My first sign of spring is tapping trees for maple sugar. Just down the road, the neighbors have hung bags on their maple trees. It probably is good weather for making sap since it warms up in the day and is cold at night. The sugarbush down on Mayfield curve hasn't started, but then, one by one the maple syrup making tradition has been leaving the area. As a kid, we always looked forward to going the Colon's sugarbush shack to breathe in the sweet moist maple sap air and the sample of new syrup from an old ladle. Nowdays, I find the old time syrup too sweet, and go for the imitation on my homemade pancakes.