Sugaring Update

With help from some Ashfield neighbors, Deb and Dwight, we have pretty much finished the South Woods today -- just a couple more trees need to be added in, using some bits and bobs that nephew L has more familiarity with at this point. fitzw figures there are around 400 taps in those woods -- lots of lovely big trees there. Unfortunately one is no more, having fallen over sometime this winter -- on top of one of the main lines. I dug up most of the pipeline around it, with Deb finishing the bits I didn't have the arm/body strength for. Fortunate for us, this couple has 18 years of experience at sugaring, so that was a big help in finishing this section, with each person not really needing to wait on anyone else for instruction. Although to be fair, the untrained help has also been very helpful as well -- but it did mean we only spent 3 hours in the woods today, covering 2/3 of the taps in that time.

Rumor has it that it may snow again this week.... I'm hoping that's wrong, and that we'll get rain instead.

Oh, and after today, for any of my U.S. friends who feels like complaining about the snow -- if you haven't dug 50 feet of trenches, 1-2 deep through crust and ice (there was _no_ soft snow today), I don't want to hear about it... At least the scenery is a heckuvalot nicer up here than having to do that in the city, though :D

There's still a little more tapping to do tomorrow, but I don't think I'm involved in that one. That line uses some of the last of the old pipeline with bigger spouts than the rest of the trees have, so a different, larger, heavier drill has to be used to tap. Maybe after this year it can be phased out...

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On the plus side of all this work, I suppose I could say it's like going to the gym for a workout, only instead of paying for a membership, I occasionally get paid for it :)

Pew Study on U.S. Governmental Performance

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/gpp_report_card.aspx

Read some of the info available in one of the local papers today. At the above web site you can check out whatever state you're interested in. My state, Massachusetts, got a C; problems with infrastructure (roads, bridges, the Big Dig, state buildings, etc.), and of course our interesting health care situation, among other things. We got a higher grade than New Hampshire, but lower than many other states.

Only three got an A- (Washington, Utah, and Virginia), no straight A's. Some of the stuff that the various states need to work on are disturbing, like the huge amount of money New Jersey owes to pay for state pensions ($58 Billion) for instance -- mind you, they're not the only ones who have pensions to worry about covering, but with the economy the way it is these days, it's a definite worry.

But for states looking to improve, they can check out the other states that have higher grades and see if they can pick up any good ideas on how to achieve that improvement.