First mowing of the year

I tried to push the mowing off until May this year, but some parts of the yard were getting unruly, and all the neighbors had already mowed, so the pressure to conform was just too great.  Our long, cold winter made many of us think spring would never arrive, but this spring has been pretty mild and pleasant, all things considered, which also means the grass eventually needs attention.

Central Illinois Maple Syrup

I realize Vermont is better known for its maple syrup, and Quebec supplies much of what the world consumes, but that doesn't stop our neighbors here in Central Illinois from doing their part to meet mankind's demand for real maple syrup.  Last year we watched in admiration as our farmer neighbors tapped dozens of trees around our neighborhood, and spent the time and money necessary to gather hundreds of gallons of sap to boil down to dozens of gallons of syrup.

This year, when they offered to tap the trees in our front yard, I quickly encouraged them to do so, and within a few hours, our trees were contributing to the harvest!

Here's Thad and Philip drilling the holes and setting the taps.  The number of taps was determined by the size of the tree.  Two of our trees could accommodate three taps, while one tree was best left with only two.

The arrangement in our yard had at most two taps running into one five-gallon jug, meaning we had five jugs total receiving sap.  The sap is very watery, unlike pine sap, so the taps, lines, and jugs don't clog easily.

The critical operation of boiling to sap down to syrup was begun on this fine example of Steiner ingenuity and manufacturing.  The half-barrel stove box on the bottom was reinforced and improved this year based on lessons learned last year.  The blower and ductwork in the foreground force air into the combustion chamber to insure that the fire has adequate oxygen to burn vigorously, while the door on the stove above the ductwork allows access to add wood as needed.  The vertical boards just downstream of the blower serve as a damper to better control the air flow.  Hot exhaust gases exit through a vertical chimney at the far end.

The main pan on the stove is a custom-built, stainless-steel unit about seven inches deep that holds about five gallons per inch of depth.  It's fed by a smaller pan in the background that preheats the cold sap before it's added to the main pan.  That ensures the main pan maintains a constant boil throughout the many hours it takes to boil a batch of sap.

How big is a batch of sap?  This year, the Steiners commonly boiled 200 gallons of sap at a time, that would yield as much as eight gallons of syrup.  That 25:1 ratio is very low for maple syrup, and can be as high as 40:1.  In this photo, about 150 gallons of sap waits to be boiled, although not all of it was included in this batch.  (The washing machine in the background was not used in preparation of the syrup).

Syrup is judged complete when the temperature reaches the proper value.  In this photo you can see the syrup was a lovely brown color while the temperature was well above 216°F.  Several more gallons of sap were due to be added to this batch and boiled down before the near-syrup was transferred to the house kitchen stove for finishing.

The total harvest for our neighbors was about forty gallons of syrup this year, which exceeded last year's total.  Our trees contributed about 40 to 50 gallons of sap in the three weeks that they were tapped.  The whole process is very labor-intensive, so it's easy to understand why real maple syrup is so expensive, but when waffles or pancakes are on the menu, nothing compares to real maple syrup, especially when it comes from your front yard!

Has this been a normal winter?

Most of us here in Central Illinois have noticed that the temperatures have been running a bit colder than average over the last few weeks, such that some of us have wondered, "Is this winter colder than normal, or are we just spoiled by the last two winters that were milder than average?"  For the sake of this investigation, "normal" temperatures are the simple average of the historical average high and low temperatures for each day.  For instance, the historical average high for February 13 is 36°F and the low is 19°F in Peoria, Illinois, so the "normal" mean temperature for today is 27°F.  Naturally, it's unusual to experience both the average high and low on any given day, so comparing the mean is helpful in determining whether the weather has been warmer or colder than average.

Figure 1 below shows the daily temperature deviation from average since the beginning of winter on December 21.  The blue bars represent the degrees F above or below the daily average, while the red curve is the cumulative deviation from the average over the same period.  Of the 54 days recorded so far, only 17 have been warmer than the historic average, and of the 35 colder days, 25 are 10 or more degrees colder than their average.  January 6 deserves special recognition for recording a mean temperature 31 degrees colder than the historical average!  The mean that day was -9°F, and the high for the day reached -5°F, but alas, that was not the coldest January 6 on record.

Figure 1: December 21 through February 12

The cumulative deviation from average briefly wandered into positive territory twice in December, but has been solidly colder than the average ever since.  Currently, our winter is a cumulative 339 degrees colder than average, which means the daily mean temperature has averaged over 6 degrees colder than average. Since the beginning of 2014, we've averaged over 7 degrees colder than average, and the month of February is averaging over 16 degrees colder than average per day even though February 1 was warmer than the historical average!

Figure 2: September 21 through February 12

In some respects, the entire heating season since last September looks warmer than just the winter data, primarily due to the warm weather from the end of September to the middle of October.  The cumulative deviation is even greater over this period than over the winter period, however, which means our fall season was actually colder than average despite the warm start.  Our 362 degree cumulative deviation works out to about two and a half degrees colder than average per day for the 145 days of fall and winter so far.

So, back to the question in the title, has this been a normal winter?  Yes, it has been normal in the sense that we've had some days warmer than average, and some days colder than average.  But no, it has not been normal in the sense that the temperatures have averaged much colder than the historical average so far. Winter isn't finished, however, as we have 36 more days until spring and a warming trend in the forecast. In order to finish the winter even with the historical average, each of the remaining 36 days would have to average over 9 degrees warmer than average. Plenty of people around here would welcome a trend like that!

(Editor's note: a variation of the word "average" appears 38 times in this post)

Enbridge Flanagan South Pipeline Project, Part 1

Last fall I noticed some unusual behavior just before harvest time.  The first field to be harvested in our area had a portion, but not all, of the corn removed.  Since farmers will sometimes harvest a few rows to check the moisture content before they harvest the entire field, I didn't suspect anything unusual until I noticed that the swath of corn removed cut diagonally across the field.  I'd never seen a farmer harvest that way before.  A few days later, a bulldozer arrived and pushed the topsoil into a giant berm on one side of the swath.  Clearly something other than farming was planned for that property.  It wasn't long after the topsoil was moved that other equipment appeared, and ultimately, large sections of pipe were delivered.  A little research identified the project as the Enbridge Flanagan South Pipeline that will traverse almost six hundred miles between Pontiac, Illinois and Cushing, Oklahoma.

This 36-inch diameter pipe will carry 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day from oil fields in the Upper Midwest to facilities in Oklahoma which will then transfer it to refineries near the Gulf of Mexico.  The section above is nearest to our house and illustrates some of the pipe preparation before it's laid in the ground.  The pipe is supported on makeshift wooden platforms at a uniform height above grade until all the sections are welded together.  The lack of workers or active equipment in these photos is a result of visiting these sites on a Sunday afternoon.

Although Illinois is relatively flat, the elevation changes along this pipeline route are significant enough to require special strategies.  In the image above a small creek is temporarily bridged and silt fences protect it from excessive soil runoff.  A long section of pipe welded and bent to follow the terrain was not welded in place like the others you see in this image, but was resting next to me on the flat ground on top of this small rise.  It appears that steeper slopes like that in the foreground require the pipe to be welded remotely to its resting place.  I don't know if they used pipelayers to move that section into place or if some other equipment was used.

A few miles from our home, some rolling hills forced another pipeline to span this dip as an elevated structure instead of following the terrain.  I'm not sure, but I believe that pipeline is Enbridge's Spearhead crude oil pipeline that follows the same route as Flanagan South, but is only 22-24" diameter.  Enbridge purchased the Spearhead line about ten years ago, which originally carried oil from the oil fields of Oklahoma and Texas to refineries near Chicago.  By 2006, Enbridge had reversed the flow to allow more Canadian oil to reach refining facilities in Oklahoma, and optionally, the Gulf Coast.

Here's a view of a couple "hillside" sections welded together and waiting to be moved into place.  I'm not sure, but I assume the straight section on the left is close to where it will be buried, while the other two sections to the right will require more manipulation before they come to rest.

A little further east I found this interesting view that illustrates the winding and not-quite-flat route the pipeline traverses.  Next time I'll have more photos and videos of the process of laying the pipe in the trench that will naturally include more people and activity.  Even at this stage, the amount of progress made in just a few weeks is impressive.

Colonial Williamsburg in October -- Day 3

Our last full day in the Historic District for this trip was our warmest yet, and even found the locals complaining about the heat.  As you can see below, we found plenty to keep us busy.

We started the day in the gardens of the Governor's Palace where we found Governor Dunmore in a perturbed mood.  Although he was popular among Virginians early in his service, his loyalty to the British crown later put him at odds with a fair number of the colonists he governed.

There won't be any grand photos of the Governor's Palace on this trip as the central cupola was undergoing maintenance and covered by scaffolding for the duration of our visit.

We met this young lady at an English Country Dance on our first evening in town, and were pleased to learn she works as a costumed interpreter in Colonial Williamsburg.  Dara works mainly in retail establishments in the Historic District, and we found her working in the Post Office this day ever ready to meet our shopping or conversational needs.  We'll keep our eyes peeled for her smiling face on future visits.

These two gentlemen are working on the tent project mentioned earlier.  The tailors were commissioned to reproduce George Washington's marquee, or camp tent, as the extant article can only be displayed in very controlled conditions.  Mark Hutter hired seven "tent stitchers" to assist with the hand sewing, and although the replica was not ready for display when we visited, it has been displayed since and will be available for visits at the Museum of the American Revolution when that facility is built.

This 1/6 scale model of the tent illustrates the separate compartments that comprise the entire structure.  The inner tent was likely Washington's private field office and measured about 8' by 10'.  The curtain hanging from the valance of the larger tent was attached all the way around the periphery and formed semi-circular areas at each end.  It's postulated that General Washington slept on one end and his baggage and servants were settled at the other end.  You can learn more and see more details on CW's First Oval Office page.

We've enjoyed chatting with Max Hamrick, Jr. during many of our visits over the years, as he's developed our appreciation for the weaving craft displayed in the Historic District.  I believe Mr. Hamrick has been the weaving and dyeing expert here since 1988, and he informed us on this visit that he intends to retire soon and leave the weaver's shop in the capable hands of Karen Clancy and her apprentices.  We suspected at the time, and have confirmed since, that this would be the last time we would visit with Mr. Hamrick in this manner.  May your retirement years be many and fruitful, Mr. Hamrick!

This room is part of the oldest academic structure in America, the Sir Christopher Wren Building on the campus of the College of William and Mary.  The college is located just west of the Historic District, and since it's important in the history of colonial Williamsburg, a visit here is a natural extension of a visit to CW.  This main hall was part of the original structure, but since the building has been modified after each of its three fires, this room may not have had this appearance when first constructed in 1695.  Even so, I wonder if the windows were inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien in the 20th century...

On our way back east on Duke of Gloucester Street we encountered the Fife and Drum Corps marching west.  Thomas Baker assumed the role of lead fifer, and I even sighted Mark and Cookie Baker walking along with the Corps.  Unfortunately, there wasn't time for a visit since we were already late for our dinner reservations.  It was a sad moment waving to the Bakers from across the street, unable to attract their attention.

Good things were waiting down the street, however.  Dinner at Shield's Tavern was a special treat and an appropriate prelude to our evening's entertainment...

... a Capitol Concert featuring 18th century (or earlier) music performed by The Governor's Musick.  My seat was on the far end next to Karen, nearly rubbing elbows with Wayne Moss, the viola da gamba player (on the far left).  Just in front of my seat is the chair occupied by Herb Watson, the flutist.  None of the seats are bad in the Capitol, but we were honored to truly be in the "spit zone."  More than an hour of lovely classical music was the perfect way to end this visit.