Big Ooooopsie!!! Well we did it now! It was so cold on Saturday, late evening, that we decided to let the syrup concentrate further while we went in the warm house. Forgot to set the kitchen timer to go and check on it....and this is what we found when we finally did remember it. About 2 hours later! OOPS! IWe could have burned the barn and garage down! Yikes! We have been having trouble with a big ole raccoon in the barn, and that is what I suddenly remembered. We had thought maybe he would mess with our syrup since it was sweet. We hadn't left any out, to see whether he would or not, but there was always that possibility, I guess. Anyway, Ed went out to bring it in the house for the night, to finish it up the next day. Only....there wasn't any, only this poor pan, burnt to a crisp, and the remains of a few sweet ashes!!

Do I feel better for confessing our negligence? A great big NO!! It completely ruined the pan and wasted the gas! But...hindsite is always 20/20, so will just have to forget it and learn from it. (Still makes me upset to think about it though).