Girly-girl

So much for encouraging our little girl to be a tomboy. Before Haley was born I went through all of Aiden's old clothes and saved quite a few of them, determined that Haley would wear those jean overalls and blue striped shirts proudly. I did pass on the ones with dump trucks and dinosaurs, and anything that said "little man" on the front; I'm not crazy. But then we received tubs of amazing hand-me-down girl clothes, and gorgeous new gifted girl clothes, so many that Haley can't possibly wear any one outfit out before she outgrows it. And then Haley refused to grow any hair. The problem with that is, whenever she wears something androgynous, people inevitably say, "Aww, how old is the little guy?" or "What a big boy!"

So I've made my peace with the pink. And the fairies. And the flowers. And she IS pretty stinkin' cute in a tutu. Once she gets some hair though... it's on with the Carhartts!

Attack of the Redpolls!

Not a good day to be a seed at our house...

Winter's Grip, Slipping?

Yesterday we woke up to a new 6" of snow. It's that time of year where winter tries desperately to claw its way back on top in nasty bursts of frigid energy- in between lengthening periods of dripping snowmelt and shrinking brown snowbanks. Not my favorite, really. This past weekend winter was still holding us in its grip- we went into Lebanon on Saturday to run the Shamrock Shuffle fun run and 5K (which, incidentally, was held on a day that was 70 degrees and sunny last year) and although the thermometer said 34, it felt more like 20 with a bitingly cold wind. We all (including Aiden on foot and Haley in a stroller) ran the 1 mile fun-run, but had to bail on the 5K since the kids couldn't stand the 1+ hour wait for the race start out in the cold.

Aiden & Andy before the fun run

Sunday was a bit better... warmer, and we made a quick trip to a local sugarhouse (tis' the season) and went to a birthday party at Splash Park that resulted in two thoroughly exhausted and chlorinated munchkins. Pizza and beers with friends afterwards was probably too much for the kids (Haley slept through the whole thing and Aiden and Molly were so tired they slid under the table and quietly investigated stale crumbs and other gross former edibles) - but sometimes parents need a winter pick-me-up too!

Inching to the boil...

It's been a little like jogging through molasses to get started this sugaring season. The deep snow has been a real challenge in many ways. Even before the 30" dump last week, it was difficult to pull the sleigh on the snowmobile around the woods... but this weekend it was impossible. The snow is so wet, grainy and sticky, and the sleigh so heavy, especially when loaded with a tank carrying 100+ gallons of sap, that it just dug in and wouldn't move. After much pushing, pulling, experimenting, and cursing... we gave up. Sarah, Joe, Erin, Fra, U. Preston and A. Chris came for lunch so we retreated to the house to eat and think. After lunch we did attempt hauling 5 gallon buckets of sap by hand all the way from the sugarwoods up to the driveway, but it was murder. We gave up (again), dumped the buckets on the top of the hill, and tried not to think about the overflowing ones at the bottom. It wasn't too hard to forget about all that stupid snow while we were soaking up some steam in the sauna.

Erin helping Aiden make a snowman. Snow was PERFECT for that!

Sarah and Francesca

Hauling buckets up from the woods by hand (not recommended)



Not sure why Haley was upset (bottom right) but she was over it 2 seconds later

On Sunday we came up with a better plan. Our friends Andrea and Ralph came over to help and we stationed 3 people in the woods filling 5 gallon buckets and leaving them by the trail. Andy and Aiden buzzed around with the snowmobile and carried up 10 gallons at a time strapped to the back of the snowmachine. It was slow going, but it worked, and we finally had enough sap to start a boil. Dad got to work in the sugarhouse, trying to remember all the tricks and pitfalls to keeping the sap flowing and a good boil going to sweeten the pan. Maybe by the end of the week, they'll actually have some syrup made!

Andy fueling the fire

Finally boiling!

Funny stuff...

Stop Work Order!

There has been a slight change of plans in the sugarwoods, we hear. After we left VT yesterday it started snowing, and it snowed and snowed and snowed through all of that night and the next day, dumping a total of 30" of new snow on everything. The 5th largest storm on record in Vermont. Ever. Aiden and Grandma Sally spent the whole day inside watching it pile up, incredulous, while HaPa tried in vain to keep up with the accumulations on the driveway. When they all did venture outside, Timber and Aiden found that they couldn't even walk without a trail blazer ahead of them. The cars were buried, the snowmobile was nowhere to be found (somewhere under there but certainly not visible anymore) and most of the sugar buckets were completely covered too. Needless to say, even if it warms up later this week and the sap starts dripping, it's not gonna get collected until a good deal of this melts away!

This is a photo of Mom's subaru

More photos...

Some more great shots of tapping weekend from others' cameras...

Snow torture!

?

Haley ready to do something, though we're not sure what!


Bucket liners

Resting on the job

Kung fu belly

Woohoo!!!

March is for Maples

Finally, March has arrived! And the only reason we look forward to a cold and raw month like March (besides some important family birthdays and one Guinness-saturated holiday) is the maple sugaring! We had a bit of a soggy start to the sugaring season this year, but no grumpy faces were seen anywhere. In truth, though soaking rain was forecast all weekend, we lucked out on Saturday and got the bulk of the work done in nothing worse than a little spit and fog. It was warm too, so the sap was running!







As usual there was something for everyone to do on tapping weekend; Paulette, Haley, Munson and I were in the bucket shed lining buckets; Grandpa Dada was counting and loading buckets on the sleigh; HaPa running the buckets out to the woods on the snowmobile; Dan, Andy and Aiden were in the woods tapping; and Grandma Sally was making a deliciously hearty venison stew in the kitchen. For the most part, it went like clockwork. The snow was still over 2 feet deep in the woods though, with a "sort-of" crust on it... 60% of the time, you stayed on the top after transfering all your weight to the next foot... but 40% you sunk in past your knees, even on the snowmachine track. Snowshoes would have been a brilliant idea, but for some reason we were all too lazy or stubborn to use them. So several boots were temporarily lost, and there was a lot of keeling over and cursing under the breath going on. But we got it all done.

On the open top of the hill, the sap was gushing out before we could even get the taps hammered in, and in no time we had a good pitcher of sap to toast to the start of the season with. Of course that toast quickly led to similar toasts with something of much higher alcolhol content. But that's all part of the fun. After we finished work for the day, it was time for the sauna for some of us. Paulette and Aiden and I bravely ran out through the snow clad in only our towels and boots and had our 45 mintues of steamy heaven. It was heaven too, especially for muscles sore from punching through snow and ending up unexpectedly twisted in strange orientations. I had to run inside at one point to get us all a round of gatorade since I was worried we were exceeding the recommended heat exposure for a 4-year old. Aiden loved it though, and today we left him up there in VT for a week of grandparent fun while Windy Hill School is closed for spring break. I'm sure he'll have more fun with the sugaring and sauna-ing before we can get back to pick him up next weekend!