Sun and Snow

The predicted snow did not materialize this morning, other than a thin coating on the deck and some stray flurries throughout the morning.  So it seemed like a good day to finish cutting up that big log on the log pile and splitting just a little more firewood.  Highlands Roadrunner becomes by necessity Highlands Woodcutter from time to time.

It is always a careful balance this time of year as the firewood supply dwindles.  Ideally, this stack on the back porch should run out just when it is no longer needed:

That is good husbandry, perfect management of resources:  to use the very last piece of firewood on the last cold night, so that you don't have to carry several armloads off the porch, far away from the house, where firewood is stored over the summer.  Even more ideally, there should be no firewood left to store over the summer whatsoever. 

As I worked on the log, sawing and splitting and carrying, I realized how much I enjoy this simple uncomplicated work, stopping to stretch from time to time, listening to the wind howl up on the ridgeline, feeling at ease with saw and maul as the supply of firewood accumulated step by step.  It is very much like running a long race, one step at a time.  And then it began to snow again, and at one point I realized that I was cutting firewood, and the sun was shining brightly, and it was pouring snow.  Snow swirled around in the bright wind all around me.

A typical Highlands Spring!