Friday, October 29, 2021

Wood Adventures

She opened the door to let her cat out onto the screen porch and immediately smelled the first cold weather fireplace burning in her neighborhood. What was that wood? It wasn't pine. This wood had a sweet smoky scent she instantly loved. Even though the night air was cold and the loss of heat came at a high cost, she opened the door several times to take in the wafts of delicious aroma. Not five minutes before she'd been lamenting staying at home for almost two years. Lamenting of no new programming on the television, only reruns. Lamenting of no vacations in years. Lamenting at the cost of food, fuel, and auto parts. Yet the tiny bit of fragrance had uplifted her spirits and she was instantly transported and slightly hopeful.

She knew if she could just train herself to concentrate on these small no-cost gifts she could turn her attitude of the surrounding world around. She wondered how she could do this. Because, you see, she knew she'd always been in tune with nature and it's small gifts. Yet she began to realize these small gifts were actually huge gifts, little known till now. She opened the door again and took in the smoky fumes. She felt like she could go out on the screen porch and dance in the smoky night air. But she knew going outside she'd instantly be too cold, then she'd have to turn up the inside heat and the cost would too great. So she dreamed of earlier years when she was young and sat around a fire, camping in the wilderness.

There had been days of hiking, biking, fishing, camping in the woods, and swimming in cold mountain spring-fed lakes. She remembered these times with nostalgia. Hiking in a granite wilderness and discovering a natural bonsai growing in a crevice in an outcropping. Cooking fresh-caught trout on the grill stuffed with lemon slices and wrapped in bacon. Trying to get back to shore in a 12 horsepower rented boat in the afternoon wind swept lake. The motor straining to make headway in the gusts. Finally having to go to shore and skirt around the lake the long way around.

Back then she and her husband packed in wood to use as heat in several locations throughout their marriage. They'd built a woodshed, with the help and advice of a neighbor, at their first home together. They had determined buying wood in the Spring was less expensive and they stacked the shed full of wood to season all summer long. Another time they rented a uhaul to pick up some inexpensive walnut for a good price. It was a labor of necessity because all the wood had to be tossed in the uhaul and hauled and then stacked at their home. How much did they save maybe a few twenty dollar bills, but they did it and that was that. Later years they got a hydraulic wood splitter and split the wood rounds since those were even less money. She'd set the rounds on the splitter and he's run the splitter. Sadly her husband's knee was hit with a split piece of wood; he suffered dearly for that mishap.

Several years ago she'd come upon some live edge wood slabs which drew her in for their inherent beauty. She thought to paint some animal and mountain scenes on the beautiful wood. She dried the wood and her husband cut the wood into wall size pieces.  She sanded the wood and painted the scenes and then coated them with a preservative. Her husband drilled holes to string a thick hemp cord to hang them with. She sold them all and was thankful for that small gift.

Today she came upon an ad for popular wood for sale at a local mill. She had a vision, a dream, of remodeling her basement bathroom with a type of shiplap wood walls. All of a sudden, all wood, especially shiplap, was now astronomical in price. So she decided to purchase these 1 x 6 x 8 boards for a song and dry them in their solarium over the winter. A risky waiting game for sure. So far wood had done her good in life and she was willing to take on another wood adventure with the potential of  even more small gifts nature might provide. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

2 comments:

  1. The small gifts are HUGE aren't they?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sue, thanks, I have to keep reminding myself of that every day, just need to develop a mantra, ohm

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