Yesterday I was out splitting fire wood for the wood stove – dressed in Bean boots, long johns, jeans, a wool
shirt, a fleece hoodie, a wind breaker and a knit hat. This is who I am and who I have always
been. The temps were just short of twenty
degrees and a blustery wind was blowing.
Once I had moved enough wood
for a couple of days fire into the back porch I took a walk through the woods
west of my house looking for birch bark ruminants blown down by the last storm
that I could use for fire starting.
There were deer tracks under the apple tree and moose tracks skirting
the edge of my yard.
I came inside and the house
was warm and toasty – the wood stove pumping heat, the comfortable sight of the
fire glowing through the glass door. The house smelled of fresh maple bread that
was baking in the bread maker, and my young wife was snuggled on the couch
reading with our cat curled contently beside her. They both raised their eyes for a moment and
looked at me as I hung up my outdoor gear before heading back to the kitchen
for a cup of tea.
I experienced one of those
moments of total contentment: Life is Good.
the Ol’Buzzard
Yeah! Those are the moments when I suddenly realize my tinitus has totally vanished and I can actually hear the silence! Cutting and splitting wood, that's what I do, all winter long. My morning here was crystal clear...it rarely snows, but we have a coating of frost and the ponds and ditches are iced over enough that I can walk on them. The only real fly in my ointment was that a battalion of hunters arrived at the end of my road (there is only one little road and I live at the very end) to do a real boar hunt...So the morning was like hearing a small battle going on in the woods ...then they leave for lunch and the guys who don't get too drunk come back out in the afternoon....
ReplyDeleteIt's the simple things that are Life's rewards! You sound like a lucky man.
ReplyDeleteThere is something comforting about a fire in a wood-burning stove. I've been tending the fire all day very comfortably even tho we just barely broke thru to double digits. Started off at 7 below and got all the way up to 12.
ReplyDeleteThey say burning wood warms you several times, when you cut it, split it, haul it and when you burn it!!
The Old Lady's co-workers thought we were nuts when she said we were going to move back up North when she retired. We've been warmer here during the winters than we were in our apartment in Atlanta. The only time it's colder is when we go outside and we can dress up for that.
I am ready for SPRING!
ReplyDeleteSarge
I don't have wood heat but the old lady next door does, a few years ago I bought a woodsplitter and get a winters worth of firewood split up for her in the summer while it is decent weather.
ReplyDelete