First trip down to the Sugar Bush.

 After hauling some supplies down to the sugar bush I was ready to unpack some gear and tap a few trees and see how the sap is flowing.

In the past years the first sap run has hit at the start of the second week of March right around the 8th or 9th and  I've always had a good snow base for the first run.





No snow, leads to a problem of how to keep the sap and beer cool.

 Taps and a couple a hand drills.  Still trying to track down my other drill from last spring.

 This just shows how an old scar can heal with time.

A couple of years back a large wind fall branch slammed into this maple.

 The winter winds have dropped a lot of old widow makers that have grown weak in the roots. 




I would much rather block up a fallen tree than drop a tree in the timber and it's mighty handy when it drops just a few yards away from the sap stove.

 First bag on.  Let em drip.












Stove is a little iced up.

SUGAR CREEK THEN AND NOW.

I took the back road out of Charlotte on my way home.  It took me a while to figure out just where I was. 


But the rugged terrine said driftless region.  
The Joseph’s Church Sugar Creek 1855 - 1980 must have been some construction project back in the day.
Starting with a small church that they built for $1,500 and followed by a small school about 50  years later for around $6,000.

 The look of the stream has changed but it still has a good head of water rolling through these valleys, on its way down to the Wapsi.

 Here's a great looking homested which sits in this broad valley.









Looks like a stream that would produce a few small mouth.

He Said, She Shed...

 It's Super Bowl Sunday and the sun is shining, the temps are in the low *40's.  So, I start thinking about spring projects like getting my bee hives set up and maple syrup equipment ready for a run of *40 days.









I was happy to see some activity when I went down to check out my hive.

 I opened up the top and check things out.  They had a good supply of honey and they were quite active.

 I hopped into the car to check a couple of other hives.  Ann's hive which swarmed twice last summer looked strong.

 While Donnie and  Nick's hives both struggled to make through the January cold snap.

 He said jump the fence and walk under the cedars.


She said I'll just walk along the fence line.  




As I slid on patches of ice I heard "oh my god, oh my god!"








The result was this BIG 5 with a small kicker at the base.   Way to go Susie.

CRAFTSBURY 8391 by HARTHSTONE

 Time to heat things up, again.

We just got our new wood stove from our buddy Greg at Dubuque Fireplace & Patio.    
 

First step was to remove the quarter round wood trim on the pedestal and replace it with ceramic tile quarter round.  With the cuts all made, Susie piped out the adhesive and laid it down in place.










We also added a tile surround to catch any cinders that pop out of the stove.

 Last cut made and set into place. 

 Some more ceramic quarter round and we're good to go.

The Craftsbury is perfect for our smaller home,  heats with the classic good looks of embossed cast iron. Offering medium heating capacity and small dimensions, the Craftsbury is remarkably functional and adaptable. The Craftsbury is lined with soapstone instead of firebrick, so it continues to radiate for hours after the fire dies down, which is a great feature for a stove with a small firebox. Big ash pan and nice looking castings. One of my favorite features is its big stay-clear viewing window for a small stove and a decent size cooktop, if we ever need to use it for cooking.

But, for now we're content to just sit back and enjoy the view from our cozy living room







The first weekend of the month is our martini night in honor of Kendo.





So, my martini of choice was a Pomegranate  Kicker with Sky Vodka, Pom Wonderful, Grand Marnier, fresh squeezed lime juice, rimmed with granulated raw sugar and garnished with pomegranate seeds and an orange.   CHEERS!!

A TALE OF TWO CAUCUSES

 The caucus system is not a perfect system but it got the job done. Not with secret ballots like the Iowa GOP, but a stand-up-and-be-counted ballot. Having said that, the Caucus tonight was very engaging and exciting.  I am proud of this state and proud to be first in the nation.
Last night we caucused just down the road in Springbrook.  We had just over 30 folks/neighbors show up form our township and the adjoining township, which meant two delegates.  It only took us a bout an hour to do the horse trading and it ended up with Bernie and Hillery each getting one.

 In Maquoketa they used the science room for the caucus center.
The final results of the 16th Precinct Jackson County: Hillary 45 (two delegates to the State Convention); Bernie 22 (one delegate); O'Malley 13 (one delegate).








My friend and coworker at school Iowa State Senator Tod Bowman  stumping for O'Malley.

Hunting for Sheds or Walking the Dog

 Maxine and I walked down to the valley Saturday am to get out and look for shed antlers.  I've seen one buck that had dropped a side an a buddy from fatman's bball already found his first shed down along little mill.








Here's what's left of this old stone foundation

 We hiked some pretty heavily used deer trails.






 I find it amazing that we ever find a shed when you stop to think of all the ground a Buck might travel in a day.

 Here's another foundation.

Twenty five years ago, when I was working on getting the rock supply for the gallery addition to the school house, I loaded out many loads of rock from an old foundation just up the hill from this foundation.  I can't believe I missed this cash of stones

 Little den under this rock out crop.

 Ok, we might be on the right trail... time to scan the hillside.

Upon closer inspection I recognized this skull.

I came across this one last year during mushroom season.  It's from the remains that some local tossed into the ravine after butchering his deer the previous deer hunting season. 

You can see where the rack was cut off, right behind the eyes with a saw before it was thrown out.


Oh well.  It'll make a good candle holder for down in the sugar bush.

No sheds...  But, a good walk for a good dog. 

Dog Days of January.

 It's been a slow start to the New Year,  Hanging close to home.  But, as the sky's cleared the sun warmed things up enough to wet a line on Big Mill.

With the snow on the ground it was easy to see the old train bed of the Bellevue/Cascade Narrow Gage Rail Road. 
The 36-mile, 3-foot narrow gauge railroad was organized as the Chicago, Bellevue, Cascade and Western R.R. in 1877.

Leaving Bellevue, the railroad headed up a steep grade into La Motte continuing into Zwingle, Washington Mills, Bernard, Fillmore and ending in Cascade.
The railroad was notorious for sharp curves and overcoming roller coaster hills.

Down in the flat bottom Big Mill flows along.

I haven't  yet caught a fish in 2016 even though I've hit the stream several afternoons.

 I hit a few little pockets looking for a Big Brown.














With no luck.... not even a bump.

 But, all and all still a nice day to be on the stream.

 I took the level B's up one hollow and down the other side of Seiverding Ridge.

 Stopping briefly to admire some of the old limestone structures on my way over to the cabin.






From what I understand, this was an old school house up on the ridge.

 Back down the next hollow there was several wildlife sightings, deer and turkeys.

 An old church and cemetery   

 And this old homestead just down the road.

 The sun lit up the ski slope at Chestnut Mt.

 Even though January got long, we did manage to get the dogs out for a walk each day and sometimes several times in one day.




















Maxine spotted this little guy and he thought it was her soccer ball.









Ace spotted him too and thought he was a snack.



After a shake or two the opossum did what possums do.

With the days getting longer it's time to quite playing possum and get outdoors and do something.