Happy Easter

On Saturday we made some treats.

Cole's were a bit "free-form."

Cole, Spike, and I went for a walk in the woods.

Then we tried this idea I found online - dying eggs with kool-aid.

Easter morning baskets.

The bunny cake again.

An egg hunt.

The chickens didn't know what to think of these eggs.

We had a ham dinner. My rolls were almost as good as Martha's. Almost.

After dinner another walk in the woods with Wayne and Heather.

We went up past the well.

We ignored the sign on this little hut. I felt like we were entering the mysterious Cabin on Lost as the door creaked open revealing cob web covered table and chairs and lots of mouse droppings.

There was a stack of Fur Fish and Game magazines from a long long time ago.

We continued on. 

We found another mysterious shelter.

It was very pretty but unfinished.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk, while Wes was home boiling lots of sap.
Happy Easter.

Welcome Spring

The first day of Spring opens with plenty of sunshine...

...and 14 degrees!

Cold Nights, Warm Days

The sap is running.

Saturday morning Heather and Wes took a traxter ride out to check the buckets. Not much was happening at the time, but it had been a cold night and the day was warming up nicely. That makes perfect sap running conditions! So a little later in the morning, Heather and I took a walk around, and sure enough, the sap was starting to drip, drip, drip.

Heather had to sample the sap in each bucket we checked. I don't like the taste of fresh sap. It tastes like lightly sweetened water. Heather, Wayne, and Cole love it. It used to make me nervous to have them drink so much sap straight from the tree - who knows what kind of  microscopic critters could be swimming around in there? But they've survived so far, and the more we keep hearing about the health of our "mocrobiome" the more I figure it might actually be the cure for all that ails us.

This gnarly old maple is a good old friend - not only providing sap, but it's always been a favorite for climbing. 

Wayne and Cole are hard to get pictures of, these days, if they're not on the basketball court. That's Wayne up ahead. When Cole saw me coming with my camera, he ducked into the woods.

Nature's popsicle - a frozen chunk of sap in the bucket.

In the shade of the woods there is still a little bit of ice and snow.

The fields are bare. I hope they stay that way.

At the end of the day, there is plenty of sap to boil down. 

Yes, heather is wearing pj pants in this photo. She got burdock all over her pants and then hastily changed into the first thing she could pull out of the dryer.

Patches surveys the final product without much interest.

From tree to table in less than 24 hours.

Northeast District Music Festival

Last night Wayne played in the Northeast District Junior High Music Festival. It's put on by Rotary and held at North Country High School.

Last year we had a good view of Wayne. Unfortunately, this year, they put the trumpets in the back.

 You can just barely see the top of Wayne's head.

The concert consisted of a concert band, a chorus, and another concert band. Wayne was in the 2nd concert band, as he was last  year. I wonder if they purposely save the best for last, because both times I thought the 2nd band was much better than the first. Maybe I'm biased! The chorus was fabulous this year. Cole was even enthralled, after I had forced him to come to the concert on the grounds that "it would be a good experience" for him.He will most likely be a part of this next year as a 7th grader. As much as he complained about going, in the end I think he really enjoyed hearing a decent band and chorus of kids his age. Also, thank you to Joanie for coming!

When you have a few minutes to spare or take a listen while you do your housework:

You might recognize this one as "the drunken sailor."