Saturday, November 30, 2013

Wood Choppers

Drew Swinging an Ax
The Growing Pile
Intense Wood Chopper Face
Good Swiss Form
Nice Stack
Warm Dogs Are Happy Dogs
The crack of axes beats double-time as two wood choppers hack at rounds of logs on the knoll above Elmira Pond. Bellies full of pumpkin pancakes, linguisa and mulled apple cider these two men are fueled to work.

I cannot swing an ax. If I did, someone would lose a foot, namely me. Not to be sexist, but I do believe wood chopping is a guy's thing. It takes powerful upper body strength, focused energy and a desire to whack something.

My son-in-law Drew and his friend, Samuel who moved to America from Switzerland, both have that manly desire to chop wood. I have a more womanly desire to have a warmth hearth  which requires someone chopping. My husband loves to chop, too but he's happy to share the chore.

Ax overhead, arms taunt, the axes swing again and again. Wood is piling up and I feel like I'll be able to survive winter in the greatest of comfort. Already we have a nice stack on the south porch and the dogs have their downstairs beds by the fires. Although the huskies seek colder napping spots like on the tiles by the door.

Then the dogs all burst into barking. The wood choppers have returned to the house. Drew says something terrible has happened. Seeing no obvious wounds or fountains of blood, I'm not too worried. He goes on to laments that we are out of wood. It has all been chopped.

What now? Samuel has a splendid idea based on generations of Swiss woodsman flowing in his veins. Drink, he says. We all laugh. There's mulled cider on the stove and that satisfies the post-chopping activities by the warmth of the fire, of course.

Mulled Apple Cider: quart of apple juice with simmering spices of vanilla bean (halved and seeded), 3 bay leaves, 8 whole allspice, 12 peppercorns, rinds of 1 lemon).

11 comments:

  1. I've done plenty of that woodpile work in my lifetime, so I think I'll just sit by the fire with the dogs and a mug of your mulled cider in hand, Yummy!

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    1. Then you understand the concept that wood warms you twice! I prefer the second warming myself. :-)

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  2. Wish I had a fire like Ruth to sit by :) Your cider sounds delicious!

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    1. Sit beside me and the dogs, Susan, there's plenty of room at Charli's. Not too sure how much cider is left though ... hiccup!

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    2. Nothing like wood heat! The cider is not only tasty and easy, but no added sugar. It's nice to have a pot simmering for day-long sipping!

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  3. Delightfully told. My hubby loved chopping wood. It was almost a meditative exercise for him. I agree ~ wood chopping is definitely a 'manly' thing.

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    1. Yes, I think men do find it meditative...the ladies all went upstairs and did yoga while the chopping was going on, come of think of it! Thanks!

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  4. I rarely chop wood...but when i do, i love the exercise. Probably wouldn't love it as much if i had to do it to feed a woodburning stove. :) But I do love fire heat.

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    1. I'm very lucky that my fellas like the activity to the point that they chopped it all! I actually like hauling it and stacking it...my winter exercise!

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  6. The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought you have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention. https://newsweek.top/gather-around-these-modern-fire-pit/

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