My little big brother

Doug is my baby brother that is now my bigger brother. In the end I have more hair that is the ultimate victory in my family. He is the store director of an albertsons. He loves the grocery business. He started as a carry out boy and now he is the the big guy running the store.

Idaho trip

Lori and I had the opportunity of going to Idaho to visit my parents. When we walked into the room there they sat holding hands. They have done that for over 70 years! They are doing great. It is incredible that they are so intact !!!

Mount Ranier

With the Goodman family we took our trusty Armada filled with snow shoes, Food warm clothes and two sets of tire chains a full tank of gas and we headed for the mountain.  The weather forecast was for some rain. The road to paradise was closed due to high  Avalanche risks.

We were hoping that we could find longmiere with few people. We were wrong. It took 45 min to find a place to park. Once we did we found a really great time.

Maple tree farming

This is what the tree looks like when it is giving sapp. A 5/16 hole is drilled into the tree 1 1/2in in an upward direction. The spike is then tapped into the tree with the connected hose. When I first drilled the hole I had sapp running out with a fast drop. When the buckets are full they are taken home and ran thru a pre filter. The sapp is boiled down a ways then filtered again. The boiling continues until the sapp is 219 degrees then the sugar content is measured until it is about 66%. It is then final filtered and bottled. It tastes very good!

Making syrup

We have officially commenced the hobby of making maple syrup. We have a lot of maple trees on our new property that we have officially named it "big leaf ranch. We tapped 5 trees with a total of 8 spiles (goes into tree) . We have checked them for a couple days now and all of our 1 gallon buckets have been full. On a big leaf you need 80:1. You boil down 80 gal to get 1 g of syrup. That is a lot. The sugar maple in Vermont etc is 50:1. We took 7 gallons and boiled it down to 1 quart. It is very sweet tastes more earthy but very good.