150 more taps out.  200 total taps now.  Sap moved well today.  It was down to about 29 last night.  Sunny today with high around 40.   Tonight will freeze again, but there is a chance of snow showers tomorrow. 

Started the day washing more buckets.  Finished the day yesterday washing buckets too.   The buckets are not completely dry when we take them into the woods.  But that’s OK as they will get wet with sap and weather.  If we were storing them, then the buckets need to be completely dry so they don’t rust. 

When tapping solo, you have to visit each tree four times.  First visit is with the tapper to drill the whole.  Next visit is to set the spout.  Third visit is to hang the bucket and the forth visit is to place  the cover on the bucket.    That’s a lot of walking during the day.    We usually do 15-20 taps at a time so you get into a rhythm with drilling, followed by setting the spout and then the bucket and cover.   Takes about 2 hours to get 50 taps up.  Of course there will be more visits to the tree when it comes time to collect.