone when it happened. She was blaming herself until my ds7 pointed out that he's seen my dad extinguish small fires that could have gotten larger as this one did. Ironically, the boiling fire itself was fine...the sap was cooking away merrily when the fire department arrived.

Not sure at this point what my dad will do...he obviously has no storage facility now for any sap he collects. I don't know if he will rush out to replace his equipment, or call it good for the season and pull his taps. He's got a good syrup harvest even if he doesn't continue to make any more this year. He probably doesn't know at this point either...by light of day he can assess and rebuild.

God is good tho...there was no wind so the fire didn't extend toward either of our homes. No one was hurt. Nothing was damaged that can't be replaced. It happened while it was still daylight, not overnight when we were sleeping.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Japanese Tanka Poetry

DD11's language arts this week dealt with forms of Japanese poetry, and she was assigned to write a tanka, which is a traditional poetry form. It consists of 5 lines, with the syllables following this pattern: 5-7-5-7-7. In an effort to inspire her to work on her partially-complete tanka, I created one myself:

Maple trees in spring
Dull branches appearing dead
Hidden life within
Sweet sap, vital nutrients
Fire, thick syrup emerges

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Amazing Hiccup Cure

Believe it or not, there's a cure for hiccups, and you probably have it right in your kitchen. Eat a spoonful of peanut butter. Amazingly, that's all there is to it! Both of my kids have tried it, and it works instantly. It's pretty funny, when they start hiccing away, to see them run to the kitchen and rummage in the drawer for a spoon so they can dive into the peanut butter bowl ;-)

Friday, March 13, 2009

Spring with the Raptors

My dad has been observing spring raptor rituals, since he's out in the backyard with his maple syrup operation a lot. We finally decided, after looking at these spectacular raptor photos, that he's been watching a pair of cooper's hawks in their spring mating ritual. They've been calling back and forth a lot. We hear them even when we can't see them. He's observed what appeared to be show-off aerial maneuvers. Today one of them flew very low over our house, so we could clearly see his feather markings, which is what enabled us to positively identify them. Very cool to see and hear!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Another sign of spring...

The annual "exit of the river ice" has occurred. Unfortunately, however, it decided to sneak out during the night, so for the first time in 7 years, we totally missed it :-( Oh well, there's always next year. It seems strange to look down at the river and see brown instead of white. Then again, it's nice to not see much white anywhere, because surely that means that soon there will be green, and flowers, and all of those nice things that make us want to be outdoors more! Hurray!

Saturday, March 07, 2009

More spring

So yesterday it was all about maple syrup...today it's about cooking. My dh bought us a grill over the winter and it's been sitting in the pole building awaiting good enough weather to get it to the back deck. The deed is accomplished. He even had a propane bottle so he could get it hooked up right away! The kids were just DYING to have something cooked on the grill, so I fixed the whole meal on it. Mind you, I'm not a griller. Or at least I haven't been until now. But I think I'll be liking this! I made dilled red potatoes (grilled in foil), homemade vegie burgers (YUMMY) served with cucumber raita sauce, grilled tomatoes (yummy and dh loved them) and we grilled a piece of Indian na'an bread that was in the frig. The only thing that didn't get grilled was our salad ;-) Oh, and dessert was s'mores on the grill. I thought I did really well, for a short-notice and last minute change of dinner plans, and for not really having much in the house that could be grilled.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Spring Has Sprung!

There's lots of activity around our house these days. Here are a couple of taps. The view is down over the riverbank, so that's the frozen river below and the opposite riverbank as well.
This was what I found when I came home from work this morning. Activity, already. And children, willingly out of bed and dressed and doing things. At 7:30 in the morning!!! What is it about maple syrup time that gets them going so well, LOL?
Closer inspection revealed Poppa getting the bricks built up to seal the heat in for the hottest cooking fire...
...And K2 stacking his pile of kindling that he's been working on collecting...

...And using his new hatchet to chop bigger sticks down to useable size.

Tada, things are off to a rolling boil! The sap is flowing like crazy...last report was 40 gallons of sap collected, and he hadn't checked all of his taps (some have bigger collection containers so he doesn't check them as often)

In other news, the going rate for pine cones collected from the yard is a penny a piece. K2 picked up 119 of them today, for which I paid him and then gave them to Poppa to burn. We have a super-abundant crop and he barely made a dent in the mess!










Thursday, March 05, 2009

Heaven!

Doesn't that all look YUMMY??? Might fill him up for...oh...1/2 an hour, I think!
OK, don't panic...I really didn't buy all that popcorn and force the poor child to eat it. It was given to him :-) Actually, we had a small role in the filming of a commercial, and this was his prop. Yes, he did get to eat some. No, it's not "real' movie theater popcorn...no grease or sodium here folks!

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Dental issues

Something important happened at our house yesterday! This is how ds6 looked when he got up in the morning (yep, scary hair and all ;-) You'll notice a hole in his mouth, btw. Well, he's been persistently wiggling the tooth next to the hole, and he informed me while I was fixing breakfast that his mouth hurt below where that tooth was loose, and that the tooth needed to come out, and the sooner the better!
His "dentist" was in the shower, so he waited for her to exit the bathroom, and informed her that he needed to schedule an appointment with her. Having not heard the conversation between myself and him, she was quite confused as to why her younger sibling would need an appointment with her but he finally cleared her confusion on the matter. So, here they are. I think one of them looks waaaaay too happy, don't you, LOL?
He actually ended up sitting on my lap. They tried the "jerk head" method that successfully removed tooth #1, but that didn't work. This tooth required the "twist and pull" method. It sounded...ummm..let's just say uncomfortable...but it was quick and definitely effective.
Now he has a hole for sticking his tongue out, hee hee ;-)





Sunday, March 01, 2009

My favorite vacation spot...

mindbump suggested by Work at Home Musings

"What is your favorite vacation spot? Why?"


Without a doubt, it's South Manitou Island, part of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. According to Native American legend, a raging forest fire in Wisconsin drove a mother bear and her two bear cubs into the lake, where they swam toward Michigan. The mother bear reached shore and climbed to the top of a high bluff to await the arrival of the bear cubs, but the cubs had tired and could swim no longer. They drowned within sight of the shore. The Great Spirit Manitou created two islands to mark the spot where the bear cubs drowned, and then created the solitary dune to represent the mother bear.

South Manitou Island lies about 17 miles offshore and is accessible by private boat, or passenger ferry. Don't plan on finding any modern amenities when you arrive at the island, however. Whatever you're going to need, you'd better bring yourself. Forget electronic devices if you plan to stay for long...once they're dead, you won't be able to recharge them ;-) You have your choice of three campgrounds to backpack to. We camped at Weather Station Campground, about a 1.5 mile hike from the dock. It lies on the southern end of the island and overlooks the Manitou Passage and Sleeping Bear Dunes. The sunrises and sunsets out over the open water are spectacular. The peace and quiet is awesome. When you disconnect from all distractions, your mind is so much more open to God as he speaks to you. Nature, God's second book, is abundant, from plants and flowers below, to virgin white cedar above. With no artificial light for miles around, the night sky shines with unforgettable clarity. There are unique features to the island. There are no deer on the island, so plant life exhists in a way not found where there are deer grazing on it. Twelve species of orchids can be found on the island. There are no skunks, porcupines, or red squirrels on the island, tho an abundance of chipmunks makes up for the lack of squirrels. Only one species of mouse, the woodland deer mouse, is found on the island. Snowshoe hares are found on South Manitou Island, but not on neighboring North Manitou Island.

Things to do while staying on South Manitou Island include a variety of hikes to see various natural features of the island; visiting the village (now used as housing for staff and volunteers) and museum, climbing the 117 steps of the lighthouse, visiting the old one-room schoolhouse and the cemetery where many of the island's early settlers rest awaiting Jesus' 2nd Coming. Longer hikes will take you to see the cedar forest, a shipwreck on the shoreline (the Francisco Morazon, which ran aground during a November storm in 1960), or the bluffs, the highest point on the island, from which you have a 360 degree view of Lake Michigan. There's also the ambitious 10-mile hike around the island on the beach, should you wish to tackle it.

I recommend bringing hearty food, and a good book or two to enjoy while you're relaxing in the peace and solitude.