Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Little Sugar Pump Room and a birthday

The electric company put up two new poles and strung new electric lines so the local maple sugar people could erect this little pump room. Reminds me of Jane Austin novels in which her characters go to the pump room in Bath.

The pump.
One of the new poles.

A new black hoselike line through which, I assume, the sap will run, although the current lines are much thinner and clear.

More trees that came down in this project.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I made a cheescake. This is my son's favorite and on Friday he will be 40. It is my favorite too, and was mom's and really the whole families.

Ready for the oven. I made it a few days ahead so it has time to settle.

36 comments:

Umā said...

yesterday i heard that the price of vt maple syrup will go up to $50 a gallon this season, up $7 from last year. so it is probably a worthwhile investment for these people to electrify the pump house, though i wonder if solar would have been an option for this kind of thing?

cheesecake, mmmmmm.

Anonymous said...

Cheesecake, yum! Happy birthday to your son. Have a great wek Suki.

Teri said...

I have never seen a pump house so this was very interesting! And this is the time for making it right?
HB to your son.

marianne said...

Can I come over? I LOVE cheesecake!
Interesting pictures, so much space and they still have to cut a tree.......

Was it therefor they had to cut the branches from that tree(a post from you a while ago) as well?

Hope your son will have a wonderful birthday!
Take care
HUG >m<

Andrea and Kim said...

Ohhh Suki, you can come to my house for my birthday...I love cheesecake, too!

"Happy Birthday Dear Suki's Son! Happy Birthday To You!" Do you know how wonderful your mother is? We love her, too.

Like M.Heart, I wonder how effective solar would have been? Maybe you don't have enough sun to make solar work well at that location, though. I would have thought the clear lines would have been a lot more fun. I wonder if pumping the sap is more stressful on the trees than allowing it to naturally flow? Too many questions in my head for you today, Suki! Oh, when you said, "pump room" I also thought of Jane and going to Bath! :)

This cheesecake sounds wonderful!

Have a Beautiful Day.

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

How special...cheesecake, I love it and I'm sure it will be appreciated. Turning 40 is a big deal! Do you remember your 40th?

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Ymmmm I too love cheesecake. Can we all come?? LOL
Interesting about the pump house and maple syrup. One learns alot thru these blogs. How does it feel to have a Son almost 40? You're to young..... Grin

ArtistUnplugged said...

That is interesting about the maple syrup and all that goes into retrieving the sap.

The cheesecake already looks scrumptious!!!! Since your whole family likes it, I bet you have an awesome recipe.

Anonymous said...

Yummy - the cheesecake. Must read through that part of your post again. I was instantly transported to Bath and the Pump Room; just done an article on Bath (the city where I was born) and went to the Pump Room as in the year I was born (1937) my father was conductor of the pump-room orchestra. By the way, the spa water tastes disgusting! I opened up the link you gave and there was the very table where I sat and journaled last October.

Unknown said...

I'll come too, Suki:) this looks so tasty! And interesting, how they sap the trees. The black hose/pipe is not very pretty though but probably nobody cares about that:)
love
Andrea

Tess Kincaid said...

Oooo...that cheesecake looks lovely!

We have a little pump house on our property, down in the trees, and never knew it's use. Maybe it was for maple sap? I never thought of that.

sukipoet said...

M. Heart, I heard that same radio program I guess. I hope maybe to get a "break" from the maple guys re: their usage of the farm's land etc. But maybe not. I don't know about the solar thing. No one muchly talks about solar around here. MOre over in Vermont perhaps.

Thanks Annie.

Teri I have to say I have never seen a pump house or room either. I believe they are gearing up to make the syrup soon.

sukipoet said...

Marianne, I'd love for you all to come and share the cheescake and my son's b-day. Yes, the tree cutting I showed in the previous post was about this pump house adventure. There were far more than one tree cut as they had cut lots down further in the woods too. Probably at least 50 trees!!

Thanks Kim for the b-day song for my son. I dont know if solar would work or not. Actually they only use this for a few months a year. However I assume the maple people spent a lot of their own money to get these new lines put up and to do the whole tree cutting process etc. I dont know if this powered up sapping harms the tree either. I'd love to come for your b-day and bring a cheesecake! Be well, Suki

sukipoet said...

BSD, I dont really remember my 40th. I better remember my 50th as I made some changes in my life at that time, turning more to visual art and away from writing. Do you remember yours?

Cris, it feels odd to have a son of 40 years. It really makes me feel old in a sense. Not inside of me, but just I can see how the years have passed so quickly.

sukipoet said...

Artist Unplugged, if I pull myself together perhaps I can post the recipe. My Mom's favorite. I goofed when making it though. I put a cup!!! of sugar into the graham cracker crust. I read the recipe wrong and was daydreaming. The cup of sugar goes into the cake part. So the crust is going to be very very sweet.

sukipoet said...

Ann, that is so cool that you were born in Bath and are so familiar with the Pump Room. When reading the novels I was always intrigued by the Pump Room. It seemed such a funny name. Wonderful that you sat in the beautiful space. You know that link was from a site called "Sacred Destinations." I guess to have tea in the pump room is now a sacred journey.

sukipoet said...

Andrea, we will have such a delightful party. I think I'd better make two cheesecakes for it. I agree the hose is ugly. At least the pump room is sort of cute on the outside anyway.

Willow I do wonder what is inside your pump house. Could it maybe have housed a pump for the water? Can you show a photo of your pump house?

Lynn Cohen said...

Happy Birthday to your son. He's just a month younger than my daughter! We have so much in common. ;-)
I haven't heard "...meanwhile back at the ranch..." in so long. But used to say that all the time...
The syurp making looks interesting. Is this a BIG or a small business, privately owned?
Seems to me you by maple syrup candies from them or did last winter.
When do you go South and will we hear from you while you are gone?

Claudia said...

The cake looks fabulous and I'm sure will taste very good!

studio lolo said...

Wow, cheesecake is one of my favorites even though I'm not big on sweets. I used to go to a restaurant and have a slice of cheesecake and a bottle of Becks!!
What a combo. No wonder my weight eventually caught up with me!!

Happy Birthday to your son. Forty is a landmark!

My how maple sugaring has changed. I guess progress happens or we all stand still.

sukipoet said...

Lynn the business is privately owned and I would have called it small. But maybe it isnt as small as I thought for them to invest all this money to upgrade everything. I showed their little shop and process last spring and may do so again this spring. I found out my hosts have a router so I will bring my computer and hope I can connect to the internet. I can use their computer but I dont like to use other people's computers.

sukipoet said...

thanks claudia. It usually comes out great but this time....the crust will be to sweet due to my mistake of adding a cup of sugar to it instead of two teaspoons. :)

Laurel thanks for the b-day wishes. I think it is a big year for him. In addition to his Dad dying last month, which means a lot of changes in his life.

Katiejane said...

Regarding the pump room and hoses; so much more sophisticated and trouble than hanging buckets on trees, right? Oh well, progress.

Regarding your cheesecake; looks delicious! Eat a piece for me. Happy birthday to Son!

patti said...

Happy birthday to your son, I hope you both enjoy the celebrations. The best thing about birthdays is the cake!

Pity about the trees being cut down for such a tiny building.

Anonymous said...

Suki, if you care to email me your email (in confidence of course - and you can find mine in my blog profile), I will email you the text of my article on Bath, for it goes back to sacred springs. They pump the water up from artesian wells way below ground level, and I swam in the latest 'hot bath' - really warm at roof top level and all from a natural hot spring. Did my arthritis no end of good!

soulbrush said...

it looks like our shed in the garden for the lawnmower. 40 on friday, i am so excited -that means he is an aquarian like me..Yippeeeee. my eldest son will be 38 this year..where have the years gone?

soulbrush said...

oh and cheese cake is my favourite too....yum yum, i can smell that fabulous aroma from here. have a pieve for me please.

sukipoet said...

Katie Jane, I think maple syrup would be even more than $50 a gallon if they still did it the hanging bucket way. However, on a very small family scale I think some folks to tap their own trees the old way and boil up the sap. Thanks for the birthday wishes.

Patti, Just hope it doesnt snow on Friday re: driving. I think it will be quite nice. Thanks.

Anne I'd love to read your article. My email is on my blog in the sidebar I think. But I'll email you. thanks.

Soulbrush, it is amazing how fast children become grown ups. So enjoy your little Maggie double. My son is Pisces. I am not sure what the change date is from Aquarius to Pisces. Maybe he is just on the line but I always thought he was Pisces.

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

Suki, I remember my 30th (newborn baby) and I remember my 50th (first year as a widow) but I can't remember my 40th either?!

San said...

Your photo of the pump almost looks like a corner Vermeer would have painted. I only say "almost" because I never saw a Vermeer of a pump. But that singing light--yes!

Happy Birthday to your son! My own son loves cheesecake, and yes, I've made that for his birthday.

And that banner photo is simply stunning.

Anonymous said...

Homemade? You are the best!

I enjoyed the pump house tour.

sukipoet said...

BSD, that's interesting. I guess if my journals were here with me I could look up that time period in them as i was writing a lot in journals back then. That might remind me--it would have been 1985.

San, interesting thought about Vermeer. I'll have to look again at the photo. Yes, cheesecake is the best! Thanks for the birthday wishes.

sukipoet said...

Chewy, in the old days I used to buy a Sarah Lee cheesecake (frozen) and eat the whole thing. They are small. As a child, my favorite treat was a slice of cheescake from Gold's deli.

~Babs said...

A small piece please,,,,,with strawberries.
The pump house needs curtains,,,,
:-)
I remember my 40th, as they threw a big party for me at the salon. 40 Black balloons & all that. I loved being 40 though,,,,hasn't it gone fast???

Kelly said...

Oh, yum. I hope he has a very nice birthday.

Lynette said...

Happy belated Birthday to your son Suki and I bet your cheesecake was so delicious! The photos of the sugar pump room were really neat and maple syrup is sooo good.