Saturday's Assorted Thoughts

.

Happy Spring!
FYI... The egg trick does not work.
It is just an old wives tale.

.
.
Good Morning Everyone;
As some of you already know, Casey's little roller~coaster ride continues...
.
.
.

.
.
?

CaseyAnne -Skinny as all get out...
03/18/2009
.
.

She had a doctor appointment yesterday (Friday) at the clinic here.
Dr. Szabo will speak with Dr. Sutherland on Monday.
I do like Dr. Szabo. He is not arrogant, and is not afraid to say when he isn't familiar with some things. There have been many times since Casey changed doctors that he has said, he would find out for us. (He is also not afraid to say "oh really?").

• He listens.
• He takes notes.
• He cares.
• He doesn't treat her like an imbecile.
• AND, he has a great sense of humor to boot..

.
She had her testing last Monday at Sutherlands office- (If I were rich, I might have my own little helicopter, or a camper for us).

Anyway...
... having driven back to Minnesota last Sunday, we had to stop and let The Punk go potty.

Seeing an exit in the middle of nowhere, I chose that one as I had seen a little dead end road running almost next to the highway. And separated by the highways fence.
.
.
.
?

And so off we went!

.
I spied a few things on that little dead end road, but Punk had to "GO" first.
("First Things First" applies; especially when a pups bladder is involved).
Taking care of that business, and turning around, I had to pull over and snap a few pictures.
.
.
.

.

Someone was harvesting Maple sap.

Many maple trees with bags attached for collecting the sap.
These are only a very few of what they had tapped.

.
.
.

A close up of those bags...

.
.
Pa made our Maple Syrup- (Or as I have always called it, "SYRPLE").

Daddy didn't have fancy bags in those days. He used a spigot to tap the sap, and hung an ice cream pail on it. To that bucket, he added the cover with a slit in it to keep windblown debris (and bugs) to a minimum. (~Smart. ~Very smart).
***If memory serves right, it takes about 40 or 50 gallons of the sap, slowly dribbling out of the trees, to make one little gallon of syrup.

We had an old wood/cookstove in the basement where Dad would 'cook' it down. ***What comes out of the trees looks like little more than ordinary tap water, and is barely barely sweet.
.
.
.

Our old stove was very much like this one,
though ours was white and had a larger 2nd oven...
Photo from HERE.
.

My friend Val (aka Mrs "G"), has written about how Maple Syrup is made today, newfangled contraptions and all.
Read about her outing to Proulx Sugar Bush and Berry Farm, and The History of the syrup- From the native Tribes to the present
CLICK HERE for that story.

.
.
.
Back to the little pit stop of "Ringle"

Driving up the road a spell, we saw what Ringle was really about.
.
.
.

Casey now wants this truck for her own.

Gee, maybe I could park it right next to the old tiller I have.
(That won't be tilling the garden this Spring unless I get really lucky).
..
.

.

"WELCOME TO RINGLE"?!?!?
(Must be Ringles own "Sugar Shack")!
.

.

Reminds me of this from an email...

...

.

I think I love these guys, syrple or not...

Maybe they are "The Maple Mafia" hehehe

.

And so we are back home once again. If you have not yet commented on Casey's blog about her next surgery, please CLICK HERE

She should find out on Monday or Tuesday when her next surgery will be.
(Back to dreaming about that camper).
But the people have been SO good to us at the hotel too. They don't remember me specifically by name when I call, but when they ask "for how many people?" -I say "for myself and Punk."
With the mere mention of "PUNK" they know exactly who's coming! hehehe
.
.
Here we are, living the first full day of Spring.
Thank God it has finally arrived- Winter was TOO long for many of us. While I am not looking forward to the 'hot and muggies', I welcome the arrival of warmer weather.

Before Casey's appointment yesterday I even pulled out a few weeds, (my leftovers from last Fall that I must not have had the energy to deal with).

Punk played around for a bit, sniffing everything and sneezing too- (In the Spring there are just so many important smells that must be attended to ya know)...

I had brought my soda out with me. And in my haste to leave, I had left it sitting outside.

I spied it this morning as I left Punk out to take care of her business earlier...

I came in and grabbed the camera because I knew if I didn't, simple "words" sure as heck would not describe it all...

.
.
.

.
.

Yeah I know. Mother Nature has a wicked sense of humor.

.
.
Have a "wunnaful" and 'warmish' weekend!

Love to all.

XOXO
Me

free hit counters

Posted to my Y! 360, Saturday March 21, 2009 - 12:43pm (CDT)