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First day back to school after March Break has hit a bit of a pause button action this morning. Heading over to the optometrist office to have the kids eyes checked. Eldest has been complaining as of late that she can not read the smart board from where she sits. So she may potentially require glasses. I have told her to ask if she can switch seats so as to be able to read the board, but to no avail. Either she (my daughter) has NOT asked, or has been denied her request. We have not met this new teacher after her initial one was so unceremoniously let go due to poor treatment of several students. His “roast” battles were getting ugly, among other things. Nothing touchy-touchy, just poor judgement for punishments towards disruptive students. Anyway, besides the point. New teacher is here, we’ve not met her to inquire about the seating change, or reasons for a lack thereof, so now we go to the source and get her eyes checked. Then we can go after the teacher once we know more if it is required.

So while the schedule has reset back to normal, we have this one little hiccup to attend to for both kids first. Then we go back to normal – sort of. Today is a bust for being a cookie cutter typical day, but for the most part we all go back to our regular  daily schedules. Huzzah!

So here it is,,Monday in all of it’s cold, damp glory. Saint Patrick’s Day at that! Green things all around. This was always a bigger than normal holiday for the brewery crowd I worked with back in the day. Distorts how popular this day is for the regular world when you work for a brewery. It seems like it’s as big as Valentine’s Day or even Boxing Day from that vantage point, but it really isn’t much of a big deal for regular folks. For Alcoholics I imagine it’s up there with Christmas,  New Year’s,  Thanksgiving,  and the Superbowl, and World Series. But to the rest of us it is just a cold day in mid March.

We did the kids laundry yesterday. So I don’t need to do it today! Yay. We came home a full day later so I had less time to prep things around the house for today. Still managed to go get groceries, and fill up the car, and chop down some wood pieces. Today I focus on report edits and vacuuming the house. Dog hair waits for no man!

I do not recall ever dropping anything on my left shoulder, but boy oh boy do the bones at the very top hurt a lot. Doesn’t feel like the muscles, but rather the solid bone which hurts. I think I’ve been trying to avoid it by changing my posture because as of yesterday the muscles down the interior side of my shoulder blade hurts now too. The sude inwards towards my spine, if that makes it easier to visualize. Very odd.  Makes sleeping most uncomfortable too. Not a fan. Do not reccomend. Zero stars.

Spent some time this morning running about doing some family errands. Gas in the car, grocery shopping, laundry among other things, such as tidying up the main floor after my chaotic kids have rifled through it in a tizzy. Never ends around here. Believe you me. But! He shouts emphatically — tomorrow is a school day and it all goes back to one then. March Break is complete, we are all home safe and sound. Bonus points to all whom scored!

If I could just figure out what I did to my shoulder, and the bones, and/or the muscles I would likely have a sense for just how much longer it will hurt. Aging, such fun. No matter, on to bigger and better things. Such as? You might ask. Oh-oh, like getting into the garage to cut down those longer pieces of junk wood so that they’ll stack on top of the cardboard box full of smaller hardwood pieces. Yes! That exactly. I did that yesterday, and I can once again walk all the way around my shop. It’s really rather glorious. I need to find a place to take/dump them that isn’t in the middle of my garage floor. I’ve had this problem since October. Had been told to wait for March Break when it would all go, and only 1/3rd of it went (because I packed it & took it myself). Could have done that months ago. But no, had to wait. And now I’m still waiting. Nice. It’s a first world problem I know. I whine about it a bunch. More annoyed by it than mad. The kids kitchen was supposed to go up too. That’s still in there collecting dust & cob webs.

Lazy Sunday is here, the temperature is up around +10°C, with significant cloud cover, and a high wind chaser to boot. Fantastic day to curl up and read a book, or play a board game as a family.

At three pm yesterday we finally got 10 16 liter buckets worth of sap into the evaporator pan to start boiling for Maple Syrup. No chance at a tan as the sun was dipping into the tree tops when it finally got started for real. We’ve waited all week for this, but unfortunately we can’t stick around to help now that it has actually started. Too bad. It was the whole reason we came over here in the first place. But with multiple days of rain ahead, no point running an outdoor evaporator. Can’t outpace potential torrential downpours. You’d add needless hours to your boiling with the incursion of rain water into the boiling pan. Not to mention trying to keep the fuel dry enough to burn without having to erect tents, lean tos or tarps which would inevitably trap smoke too. Shame really. This is one of my favourite times of tear to stir up ice chunks, boil sap, cart wood around, split logs, and be outdoors with no bugs & limited sun exposure. Maybe next year we will be more organized.

But know this, if I’m running the program for you we are running the sap deep, and the fires as an inferno! Hot & deep. Helps to freeze off water from the sap buckets over night before you start. A reverse osmosis machine can also knock a number of hours off of your boiling time too, by separating out the sap from much of the water. Less fuel used, and shorter boiling times equals better business practices.

When you think about how it takes forty liters of sap to give you one liter of syrup you can get a sense of just how long it can take to boil all that down to a useable syrup. And we started with 160 liters of sap as an opener for starting the fire, and prepping the evaporator pan. It’s not a small operation here, but we are by no means large. If we were smart we’d vacuum pull the sap directly from the trees, via tubing lines, and strain it, filter it, drain it into a giant holding tank that the bobcat could maneuver around, and just open a tap to flow across a much larger evaporator pan, that was wound with copper wire to heat up water for washing & cleaning our set-up while we were at it. But I digress. Not my show. Also a partially sheltered concrete pad to work off of, and storage bins for fuel near by would be a plus. Pressurised warm/hot water would help for late stage clean ups wouldn’t hurt either. I’m too pragmatic for my own good.

I’d also build a wider evaporator pan, with a longer drainage spigot, and some metal filters that I could slide in, pull out when draining the pan. Wider doors for shoveling in the fuel, and cleaning out the ash/charcoal afterwards too. But I tend towards day dreaming alot, so what do I know. Have a nice weekend at the tail end of March Break. Ciao Bella!

Obstacles and things such as life got in the way of the sapping operation, so we opted to skate more often, and use the hot tub cold plunge combo. That was truly pulse racing! Not a fan of being icy cold up to my shoulders, no thanks. Tried it twice, hated it both times. Love the 100°F hot tub though, that I could do more of any day of the week. The kids went for several sleigh rides behind a snowmobile, which was a lot of fun for them I’m sure. They also went out to tap trees, knock in the spials, add buckets, and affix the hoses needed for collection. We pulled the evaporator out of the show, cleaned it off, leveled it, and got a fire going in it to help clean it off.

Now the operation needs to begin in earnest otherwise we should gather up our things and call it a day. Lots to be done elsewhere, or for other things around the house. I did manage to send 1/3 of my cut off pile north, so that’s great. Not the whole load like I had hoped for, but some is always better than none. Which means I once again need to look into how I can dispose of it myself. Or dump it at the farm for the burn barrel there. I’d run it 24/7 if I could to eliminate all of my cut offs, and scrap wood junk that I have accumulated over the years.

In other news we saw the Leafs lose to the Florida Panthers in a 3-2 regulation time loss. That sucked. But atleast it was over before 10pm. Ha.

The ice won’t wait forever, so we have to duck out to the rink to skate asap or else we will lose the chance to skate again (outdoors) this year. Time to lug all their gear down to the rink and wrestle them into their skates & helmets. Find all the loose pucks, and find a selection of childrens sticks while I’m at it. Gotta hurry though or else it will all turn to mushy slush and the kids won’t be going anywhere on ice.

And I cannot overstate this enough — pfft! I do not care for the time switch at all. This week is a real Jimmie and I’m still surprised when I read the clock to discover what time of day it is at any point. It’s like het lag, but without the exuberance of international travel, or the once fun jet setting hopping airport lounges, and eating/drinking at all hours of the say. Less fun, same out of body fatigue. Zero stars, do not reccomend. Dog hates it too.

I somehow hurt my left shoulder yesterday without realizing it, because it gave me grief all night long. The kids and I took turns trying out their uncles cold plunge pool. I tried twice and hot down to my arm pits once and stopped, but the kids tried again, and again, and again, eventually submerging themselves for 20 seconds or so before jumping back into the hot tub. I’m lead to believe that it is a more pleasant experience if you do it from the sauna instead. But we had the hot tub fired up, so we went from there instead. It6certainly cold. Not my forté by any means. I hate the cold. Despise it actually. Not that I like the outside temperatures being in the 90’s or higher either.

If my calculations are correct today is Wednesday. This will be the coldest day this week before it climbs back up towards double digits, sunshine, and then finally rain. I’m going to need to take the shovel around the house once more to make room for the rains to glow out onto the grass unimpeded. I want it all to run off, not flow back towards the house, or pool near the foundation. Home ownership is fun! At least now the eaves troughs are stuffed right full of ice! That has got to count for something, right?

It’s Saint Patrick’s Day on Monday, so green beers for everyone. I know what I’ll be doing! Watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia that’s what. I don’t drink all that much. I had two gigantic beers at the Leafs game on the third, which had my wobbly in the knees. And I drank a Twisted Tea in the hot tub yesterday evening (which tasted far better than its US counterparts I had in the Florida Keys only a short while ago). And that’s it. That almost entirely encapsulates what I’ve had to “drink” in 2025. More than normal for me, but not even enough to fill an 8 pack of tall cans. Rookie numbers I don’t care to pump up.

Let us see where/how this sapping operation takes us today. Happy Hump Day! Ciao Bella.

Weather up into nearly double digits on the plus side of the Celcious scale makes skiing a tad difficult. Glad we are doing something different that isn’t entirely reliant on the snow for our enjoyment. I’m holding reduced office hours this week so that I can play with my kids while they are still small enough to want to. Took a shovel outside to dig out trenches in the waist deep snow for them, and to bolster the sledding hill off the side of the driveway. It’s all very, very wet and also icy somehow. If it’s not slush, it’s fast!

I figure we could cross country ski fairly easily for atleast another few says if we wanted to, but going downhill skiing seems like a lost cause, atleast as far south as Stouffville is. My guess is people had to head north to Collingwood, or even farther to Quebec to get good snow and cooler temps. Considering we are supposed to get up to 13°C with pouring rain I’m glad we didn’t book any type of ski trip. Luck of the draw I guess. I do miss skiing, downhill or otherwise. Put the equipment on the list! A next year purchase maybe? Although I bet all that stuff will go on sale as stores move onto spring & summer related offerings.

Happy Tuesday, I think.

These tunes take me back to high school and Emmy first year at college. Not neccesarily dance music from the club scene, but rather ubiqitous music from every store, event, or location you can think of. A trip down memory lane, whether you like it or not.

While it will be lovely to still see the sun by seven o’clock this evening, the hour shift has me feeling a little out of sorts today. I can only imagine the havoc tomorrow morning when folks have to get up and go to work with one fewer hour of sleep. Add in the darkness, and then the first morning sun light glare on the roads as we are slowly starting to peak into thawing temperatures as the sun light grows stronger. Yeesh. Going to be an ugly few days. Thank the lord for March Break and a reason to slightly reduce hours and play with my kids when they are home, and available 24/7.  Climbing has been suspended for the week, and Taekwondo is running day camp hours, and Girl Guides is closed, so that leaves us ample time to watch movies, eat meals together, try to tap some maple trees, and generally get on each others nerves as quickly as possible. Ha.

Walking at the farm might need to be put on hold as the mud, and general presence of a gloppy mess is too much to subject our vehicles to at this point. I think some more local neighbourhood walks on a leash will fit the ticket for a short while atleast. Or until I can figure out how to transport the dog in a bubble that stops the car interiors from getting absolutely covered in grim. Towels and blankets don’t seem to do as well as I had hoped. A secondary crate for the van might work if I wanted to drop $200 on something we will rarely use. Sure, fine, awesome. No, I think the better option is to just walk the side walks and side streets more locally and let him sniff about, and not care so much about the step count as it were. Quality time together over quantity of steps taken. Could be a nice change up.

It’s already March 9th, and it will be St Patrick’s Day before you know it. The kids have eye doctor appointments that morning. We will be into April before you even know it. Wild! I have several nephews, and one niece with birthdays this month too. Late in the month, in a flurry of activity bam, bam, bam one after the other. One whom will be 19, another turning 18, and the youngest will be 11. My how time flies!

Plus the 1 hour we lost last night tipping directly from 1:59am to 3:00am in the blink of an eye. Lost time,  that’s a serious condition. Feel bad for anyone with a flight today. Hope you all remembered the clocks changing when booking your travel plans!

Boy how the mighty have fallen off now huh. All I see are ads and very little organic engagement on Linked In these days. Sell sell sell me something, like a course, webinar, seminar or book. It’s paid ads and grift. Not the place I would go to look for work anymore. I’m not entirely sure where I would turn to now anyway, but it sure isn’t Linked In.

I got off of X about a month ago, and I might give up on more social media sites as the year wears on. I can’t recall the last positive interaction that I’ve had with Linked In, so it might be time to leave. Perhaps not right this minute but the transition away from the site will happen. Will some other entity pop up as THE place to go to look for real jobs that companies are ACTUALLY hiring for? I don’t know. Seems like the jobs market has been in a real trough for a number of years now. Fun.

But on another note, here we are on a cold and snowy Saturday morning. Funny how true words were not written down by me than the off the cuff remarks about a lone email changing the course of your day, week, month, or whatever. Funny how life works eh? On the plus side I got that report off my desk in record time, and have the week free from it thanks, in part, to the March Break going live as of 3:00pm Friday afternoon. No shortage of folks jumping at the starting gun to run off and enjoy some sun, sand, and warmth elsewhere. Or maybe your kink is a hut on a lake for ice fishing, or a snowmobile, or cross country and down hill skiing. Who knows what you all have in store for the March Break. I hope it is something you like, and will enjoy.

The clocks move forward at 2:00am tonight skipping directly over to 3:00am, so let us all pray for a quiet morning and an easy transition to those bright and sunny evenings we grow to be so fond of. Nolonger will the sun set before 7pm from here until the fall! Yay. Waking up back in the dark for a bit is going to suck for a while. Same with that bright easterly sun rise on the commute in to work. Beware of the glare!

And on that bombshell I will bid you adieu. Bon voyage! Take care, be safe, and come home safely. Ciao Bella.