24 Aug - Ed's Birthday and Visit with Balutski's

24 Aug

Today we traveled about an hour south and west to visit an Air Force buddy who I served with in Iraq,  Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Kenui "Bull" Balutski and his wife Donna.  He has since retired and he and his wife bought a beautiful house in a rural area near East Dover VT.

The drive to his place was very scenic but also a little intense.  Our RAM 3500 pickup is wide since it is a "dually". The rural roads here are narrow with virtually no shoulder, and the locals drive fast!  But we made it without incident.

One of the streams that parallels the road.  Water level is very low right now.

 

Covered bridges we passed through.

We arrived about 1230 hrs and visited for a while then Bull prepared some steaks and sweet corn with baked sweet potatoes.  Donna served key lime pie for dessert and they offered to sing "happy birthday" since today is the big six-one!  Bull gave us a tour of their home which included his "heritage room" where he proudly displays his Air Force career mementos. Over a career we accumulate a lot of items for which we are very proud!

Besides that he is a Rams and Boston Red Sox Fan and attended every game of the 2013 World Series including one game where he got to throw out the first pitch!  Very cool!

 

 

It was reakky great to see Bull again and meet his wife Donna!  I am so glad our schedules meshed such that we could see each other again!

When we left, they took us by a neighbor named Sonny Brown who processes and sells Vermont maple syrup!  The building was built in 1991 but he had been doing this for many, many years.  Here is a link to an article about their farm:  http://www.dvalnews.com/view/full_story/24871319/article-Following-slow-start--sap-starting-to-flow

Brown's Sugar Shack

Wood-fired stove they cook the sap to create the syrup

Buckets used to collect the sap.  Now they use plastic pipes that connect the trees to a central collection area

An old wooden sap bucket no longer used

Old devices they used to use to tap the trees

Snow shoes used to get to the trees

Large plastic tanks used to collect the sap before it is processed

  It was very interesting to see the tools used to make maple syrup, and this is the real deal folks!!.  We purchased some to take home and we are looking forward to sampling it!!

Tomorrow we travel to northern Vermont to have lunch with CMSgt (ret) Bill LaPointe, retired Vermont State Command Chief.