Week 84 - Redneckified

This week it was finally time to boil down the maple sap to syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Since I had collected 5 gallons of sap and left the rest at the parentals', I was hoping to get maybe a pint or two of real maple syrup. Without a burner to boil it off and fighting the urge to put 4+ gallons of condensation on my kitchen ceiling, I decided to build a bit of a wood stove outside.

Stacking all our old foundation blocks that we found in the pasture, I built a little oven. Then some old woven fence made for a nice grill top. I balanced the pot on top and shoved in tons of old leftover wood from last year. It took all day just to get rid of three and a half gallons and then I removed the last gallon of water the next day off the stove. In the dark the fire looked like some sort of witches convention. Large fire, the pot rolling and spurting while the wood crackled. It was quite eerie. But the end product is sweet with a bit of smokey flavor. Waffles on Sunday mornings just got even better.
 
Hannah is really starting to get around the house quicker. She crawls quickly and remembers places she's been. So this means she will boogie to right where she wants to be and she doesn't want to be taken anywhere else. This has opened up a lot of learning opportunities for her as she explores the house and checks in on things throughout the week. For example, she is fascinated by the process of dishwasher loading and then the subsequent unloading of clean dishes. And she loves to ride in the laundry basket atop a fresh batch of clothes out of the dryer.

In other news, Hannah is now a big cousin to a new addition to the family. And I have finally become an uncle. We all went to visit baby Andrew at the hospital and Hannah was mostly oblivious to what we were really doing. But there was a point that she seemed to realize there was another baby worth paying attention to. And the moment where she sat up on the bed and smiled at him was pretty priceless. They have many years together ahead of them.

Hannah meeting her baby cousin.

Hannah has also learned a few other things recently that I would be remiss if I didn't mention. She loves to play the piano now and plays copycat to me. She likes to play more when I'm playing along, but sometimes she will sneak over to the piano and pull herself up to peck away at some keys. It's pretty cute.

We have also learned to climb stairs. Bottles can be good motivation.

I have to embarrass my interns from last summer for just a minute. This week was the university-wide research forum and while they didn't place, they sure did look sharp. I was genuinely proud of them for all their hard work over the past year. They have learned a lot and have helped us make good progress on a variety of projects. Sure, they didn't win anything (although they did get 1st and 2nd in the college forum), but they represented with class.

One last thought... animal behavior towards other species is based on relative experiences. And Jasmine is now best friends with the dog.