Wood you please start a fire, baby?

Let’s talk about preparedness for a natural disaster or catastrophic event. One thing’s for sure – if we lose power for any length of time this winter, the one thing we won’t do is freeze. I’ve nicknamed us the Lumberjack Adams household.

It all began this past summer when my mother and her husband were forced into taking two trees down – one in the front and one in the back. Keith has worked his cute behind off in order to split it all and get it back to the house. If it weren’t for a neighbor that allowed him use of their splitter it wouldn’t have been possible – these trees were huge. Last but not least, my mother’s husband lent his brut strength and use of his truck along with Keiths. I lost count on the number of truckloads it took to get it all here.

It got me thinking about the early days and how much work the pioneers had to put into gathering their wood for the long winter. They must have been gathering and chopping all through the summer just to prepare.

We figure it’ll last us all winter and then some. We’ll also burn some in the fire pit in the back yard, that is until it gets too cold outside!

Our neighbor across the street is a ‘wood hog’ – by this I mean he will do almost anything to get a load of wood. They actually heat all winter with a central wood-burning stove – a very energy-efficient choice. When the tornado ripped through our neighborhood this spring, he was out bargaining for all the neighbors’ wood from the downed trees. He’s even been caught at residences with downed trees, pilfering the wood without asking while the owners were gone! Years ago, he actually did it to Keith one time while he was out of town working. From what I was told, he’ll not ever attempt that little maneuver again.

Where was I going with this? Oh yeah… when the final truckload of our wood got here, this man came over to admire. He told us (with glowing green eyes) we have more wood than he does! That’s really saying alot and I still don’t know if I believe it…

I love fires in the winter. Bring on that lotion… 🙂