Firewood Frenzy

They say firewood warms you twice---once when you cut it and once when you burn it. Whoever coined the phrase, didn’t know us.

With access to down trees, the long Labor Day weekend brought with it one goal: cut and gather enough firewood for the upcoming winter. The first trip, like those that followed started with an hour drive, included sawdust, the loud hum-buzz of the chainsaw, stacking cut logs three deep, and rain and mud.

Towing a trailer full of cut wood, exhausted, chilled with the wet mud that weaved through the fibers of our clothes we were eager to get home. Six miles, only six miles and we would have begun the second half of our firewood chores---unloading, splitting and stacking. Six miles away and the tell-tell, thwack of rubber to tire well sounded. Had the flat tire been on the truck, the fix would have been much simpler.

As we examined what would prove to be a considerable undertaking, the red and blue lights flashed through the falling night. The trooper approached with caution, and if AJ’s face and clothes were as dirty and disreputable as Rebecca’s, it was no wonder.

Two car jacks, two good Samaritans, and a two hour tire change later we arrived home. Then, the splitting and stacking began.

Our efforts that long weekend yielded nine cords of wood---each split by AJ’s calloused hands, and the firsthand knowledge---learned in a later lesson---that a dog truck towing a trailer heavy laden with firewood is not an appropriate off-roading rig.