Cutting wood

All is gray and white today. We had a heavy wet spring snow during the night. It has covered our old rotten snow and is balanced precariously on every branch. Suddenly I see a patch of blue and a spot of orange across the pond. When it moves I see it is my husband's blue jacket and orange chain saw. That little patch of pink is his lovely face. The chain saw roars to life and down goes another of our little birches. We bought six cords of tamarack in the fall, but it's been a long, cold winter. There are only about six pieces left. For two weeks we have been debating. Should we let the fire go out for the season and drain the boiler? Rely on our electric heat? Our house is cozier when the wood boiler is going. Our hot water is hotter. But we have to keep the fire going. If the lines freeze underground there can be no circulation to the house. If water freezes in the boiler it would be damaged. Our son Marty told us once, "You're slaves to that thing." There are huge farm fields and Lake of the Woods and Canada to our north. There is nothing but woods for fifty miles to our south. Only a mile or so down our road there's a patch where loggers have been working. The logs are stacked in a neat pile. There's a small mountain of tree tops nearby that will probably be burned and hunks of small wood scattered over the ground. My husband stopped and asked if he could pick some up for our boiler. The loggers said that he needed a permit from the Department of Natural Resources. The DNR said that they can't give one because the County has put on spring road restrictions. They don't want the thawing gravel roads all rutted up by wood hauling. It all proves my husband's contention that if you want to get something done, don't ask too many questions. The day after he queried the DNR, I drove into town. Coming toward me on a restricted road I saw two pick-ups heaped with wood. One was pulling a large, flat trailer with eight big logs on it. No questions asked, I guess. Oh well, we have lots of little birches. We thinned them once before and never missed what was taken. We have birch stumps with four or five new little birches sprouted from them. At our church picnic this summer a friend was watching my husband pitch a softball game. "He's in better shape than most of the young guys at Marvin's," she said. [Employees of Marvin Window's and Doors] I attribute that to all the wood cutting and hauling and heaving that he does. Maybe if we go to an easier kind of heat he'll just go to seed.