Tapped ten maples today. Now we'll see if the sap flows. What's needed are nights below freezing and warmer days. Last night (and tonight's forecast too) it never dropped below freezing. Global weirding? Are you familiar with that concept? If not, check out Tom Friedman (he coined the phrase). Definitely makes sense to me. At any rate, after tomorrow we should be into some good sap production conditions.

My mother was wondering if the maple syrup we produce will be like the $64 tomato; but there's no danger of that since the total investment was $12. Speaking of Mom, we had some good laughs with her yesterday, and when you hear the story you'll understand why I'm sorry there's no photos.

I'm always giving her heck for not having a couch. Well yesterday she bought one at her favorite junk shop. Jake and I went to pick it up, got it in the front door of the house but then could not get it through the apartment door. So there it was, stuck in the entryway. Cara and Jessie were upstairs, trapped. I drove over to Greg's to see if he may be able to figure something out. He did. He removed a window--the whole thing-- and we shoved it through. Mom then treated us all to pizza. So, we had a nice meal (frugal for us!) and Lucy has improved her accommodations.

I've made such good progress in the bucking operation that it's time to fell some more trees. Hopefully we'll have a two year supply so that we can then focus on widening the trail and picking a new site for the next cut. Supposedly new growth takes hold in five years, at which point you can do some thinning in the hopes of stimulating more robust trees. We'll see...

In the meantime, we're going to see if Machias Hardware sells taps so that we can try our hand at maple syrup production. It's a bit of a rush job, I suppose, but it seems like a relatively simple affair--capture the sap then boil it down to syrup (famous last words!) If we can't get the taps locally we'll have to order them on-line and probably wait until next year.

I had planned to take a picture of my woodlot, but I hesitate to bring the camera when I'm cutting and by the time I finished tonight I decided against walking "all the way" back. Instead I took this picture of the... barn? shed? future home when Cara kicks my sorry a_ _ out of the house?

As I've mentioned, I'm committed to getting 10 cord of wood cut, split and stacked before the black flies kick in so that I can do some serious hiking, kayaking, etc. Well, even though the rest of the country seems to being getting blasted with snow, we've had nothing but fog and rain. So I decided at work today that when I got home I'd put the rain-suit on fire up the chainsaw. When I first went out it was raining but it quickly turned to snow which was great luck because it's a lot more comfortable--and beautiful too. I've been trying to burn through a tank of gas a day, which takes about an hour, but I was feeling so good today I ended up going through two. Usually when I'm done I do push-ups and pull-ups in the shed (I'm gonna be mighty rugged soon, I'll tell ya), but there was no chance of that today. Anyway, in the last week I've only missed one day in the woods, so no complaints.

I've been enjoying the heck out of a book about the Appalachian Trail. You can get on the trail in Hanover, NH, pretty much right outside Max's door; so when he's sick and tired and he can't take it anymore he can just walk on over to my house.

These are some of the trees I felled this weekend. I'm still pretty low on the learning curve as far as being a "woodsman" goes, but I felt pretty good about getting most of the trees to land where I aimed. It's pretty unsettling when a tree starts going down opposite your intended destination. It's hard to tell from the picture, but these trees are on a fairly steep incline, so you have to be pretty careful when you decide to fight gravity.

Anyway, not to bore you--oh wait, that's what the poetry is for--but this is my new routine: fell the trees on the weekend, buck 'em up during the week. I'm trying to get out there every day so I can be pretty much set for next winter before the black flies make the whole affair a misery.

Hopefully I'll be spending more time at the ocean during black fly season rather than in the woods. That, by the way, is how the Passamaquody did it: they spent the fall and winter in the woods, the summer by the sea. Native people always seem to have the right idea, until somebody has to come along and muck it up.

I sure hope this city boy won't do too much damage out there...

This house, being built just down the road from Mitch, is going to be featured in an architectural magazine.

Beach was pristine and free of junk, but did pick up this naturally decorated mussel shell.

Beautiful day at Roque Bluffs. Had a nice walk, good conversation and a big healthy dose of fresh ocean air.

Drift tree root on the Sunrise Trail.

This is the infamous Bridge to Nowhere; actually it's the Rim Rd. Bridge which connects East Machias to Machiasport--so I guess it's more like the Nowhere to Nowhere Bridge :) Enjoyed a solitary walk today and brought home some nice driftwood. Yesterday Cara and I went for a walk and I lugged home some of the old track. Don't know why I like rusty iron, but I guess I inherited that from my parents. Anyway, I recently realized how my favorite possessions are all found items--our Venice Iron Work sign, the A & P sign, beach glass I collected on Long Island. Perhaps I'll put up some pictures.

Tomorrow I'm going to cut wood with Greg out back, then go for a walk with Mitch in Roque Bluffs. I'll bring my camera on the walk so I should have some good ocean shots. And who knows, maybe I'll find my next favorite item washed up on the beach.

True enough that Debbie makes a mean prime rib, but does it really match up to the cuisine pictured above? Though she is the host with the most, it'll be a long time before she's in the same league as the My Life is Over Cafe. And why did I have this photo on file?--for a moment such as this, because here at Birch Wisdom we are prepared for any and every eventuality. My mother was about to dig in to the fried shrimp, but I'm sure she didn't enjoy it as much as I did the $85 slab of beef served at Chez Debbie et Ricard. Hold on, that slab of beef was originally $85 until the father of my beautiful wife had the butcher shave off $25 worth.

One more thing: somehow I failed to mention that my Jessie Sweet turned 18 yesterday. Every time I think of her getting ready to leave home I think I'm going to cry. The tears, for the record, would be of the bittersweet variety. I'll miss her something terrible, but how can I not be proud?

OK, enough of the Hallmark stuff; I've got to get back to my meaningless poems.

American Tao -- no. 14

Iron ore is in the ground

lying in wait to erect itself

like a spine unfurled

into the air to hold you

above the din of human noise.

But if it all comes crumbling down

do you do nothing but stand

in the morass of worry?

Where do you go

to collect your thoughts?

Is it a conundrum that

the deeper into the woods

you go the less lonely you feel?

Not really,

because you are

the earth

which neither stands

nor falls down.

Pretty soon this is going to be the Pictures of My Wife blog. Not a bad idea, probably get my followers into the double digits. Speaking of which, yesterday we had a wonderful time seeing Alice and Celia and I found out that Celia has a blog of her own and she's actively competing with me for followers. Well, there's a contest I'm sure to lose. Before I move on, I should mention that this photo was taken about an hour ago on the Rail-to-Trail in East Machias. It's just absolutely beautiful today, but there's a snowstorm on the way.

It's a good thing we went for a walk because I need to work off the delicious zeppole (sp?) that Richard made yesterday. I wonder what Eve is doing today, because she was popping those things into her mouth like popcorn. No doubt Richard told her they have zero calories. And Eve, one more thing, you're on Facebook all day but you can't be a follower of the Birch Wisdom? Come on now.

You see how it is, all because of Celia I need to go trolling for customers. I wish I'd taken a picture of Celia yesterday in the Salvation Army with Alice. I was thinking what a nice gift it would have been to Grandma Edith for her to see her legacy in action. And Mom, please, you're my mother for goodness sake: be a follower!!!!!

Well, I landed my dream job today: personal trainer for the pop star Chilly P. The thing that kills me (other than the chance to get up close and "personal" with a mega-star--who, by the way, is a bit of a prima donna as she is just now demanding right-of-refusal over this post) is she always looks so good even without diet and exercise. Yesterday, for instance, we're at this conference at the college but we're sitting at separate tables. When the buffet is laid out people at my table are nudging me, saying, "look at Cara, first in line for the food." And then of course she goes back for seconds, thirds, you get the idea. But does she ever gain an ounce? She could go to sleep in a vat of Ben & Jerry's and still wake up slim and trim. Makes you sick, doesn't it?

I meant to take a picture out in the woods today because the sky was blue and then pink and the air had the whiff of spring (I swear) and for some reason I thought this would come across in a photo. But, truth is, your first impression would be of snow. Anyway, I'm sticking to my story: spring is on its way.

We have the good pleasure of having Jake home for the weekend, pictured here with his friend Shiloh. They've had a bit of an adventure as Jake's car conked out last night a few miles from home (AAA to the rescue) and then this morning we lost power for a few hours (apparently somebody knocked over a utility pole). They've just gone out for "breakfast" at 11:00 a.m., perhaps under the delusion that there's a brunch scene in Machias. Now I'm knocking myself in the head for not recommending Tom's "My Life is Over" Mini-Mart. You can get whatever you want there whenever you want it. Well, anything fried anyway...

This work of art is an Eve creation. She has always had a gift, and I'm proud to have this piece in my collection. Hey Evie, you know what I've been thinking about--our "six foot under" jokes.

The Zig and the Zag

(for Eve)

Remember the days

when you attended the school

where they didn't believe

in evolution?

And they asked you

if you believed

in the Son

and you said, "Yes,

I believe in the sun;

it's shining on my face

right now."

See, you're an original

with your own spiritual compass

that doesn't point North or South

but into the great beyond

of imagination.

American Tao -- no. 13

Is arrogance unavoidable

when you seek your own acclaim?

Is hope the delusion

that there is no death?

Another in the "who said it?"

genre: The worst thing is not

to fail to reach the top

of the ladder, but to reach

the top of the ladder

and realize it's up against

the wrong building.

You are not permanent.

Be of the earth,

and for the earth,

before you are planted

in the ground.