April Showers

We were spared the tornadoes that ravaged the nation's midsection yesterday and today, but there were straight line winds that did some damage in central Illinois this afternoon, including derailing a train in northwestern Peoria County.  Katie and I were on the way home from the grocery store when a storm hit, but we did fine.  Some good news: today's sonogram seems to indicate that the clot in my right calf might finally be gone (it probably had its origins related to the cast on that broken foot I had in December, 2012).  We will know more in a couple months.

More Flowery Pix

Our busy week was made more challenging due to one of our cars being out for transmission replacement. We got the car back today.  The weather has been comfortably warm and nice lately; I've done a little yard work and I hoed the garden today.  Earlier today Katie visited me while I was at work and we spent some time taking pictures of her and flowers, including of the redbud trees.

Easter, 2014

This morning the girls hunted for eggs and got candy.  We went to Mass and heard 79 public declarations of "Alleluia".  (Kris sang and played guitar at 4 Masses in 4 days - what a trooper!)  In the afternoon it got to the low 80s.  We had a yummy turkey dinner (my parents' dog, like us, could hardly wait to eat).  We also watched movies and went for a walk in the woods.

April Flowers after Snow Showers

We got about a half inch of snow on Tuesday.  Today the weather was much nicer.  We ate at a Cracker Barrel for lunch this morning, and Kris dazzled me with her golf-peg-in-triangle skills.  Later, Katie decorated eggs for Easter.  Our hazelnut bush has tiny flowers and there are wake-robins coming up in the woods.

Collecting Sap to Make Maple Syrup

Original post 3-20-14: The sap is running in our maple trees and I am collecting some to try to make maple syrup.  What an interesting exercise in working with colligative properties like boiling point elevation! I tried boiling down a little sap several years ago, but overshot the syrup stage to produce sugar.  To collect the sap, I drilled a hole in each tree to a depth of about 5-7 centimeters and angling somewhat upward into the tree.  For each spile, I used a (clean) plastic syringe and removed the plunger.  I cut the tip end off of the barrel with a razor blade, and then cut a sort of slit in the side of the barrel from the cut end until maybe a centimeter from the finger flange.  I inserted these spiles into the holes in the tree until only about a centimeter was showing (if you push too hard you might break the spile).  I oriented the finger flanges of each spile in a vertical position, which I used to wire on a one-gallon freezer bag with a zipper.  New post 4-13-14: I collected over 2 liters of sap (represented by the pitcher of water), which I boiled down to make about 100 mL of yummy maple syrup.  The whole process was fun, but it strikes me as quite energy intensive.

Warmer April Day

Got into the 80s today and the Bland kids visited again. In the afternoon the Bradley University Chemistry Club Demo Crew did another outreach event at the Riverfront Museum.  Another event going on at the same time was a promotion for Shrek the Musical, which will be at the Peoria Players Theatre in early May.  I got to meet some of the performers in costume, which was fun.  Karen did an excellent job doing the Narrator part in the reading of the Passion at Palm Sunday Mass tonight.  I have included a picture of one of the stained glass windows at St. Anthony's which (read from right to left) covers some significant events of Holy Week. Tonight we had out first campfire of the year with hot dogs, s'mores, etc.  I find that a s'more with a warm brownie rather than the traditional chocolate bar was pretty good.

Warm April Day

Busy, crazy day at work and transmission troubles in a car, but some of the Blands came over to visit and enjoy the nice weather (blowing bubbles, catching pillbugs, etc.).  Our maples are blossoming and Kris found the start of a robin's nest.

April Flowers

Spring is slow in coming this year, but we are starting to see a few flowers, including some purple flowers near Bradley Hall at Bradley University.  I have stopped collecting maple sap and will eventually boil it down.  The grass is starting to get greener and we have been seeing more insects. Monday update: Our daffodils opened partway today - this makes them "halfodils"