Important maple sugaring tip:

[Rosalind]

I know many of us have been tapping our maple trees. I've been boiling the majority of the sap out on the grill, using pieces of wood that didn't fit the wood stove. However, once it starts getting kinda tan, I bring it inside to finish in the stockpot on the kitchen range.

I put on the exhaust fan and one of those oscillating fans by the stove. I opened the kitchen windows a couple inches. Nevertheless, it was like a sauna in the kitchen with my biggest stockpot on full boil for several hours.

So I did some yard work, minding the sap on the grill, and then went inside to check the stockpot. My microwave happens to be mounted directly above the stove. The microwave was randomly clicking on and off every few seconds, and no combination of button-pushing could stop it. I had to flip the breaker in the basement.

Turns out the steam from the maple syrup was shorting out the buttons on the microwave. Fortunately, it went back to normal after I stopped boiling and let the oscillating fan run at full blast for an hour, but it was sorta freaky to have it turning itself on and off.

Now, do I tell DH I accidentally shorted out the microwave? I mean, I fixed it, it's not like it's permanently broken...