Tapping our way into spring

Our spring break excursion was over and we came home to eight inches of pretty, new snow.  The town plow had cleared our driveway but there was still lots of snow up by our house and garage.  I and our trusty little Toro snowblower made quick work of clearing that away and we were all settled in again.

Since it was a beautiful, sunny day, and since the temperature is supposed to be quite warm tomorrow and Sunday, we hiked out on our snowshoes to a couple of maple trees right up close to our house.  Because of her eye surgery, Leann isn't supposed to do anything crazy--like drilling holes in trees with a hand drill--so she stood by to offer encouragement to me and take pictures.

I drilled holes for two taps on each of these two trees.  

And then we hang our modified milk cartons on the taps to catch the drips.  When I reached into the holes I had drilled to fish out all of the extra wood chips still in here, I could feel how warm it was in there and it also felt a little damp.

Imagine my surprise when, as soon as I pushed in the tap in the last hole, sap started dripping out right away!  Listen to this sound and imagine being in the midst of several maple trees all dripping at once.  Listen...

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Getting the maple sap routine started today was really to help us feel better after hearing today's news from Leann's sister, Kristi, whose cancer is back again.  It seems like the circumstances surrounding her previous experience with colon cancer and now again with this next phase have all been unusual.  Now the cancer is in such a strange location that they say it will be really difficult to get it out.  And it needs to come out.  

So, if all of you who read this blog could keep Kristi and her family in your thoughts and prayers, we would all really appreciate it.  And if you have any quick thoughts from your own experiences or people you know on how she can get her mind and heart ready for the long haul ahead of her, please email me directly [mlchilds@gmail.com] and I'll pass it on to her.  And thanks so much!