garden prep

I rototilled the garden and the squash triangle across the road yesterday evening at 5:00. As usual, I rented Groffie's tractor, which this year turned out to be a new one. Kubota was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1890. Revenues in 2008 were 12.6 billion.

wedding in Pittsburgh

Friday evening we drove west for a Saturday wedding in Pittsburgh at the Union Project. We delivered and iced the Casselman Bakery cinnamon rolls. One event theme was vegetables. Another was bridesmaids dress colors. A wonderful time, thanks to friend and bride Anna Groff and her family, fiance and friends.

finished boiling

Last evening I finished boiling. I had three taps open, but the flow this year was nothing special. We got most of the sap from one. Anyway, sit on the chair, listen and hear the bubbling tree water. Smell the syrup beginning to form. A nice get-away behind the barn. The new burner, by the way, can pump out 30,000 btu per hour.

snow blows

February around here racked up a record 41-point-something inches of snow. Dorcas and the four braved a weekend get-away to our other family homeland, Grantsville, at 2,300 feet above sea level. Forty-one inches was nothing there. Here she and Stephanie stand outside the back door of the motel. In the Appalachian highlands snowfall totals are being measured in feet. A record-breaking 20 feet this winter. Joel photo