March Birthday

 Birthday presents arrived in the mail...

What could it be? 

And a birthday pumpkin pie.

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What could it be? 

A hat

A John Deere hat to keep the sun off my neck!

Pretty nice!

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We met the L'ville clan at Golden Corral for a birthday brunch. 

The birthday boy with the ladies. 

The ladies of the group.

Jan found the omelette bar; a treat for three of us!

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Maple Syrup Pictures

Russel "Young Squeak" tapping a maple tree with an old style

'bit and brace.'

Herman pouring maple sap into a large collection bin

that sits on a wooden sled pulled by a horse. 

Russell collecting maple sap from a grove of maple trees. 

Back to the sugar shack out back; transporting the sap from the 

large barrel into the shack so the cooking can begin.

Look at the top of the shack, the fire is already burning.

A double team of horses was used to pull the large barrel back to the sugar shack. 

Herman is pouring the sap into the cooking bin. 

Look closely and you can see that he is pouring the sap through a 

bag or pouch to screen out bugs and other junk in the sap. 

The fire is kept hot as the cooking continues for a long period of time. 

Stirring the liquid, Herman really looks focused on this process. 

The pot of sap is really hot as the mixture slowly

 turns from sap to syrup. 

Russell watching the "Master" at work. 

Oh Boy! Here comes the sweet syrup. 

Herman is filling the tins with their home made 

Pure Maple Syrup. 

Inez is busy putting the labels on the filled tins of  Pure Maple Syrup.

This is their product, made at home and getting it ready to 

be sold and shipped out to homes all over the country for all to enjoy. 

Close up of Inez placing labels on the tin cans. 

Look to the right of the picture to see more labels on the table

that will be placed on the tin cans filled with their home made

Pure Maple Syrup. 

A close up picture of a labeled can of 

Pure Maple Syrup manufactured by 

Herman Loucks. 

This on the back of the pictures. 

Credit given to American Viscose Corp of 

Meadville, Pennsylvania. 

March 8, 1951.

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Something Pure and Sweet

Good Evening Everyone... 03/12/19

Something Pure and Sweet
Loucks Maple Syrup

I would like to share some really cool pictures and a fascinating story from a visit that I had yesterday with Nina and Tina Loucks, from the W. Center Rd area in Linesville, Pa.

I was contacted by Tina Loucks Woge to come out and meet her mom, Nina Loucks and see and read some cool history of this area of Conneaut Twp. in which they live..

I must honestly say that my visit was absolutely a blast and several stories will be developed from my time with them both....

But tonight I want to share a group of pictures of Tina’s grandfather - Herman “Squeak” Loucks and her grandmother - Inez Bollard Loucks.... also in the pictures you will see Tina’s Dad, Russell who was around the age of 20 and newly married to Nina.

The Loucks Family has a homestead on West Center Rd, (Center Road back then) just east of Maple Road or west of Airport Rd...

Back in the 50’s, Herman and his wife Inez, and their son Russell, not only dealt with the daily grind of raising a family, going to work and taking care of the farm, but they also had their own Maple Syrup Business.... back in the Sugar Shack begins the family barn.

Now I’m sure some of the local folks might remember this amazing locally made Maple Syrup which they produced, but for the rest of us who didn’t, this is a cool glimpse back into a time, not so long ago, (68 years ago), but far enough back to see just how they did it then, and probably using the same traditions handed down from those that did it 100 plus years ago.....

I can almost smell the large batch of maple sap cooking off/down in the sugar shack out back.. as the sweet aroma gets closer to the point of maple syrup..

As Herman and Russell are out in the woods collecting the sap from the maple trees which are tapped and filling with the sap dripping into the tin pails; then hauling their sap back by horse and sled in a large collection barrel; then tending the fire with cut wood and stirring the brewing batch..... Inez is inside the house, placing the labels on the tin cans which have been filled by the guys, (she had to clean the tins first from the drips....) which contain the Pure Maple Syrup which is now finished and manufactured from the Loucks Family Maple Sugar Shack....

These pictures really capture the whole process, and thanks to the person who took these pictures to memorialize what they did back in 1951....

They are a cool time capsule of a local family business who took pride in all they did... making this delicious sweet maple syrup that covered stacks of pancakes, sausage or toast from one kitchen to another..... So sweet that moms everywhere had to hide the tin can from the kids so they didn’t eat it all like a bunch of buzzing bees around an open Soda Pop can...

Were you one of the lucky ones to enjoy their syrup??? Do you have one of those cool labeled cans laying around the house or barn.... if so, let me know, as we are looking for a few of them to give back to Tina (Herman’s grand-daughter) and if lucky enough, I would love to add one to my tin collection which is on display at our business in Linesville too...

So, I hope you enjoy this (not so old, but sweet story), and a glimpse back at a sweeter time of life.... For those of you that knew Herman, Inez, Russell and Nina (not Pictured, but the proud owner of these pictures).... I hope these pictures bring a smile to your face as they did mine....

Thank you Nina and Tina for sharing your time and these great pictures with all of us... this is another cool story from the Pymatuning Lake Region, where life is so sweet!!!

Thanks Everyone for reading and Sharing....
Follow us direct at “Visit Pymatuning Lake Pa” Facebook page and read more upcoming historical stories of all the Pymatuning Lake Region.....

Thanks again....

This article is about John's Aunt Nina and Uncle Squeak (Russell). 

Early Spring?

Punxsutawney Phil said we would have an early spring, 

but with two weeks until the official turn of the seasons, 

it's not feeling like flowers are on their way. 

Snow is in the forecast. 

About an inch will fall today and Friday. 

It's not much, but it's still snow. 

So how often does snow fall in the spring? 

It's pretty normal. 

In an average March, the region gets about three inches, 

and in April, there is a normal snowfall of half an inch, 

according to the National Weather Service. 

Last year was a doozy.

March 2018 brought almost ten inches of snow with it

and the winter weather continued through April.

Two and a half inches fell in April

which is a lot for the spring month. 

                                                                                        from today's Cincinnati Enquirer

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March Snow

March has come in like a lion. 

Almost two inches of snow fell Sunday. 

The high temperature today was 23 degrees; the normal high is 49 degrees. 

Twenty-three degrees is the lowest high temperature for March 5. 

Snow flowers covered in snow. 

The daffodils are not looking happy. 

We have one more day of temperatures below freezing. 

Thursday may bring more seasonable temperatures. 

Miss A with her snow man.

How cute is that?

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Hueston Woods

Knowing that snow and cold was in the forecast, we drove up 

to Hueston Woods for the annual maple syrup festival. 

We started the morning with a plate of pancakes with real maple syrup,
sausages, orange juice and coffee.
We even had a second pancake.
Then, we walked from the beach area along the lake to the maple syrup cabin.

South west Ohio has had almost twice the normal six inches 

of rain so far this year. The residual debris shows how high the water was 

on Acton Lake. 

Volunteers were setting up for the day's activities. 

The standards to the right describe different ways the pioneers

and Indians boiled off the maple syrup. 

Traditional methods of collecting syrup. 

Trees had been felled before broken branches would fall on visitors. 

The broken branches are called 'widow makers.'

Modern methods of collecting maple syrup. 

You can almost see the blue collection lines. 

Heading back along the lake.

We made a stop at Tractor Supply.
One of us checked out batteries for the John Deere.
I looked at the chicks.

A young man told me they had received twice as many chicks as they had ordered...

March has come in like a lion.
The prediction was for 4 - 6 inches of snow, then
changed to  2 - 3 inches of snow.
It's late in the afternoon and the grass is covered...
This week the high temperatures will be in the 30's.
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