Amazing Cruise

It's been a while since I've last posted.  Very busy here yet, nothing really worthy of sharing...until now!

We just got back from a 5 day cruise to the Bahamas.  I didn't want to post the excitement I was feeling leading up to our departure for fear of letting the wrong person know we were away from home...thus being robbed.  So now that we're back I get to tell you just how wonderful of a trip it was.

First of all, this trip has been booked since December.  My hubby "earned" it.  What I mean by that is a company we purchase from last April had sent out a promo flyer stating that if we sold (an ungodly amount) enough electrical components we could earn a trip.  At the time it seemed unreachable, so I just placed the brochure in their file.  Well about 4 months into the promo, we got a huge job that made up for 3/4 of the merchandise amount.  With the exitement of this becoming a possibility we ordered all the electrical portions of our addition we were doing to our home.  Still not enough.  Then we placed an order for wire to go to the sugarhouse underground and tada....we qualified!  Wahoooo!

The promo paid for our airfare and the cruise itself.  The taxes, port fees, and upgrades were on us.  We chose to go to the Bahamas with visiting two ports; Freeport & Nassaua.

The cruise; OMG this trip way out did my imagination of what it would be like.  The food and service were outstanding!  The ship was constantly being cleaned by it's staff.  They were all so polite and personal.  Life just doesn't get better than this!  There was food galore, for every taste.  I really enjoyed the fine dining.

I actually got my hubby to wear a tie!  Those that know him wouldn't believe this with out the pics!  We had a formal night where the dining was even more formal than the other nights.  I had lobster and it was delicious.  You name the kind of food and it was there!

We went on an excersion in each port.  Freeport we went on a glass bottom boat.  I got a touch of motion sickness but was able to confine it.  Larry saw lots of sharks through the glass as well as other fish.
In Nassaua we went on an island tour.  I was as taken with this island. The vendors are down right pushy!  I even had a go round with a women over her "complimentary" beads that I was suppose to tip her for $4.  Long story...anyway I gave back to her, they weren't worth the money nor was her tactic to get money from us.

We met 3 couples on board.  Two in which we dined with every night at the formal dining room and one couple that we just seemed to have things in common with,Junie & Jeff.

Junie, talked me into judging a hairy chest competition.  OMG, I had no idea we were going to have to "feel" them.  Ewwwww!  Not to mention they were very sweaty and did I mention hairy!  It was funny though.  We went in the bathroom immediatly after and washed with soap clear up to our shoulders!

We stayed in a Stateroom.  Which is an interior room with no windows.  It was great.  The bedding is so comfy.  Ususally when we stay in hotels the beds are hard to get  comfy in but theirs were so wonderful.  Besides we would be so exhausted that we litterally fell into bed each night around 1am.  Each night they had shows and comedy acts and after those were all done there were several clubs to chose from as well as the casino.
4 days though was the perfect amount of time.  We were getting a bit sleep deprived and dehydrated from the sun.

My dad picked us up from the port prior to our flight and we went home with him to visit.  His wife made us lunch and we all chatted until our flight time.  That was really nice since this year I hadn't been able to get down to Florida to visit.
Our flight was delayed and ended up making us run to connect to our next flight only to find out that our tickets didn't reflect the time change (Florida to Chicago) and we actually had an hour but also it was delayed 2 more times making it delayed by 2 hours.  We finally made it home at 12:30am.  I don't even remember crawling in bed.

It was a wonderful time.  Just my husband and myself.  The magic of a marriage that has always been filled with love and respect.  20 years this July!  It just seems like a few years not 20.

Anyway I strongly recommend a cruise to anyone interested!

TAXES!!!!!

I am so......rrrrrrrrrrrrrr....annoyed!

We just received a letter stating;

"Assessment issued to adjust 2007 School Property prebate to increase 2006 Household Income by Business Income, Line hm, of $9208.00.   Business Losses cannot be netted out for Household Income purposes. "

Attached was a bill for$600.59.  The third attached sheet listed HS-122 as filed prebate at $2,236.00 ~ as adjusted $1,774.00 equalling a change of $-462.00

At first I was overwhelmed by the wording trying to figure where I go from here.  There were statements of; "You have the right to appeal this assessment within 60 days." and "We urge you to pay this bill within 15 days to avoid accrual of any additional charges."

Oh, did I mention that we recieved three of these packets.  Each for a different year, each one with the opening statement holding 2 years in the paragraph just to confuse me.

I put it aside without studying too much last night.  I figured I would tackle it today with no distractions.  After reviewing more in depth and pulling out my tax paperwork, I went online to pull up HI-144 line h instructions.  It was clearly stated there that you could NOT take a loss on that line you had to enter "0".  Turbo Tax, the software I use, automatically took our two businesses (sugaring & Larry's normal job) and combined them.  It was clearly stated there that you could not do that.  So....as much as I hate to admit it....the state is right....we do owe money.

Now, since this is dating back as far as 2006, we also owe penalties and interest!  Bringing our grand total to $1238.15 owed to Department of Taxes. 

I posted my annoyance on Facebook and a friend informed me that we could respectfully requdst abatement of the penalties as we have been filing in good faith using an approved online tax-filing product.  So I did just that.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed hoping they comply.

Jeesh.......!

Now we get the sugaring weather and the trees are leaving out!

Can you believe the temps?!  I know THIS is the normal temps of April and that teasing stuff we had was not the norm!  If this had come 3 weeks ago, it would be ideal!  That week of 70-80 degree weather, where I actually rode with the top down on my car one night was the end of sugaring!  If that week had not existed, we'd still be going strong probably! 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, that week was nicer than some Augusts we've had.  I mean, I actually put my insurance back on my car.....the first of April?! 

We had a good year of sugaring though.  We made 18 barrels, not too shabby.  In fact, the last night boiling, it was so warm in the sugarhouse the doors had to be left open.  It's so DRY here that he would only boil at night so he could keep an eye on the sparks, as to not start a fire.  That happened 4 years ago; a spark landed in the crotch of a tree, on top of some old leaves, it smoldered and before we knew it the woods had a little glow.  Thank goodness a visitor walking down to the sugarhouse noticed it.  We quickly shut down and got out the hoses, buckets and chainsaw.  If that had gone undetected I hate to think what would have happened. 

We started washing pipeline on the 3rd of April.  All six of us, teams of two, just like tapping.  Did a bit more Easter, after church.  That left Larry with a couple 100 to putter at through the next week after work.  Everything is all cleaned up now.  All we have left is to replace the wood and Larry is pulling out logs as I type.

Now I'm just looking forward to non-stop summer temps!  And to get rid of the cold I seemed to have caught this weekend!

Torn between lovin the warm weather but knowing we need sugaring weather!

At this point we are about 3 barrels shy of our normal production of maple syrup.  We are not alone however.  Alot of the maple producers have only made a fraction of their usual amount of sweet Vermont gold! 
Last year's season was outstanding.  We made by far more than we have ever made and so did everyone else.  We even heard rumor that the bulk buyers still had stock maple syrup left over in their warehouse so perhaps this is not a bad thing that we all (or most of us) have made less.  I must be like milk pricing, supply and demand.  The cows giving milk out there, makes it less valueable because it is so abundant.  However, don't quote me on that, I'm certainly not an expert at the agricultral dairy affairs.  Just my personal thinking.

Last week our temps were 60s this week, 20-30s.  The sap hasn't started to run until late afternoon here.  Thus Larry held off boiling until this morning.  Everything is froze up tight in the lines.  With the forcast of today, I'm not sure they will unthaw until tomorrow.

Yesterday, I went into the one remaining beehive that survived the winter.  They are doing very well, very active.  We started feeding them sugarwater last week and giving them pollen patty.  I had completely unwrapped them from the winter, worried they would sweat and get disentary.  Yesterday I wanted to remove the glass bee feeder I had inside their hive, worried it would freeze in there.  When I opened the box a gust of wind came up.  They did NOT like that.  I was only wearing a hoodie sweatshirt I'd tied around my face.  I quickly cinched it up so only my eyes were visible.  Still they were out like guard dogs!  Flying into me to warn me.  I forgot about my sleeves being a bit loose and sure enough a couple found their ways up into my sweatshirt.  Ugh!  I frantically put the new full plastic jar in the empty glass jars place and got out of there!  I closed them up quickly and walked away as carefully as possible.  Flicking them off from my clothing and around my face.  Then right there out in the open, I stripped off my sweatshirt wrong side out to locate the culprits that had gone inside.  Good thing we have no close neighbors to have caught that sight!  Last year, 2 hours after being out of the bees I got stung by a bee that I was unaware of inside my sweatshirt.

Hard to tell why we lost the three other hives of bees.  So many factors go into their survival.  Even the pros lose their bees on occasion.  Those three were weaker by far entering into the winter than the one that survived, not nearly the amount of bees.  And then you've got the fact that November was unseasonable warmer, longer.  I knew the bees were not into dormancy as quickly as they had in colder years, so they could've eaten all their supply more quickly than the other hive since they didn't have the numbers to keep the colony "body heat" within the hive.  Who knows?!  I'm glad for my pocketbooks sake that we atleast had one very healthy hive survive.  Our honey supply is starting to get low, hopefully we have enough until harvest time.

Enjoy the weather, this is Vermont, blink and it changes!

Hubby turning 44 today!!!!

Larry's 44th Birthday is today!  He's such a man.  "No different than any other day, I'm just one day older than yesterday, and a week older than last week.  No big deal"  Was his answer when I asked him what he'd like special for supper, if he'd like to go out, etc.  Yet you know, if you did nothing, deep down inside he would be hurt!!!!  Even though, if I pull that and say no big deal, I get just that, nothing ~ no big deal made.

So what to do, what to do.....  Hard time of year.  He's planning to postpone boiling until tomorrow because our children are going in different directions and I need a hand with that.  Our youngest is going to the school to watch a movie "Community Movie Night".  My 10 y.o. son is home today sick so he can't attend the movie.  Our middle son has been asked to go to a school dance in Enosburg with a girl he's known since he was born. 

So I'm thinking I'm going to let him think we aren't going to celebrate tonight much at all for his bday.  Tomorrow hopefully we have enough sap to boil in the sugarhouse.  If so we'd be boiling around 3pm in order to be done in time to go to a calcutta we have tickets for tomorrow night.  I'll make phone calls as soon as he gives me the go ahead that we ARE going to be boiling.  The I'll just bring his cake down to the sugarhouse tomorrow and close enough! 

I did make him his very own batch of PB fudge! 

He's hard to shop for.  We are at the point in our lives if we want/need something we just buy it ourselves.  He needs nothing and wants nothing (other than more sap).  I hate buying something he might like just for the sake of having a present.  That usually doesn't work out, it's a waste.  He's more impressed by doing tasks for him like; having all the sap hauled for when he gets home, making homemade donuts for the sugarhouse (which I'll do in the morning), wash the truck, etc.

Anyone else out there have hubbies that are difficult and are like this....noooo...big...deal...!

Sugar Shack Times

This weekend has been fabulous!

   Yesterday afternoon we hauled sap, ran it through the R.O., and started boiling around 5:30pm.  We had 14 visitors in total, each one adding to the excitement.

   We had the Cribb family, Bill (a friend of my hubby's that they use his camp to have "guy time) and 4 children, Logan & Gary, Dillan B. & Ethan P. and of course, Arnold.  The kids enjoyed crawling and climbing around on the wood pile and in the loft Larry built to get them out from under foot.  They can have a birds eye view of all the sugaring commotion. 

   The smell in a sugarhouse that has an evaporator that allows the steam to penetrate the air within it's walls is such a sweet smell.  The bigger rigs don't allow for that.  They have hoods to make them more efficient.   

   When I smell it, I think back to when I was younger;  We too had a loft in my grandfathers sugarhouse to get us out of his way.  But it was so much more than that for us kids.  We loved it!  Grampa would be down below in his rocking chair.  Getting up to check if he had syrup yet in the pan by watching to see if the liquid would apron off his scoop.  He or my uncle would fire the rig.  I loved seeing the burning embers inside. 

   Gramma always had colored pickled eggs in the sugarhouse window for my grandfather to snack on, along with those white hard old fashion crackers. 

  

   On my way down to the sugarhouse from home, I could smell the sweet steam throughout the woods.  I always would stop by some of the big maples and take the buckets off to have a sip of sap. 

   There was this patch of mayflowers that would always greet me on my way down, along with white Appaticas, yellow Attertongues and purple Trilliums.  Although, those flowers emerging usually meant the season was coming to an end. 

    After we finished boiling Nicky & Sam and my hubby & I went sugarhouse hopping!  The twisted Teas were going down easy and it was just a fun night.  We went to 3 sugarhouses that were still boiling when we came around; Newetts, Blakes, and Madisons.   

   Then to add to the greatness of this weekend, Logan came up bright and early this morning and we took the horses out for the first ride of spring.  You forget after a long winter just how much you love it!  It was not laid back by any means though.  The horses had a ton of built up energy and wanted to run constantly, we had to hold them back the whole time.  The bounce of the trot they were on was constant.  When we returned back to the barn of course, my white horse had to roll right in the manure!  She looked sick!  And that wasn't intended on the "cool" sick use of the word.  I lead her down to the clean snow and she dropped again to roll in the fresh snow so it cleaned her a bit.  Having a white horse is always....who am I kidding....she's anything but white depending upon where she's rolled last.  Sometimes she's even green in the summer from grass stains.

   We're boiling again this afternoon and I'm excited because my brother and his family are coming over.  Even though we live within 20 miles of one another we don't get to see each other all that often.  With each of us have 4 children involved and lots of activities, it's impossible.  Life was a bit more simpler when they were all younger for sure.

So here's to all you folks that are reading my blog ~ I'll have a donut dunked in syrup later today for you.  Oh shoot, I'm still watching my eating.  I'll have one of the kids eat it for you.  Better yet I'm making bread dough to fry in the sugarhouse tonight so they'll have one of those and think of you all (for me, of course!)  Hope you enjoy!

You can come to the sugarhouse and we'll fill your containers right there on the spot, as long as you want the grade we are making at the time.  It's been Fancy to Light amber.  We also have containers but it's nice to have them filled right into the sizes you use at each meal sitting or recipe worth.  I recycle all the store bought jelly jars.  Perfect size for our uses and then it doesn't take up room in the refrigerator.  $37 gallon, $20 half gallon. and smaller sizes available too.

We also sell in bulk to Highland Sugarworks if your far away and need syrup.  Here is a link for purchasing through them;

What a weekend....now I need to go to work to recoop!

Thursday I had gone skiing at Jay Peak, that night Zumba with the Brownies, Friday I worked so I wasn't real rested for my weekend to begin with.

Bright and early 7:30a.m. Saturday, we (My two older boys and myself along with a few of their friends) left for Hinesburg.  They were competing in O.M. (Odyssey of the Mind).  It was going to be a very long day and the gorgeous weather outside made it torture to be inside.  My oldest sons group went early in the morning.  They have to perform a long term problem and a spontaneous problem.  The long term problem was "Food Court - healthy vs. unhealthy foods".  That went well.  They had their spontaneous problem, which no one can watch or talk about until after the days event.  Then they were completely done for the day.  So he and his friends went out to play football and soak up the beautiful weather.  I on the other hand was trying to catch all the kids performances from our town.  We had 4 groups competing, all with a different problem.  I then caught another group performing their version of the problem; Nature Trail.  And then on to my middle son's group with the problem; Columns. 

That morning they had watch another school and realized at that time they were suppose to have a performance to go on with their building of the columns.  OMG ~ talk about stressed, I felt bad for their coach.  They pulled a quick skit together without any props.  When it came time to put their column structures up, they couldn't get them to stand or support the base.  They did a fabulous job keeping it together though!  And the judges were awesome.  Rather than just eliminating them and sending them on their way they gave them positive feedback and made them still enthusiastic to give it another try next year! 

We watched the last problem around 2:45pm while my son's group did his spontaneous and then we all headed for an early supper in Williston at Ponderosa.  It gave the kids a chance to unwind, goof off with their jello, and us parents/coaches a chance to unwind as well.  We went back for the award ceremony which was extremely long and drawn out.  Back home finely at 8:30pm.

It wasn't a physically exhausting day, but it certainly was mentally.  It was torture staying indoors during an absolutely beautiful day.  Knowing Larry was home tapping trees all by himself made me feel guilty!

Next morning...again a spectacularly gorgeous day!  Great day to go skiing at the mountain.  My daughters Brownie troop were all going up to earn a badge.  Only thing was, the rest of girls all knew how to ski already.  I spent some of the morning trying to teach my daughter to ski.  It's funny in past years I've taught alot of other kids to ski when their parents couldn't simply because of head butting.  Never with my three boys did I ever have that problem.  I taught the younger two boys no problem but my daughter.... I can't stand whining!  Thank goodness for her Brownie Leader coming over and offering to teach her while I go off with her daughter.  I did a couple runs with her daughter and my youngest son.  We checked back in just before 11:00am and my daughter was skiing pretty good; in control, turning, still falling a bit, but skiing.  So we broke for lunch and right after lunch we hit the chairlift!  The first run done, as my son put it "She'd lost her confidence" and fell quite a bit, again her brownie leader to the rescue!  The next run was much better.  The last two runs it was just she and I.  She was awesome!  She didn't fall once!!!!!  We left around 2pm and headed home to clean house, go to the sugarhouse and get ready for another week of school/work. 

Bottom line.......... I slept very well last night!!!!!