Cleaning Up Stuff At The Shack and Keeping Busy

This morning I headed up to the farm. It was a nice morning again, so I opened the barn doors to bring fresh air into the barn. I threw down a few square bales of hay and brought them out to the feeder for the cows to eat. I also fed the barn cats and picked up my baler twine I had lying around from bales. Dad cleaned out the chimney on the wood burner because this morning I just so happened to be watching the smoke come out of the chimney when it shot creosote chunks out like a geyser. My grandparents came out to see the cows and check out the syrup setup. They hadn't been out this season yet, so I brought them back to the shack and showed them the new pans and stuff. Meanwhile, dad was back at the farm loading a trailer up with our hay that he sold. My sisters and I later went back to the woods and dumped maybe 300 buckets that had ice in them still from the last gather. We wanted to dump the ice before the trees started to run today because all that ice is just water, and when making syrup, more water means more wood you need to burn. I found one bucket that was missed on our last gather, and it was a leaker now because it split from the ice inside. We came back to the farm and dad was helping load up another guys truck with hay. I helped toss some bales into the bed of the truck and then after they left, we started to work on cleaning out one of the small pens in the barn, so the cows could use it this year. Back to the shack we went again, and this time we began to clean up stuff while we had a break from boiling. Melanie my sister, washed out both of the 1500 gallon bulk tanks with water and a brush. My dad drained the front pans and the back pan as well and began to wash the tank inside the shack. I took over and finished washing and rinsing out the tank, and then we brushed the flues of the back pan to the best of our ability to help get the ash and creosote buildup off them. We came home and then my dad brought the 784 tractor back to the shack before all the ice and snow melts anymore. I fed my cows another two bales of hay outside and then I closed up the barns. At home I put 26 pieces of wood on the fire for the night. 

Frozen Ice Block Next To Leaking Bucket