Slow Boiling Day in a Warming Thetford
by Tig Tillinghast
[Bosco Take Break for a Moment]
Thetford, Vermont is a strange and wonderful place, filled with interesting people and creatures. Over on the other side of town, up on Houghton Hill, there is a dog named Bosco who makes maple syrup with buckets. We visited him during a slow time last week, taking a few pictures.
Lacking opposable thumbs, Bosco enlists the help of local resident Mike to help pump up the collected sap to the storage tank. Here’s a picture of Mike explaining how the pump system doesn’t require but a hand-tight connection between hoses, and that it certainly wouldn’t break apart and spray sap over everyone.
Back at Tillinghast Maple HQ, an impromptu meeting of decision-makers takes place atop next year’s woodpile. A motion to delay a re-do of Mrs. Tillinghast’s kitchen in light of the burning need to expand the number of taps next year was seconded, but failed to reach the required super-majority.
Comments
I am also a dog with a mentally inferior but opposably thumbed human assistant. My question is how to persuade my human to stop sugaring and instead take me into the woods, where I would like to roll in recently thawed bear scat. Do you have suggestions for how to alter his behavior to meet my goal? Please note that any similarities between these circumstances to your own circumstances are purely coincidental and besides, Mom says I can do anything I want, now that you’re talking about delaying kitchen renovations.
And you always wondered what St. Bernards had in that barrel around their neck. Well Bosco carries Vermont Maple Syrup, guarantied to revive any Vermonter.