Paul Bunyan? Maybe Not..

There is something about trekking into the woodlands to harvest firewood that gives me a pioneerish feeling. (I don't know if pioneerish is really a word, but because this is my blog, lets pretend it is.)

I know supplying your own firewood, and using it to provide heat is nothing even remotely new, but for me, it is.
The most work I have ever had to do for heat, is to walk over to that little round thing on the wall called a thermostat, and turn it up, and the hardest part of that is paying the bill.

I am not sure what it is, but I get a tremendous feeling when I cut, split, and haul the firewood out of the woods. Every single log I touch, I think about the heat it will provide. When I split a large log into pieces, I think about filling the stove, and will this load last the night.
During the recent blizzard that dumped a massive 3 inches of snow, We had a couple of dead trees fall to the ground and I look at them and think, "OK, that tree will give us 5 days of heat, and that one will give us 7."

Tommy starts out strong, and some days he works hard loading the cart as I cut and split, but other days becomes bored with loading and designates himself the driver and delegates the loading to me.


Unbeknownst to Jeanne, I did teach him to split kindling wood with a hatchet, and he is really good at it. I was thinking because the boy and I are becoming genuine lumberjacks, maybe we could get one of those double headed axes, and practise the fine art of axe throwing.

So after spending part of a day in the woods, I can sit in my basement, give thanks for my Stihl chainsaw while I admire the nearly half cord of wood filling my wood bin, and think about the developing muscles I have not seen in years.