POTENTIAL SYRUP SHORTAGE

The maple syrup industry has announced a looming shortage. Farmers in Pennsylvania say the warm weather in February and March has caused tree sap to flow earlier than normal. Although a spate of warm weather isn’t necessarily a death sentence for maple syrup, there could be a serious issue unless things cool down quickly. Don Hess, a maple syrup producer at Duck’s Maple Farm in Pennsylvania’s Fayette County, says that for the sap to keep running they need warm days followed by cold nights, below freezing, to drive the sap down and keep the trees from budding. “If it doesn’t get cold again, I’m done.”
* The poor sap.
* Tapped out.
* Kicked the bucket.
* Up a tree.
* Sticky situation.
* Great, so we’re supposed to hope for more cold weather just so we have enough maple syrup?
* Okay, I’m in. The more I think about it, the more important this seems.
* I mean have you ever tried eating a pancake without maple syrup? It’s damn near impossible.
* Relax. These were the weather headlines on Friday: “Waves of cold air to plunge across midwestern, eastern US into next week; Nor’easter may bury mid-Atlantic, New England with heavy snow next week.” Don must have friends in high places.
* When you get stuck in the snow this week, try to think about the syrup.
* So just to rank these crises, I’d put the maple syrup shortage right after the North Korean missile tests.
* Geez. As if Mondays weren’t tough enough, now we have to deal with this.