A day of proclamations and disappointments

I know we should be happy about this:

Down to 27 1/2 inches and more, I'm sure, by tomorrow.  However, all the warm temperatures and snow melting that contributed to this picture today has led us to make our first proclamation:

"As of this morning, 11:00am, we are halting any more maple sap collecting until it is safe to go back to the maple trees!"

And that's because, at around 11am this morning, as I was on my way to collect from the maple trees we tapped yesterday, I almost lost myself in the snow...several times...too many times to continue under these conditions.  That snow down there is SO deep!  And when you sink down into it...time after time after time...it is SO wet!  So, even I finally gave up, turned around and went back up the hill, practically crawling in places.

And that leads to our second proclamation:

"In future years, if we ever have this much snow again, we will not even THINK about trying to do maple syrup!

I posted this here in case another year or two goes by, nostalgia hits, and I forget how frustrating this was for us this year.  Log Cabin, Aunt Jemima, Vermont, you may have to fill in for our maple syrup needs this year.  (Unless conditions improve, of course.)

We did get a good head of steam going on the syrup we were able to make today, even though it took several hours to do.  Leann busied herself with chopping kindling and making fire starters with old candle wax poured on little pinecones on old muffin tins.  And I found my copy of James Michener's Alaska and started up where I left off last year at this time.  Putin's got nothing on the Russians from 1789 and their treatment of the native Aleuts and others!  Michener's books always get me worked up over one thing or another.

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And look what showed up today.  Our lost shovel from under the snow on Friday!  It was located just about where I was poking in the snow, but I didn't poke deep enough.

And now I'm really tired.