And places in land away from Lake Michigan are reaching 80 degrees.   We had about 63.  Its too warm.   We can not make assumptions about the future based on one year.   But if warm winters happen a few times a decade that could adversely effect maple syrup seasons.

Into the woods by 9:00 AM.   Back to the house by 5:30 PM.  Worked on cleaning the evaporator all day.   The small syrup pan is the cleanest its been in years.  We took the time to get all the nitre off.  There was a ring of nitre building up about 1 ½” up the pan.   It was at the level we boil sap in the pan.     Its all off now.   The stainless steel polishing pads do a nice job.   Also cleaned all the soot from the bottom of the pan facing the fire.  The bottom is just as clean as the inside.  

The inside of the big pan is clean.   About 2/3 of the bottom remains.   It is a dirty task cleaning all the soot off the bottom.  Scrap with a sharp putty knife.   Spray with oven cleaner.   Polish with the polishing pads.  

If you did not know, you would never guess these pans are 35 years old.  They look like new.

We noticed the robins are quite fat.   The warm weather must be making it easy to find food.