Sonja rushed through the woods, eyes swerving and nose twitching as she searched for firewood. Behind her was Momo, carrying most of what was found like a pack mule. For once, she was glad to be wearing a shirt. All of these dry branches and sticks were rough on her skin.
"This is perfect!" Sonja hollered, picking up a stick that looked no different from any of the others she had found. She gave it to Momo and grabbed another stick ten feet away, exactly the same. "This one is even better!"
Every time they filled up their arms with wood, they would carry it back to the house and load it into the tool shed. Momo at least had the sense to try and stack it properly to minimize the space used. In an old trash bin left by the builders, they stashed all the birch bark they could find.
I returned an hour later, bringing with me several new tools from the hardware store in the nearby town. Among them were a log-splitting axe and the cheapest chainsaw I could find. Both girls were dirty, Sonja as happy as could be and Momo still grumpy.
"How have you girls been?" I asked.
"Good! We got lots of sticks!"
"Thank you, that'll help keep us warm this winter. Now, can you girls show me to any dead trees? Momo, you can go inside if you want." Now both girls were smiling.
I fueled up the chainsaw and followed Sonja into the woods. She pranced around me, overjoyed for the two of us to be together on such a beautiful day. Many of trees she showed me were pretty punky but would still burn ok, just not quite as hot. Most of them were in pretty good shape, still hard and dried out from the summer sun.
We arrived at the first tree and I gave Sonja a pair of safety goggles and told her to stand back while I put on my own. This wasn't my first time using a chainsaw, but it always made it nervous.
"Ok, this is going to be really loud. Just keep your distance, and whatever you do, don't stand under the tree once it begins to fall."
I started up the chainsaw, making Sonja wince and cover her floppy dog ears. The motor roared and whined as the chain met the side of the tree, sending up clouds of sawdust and wood chips. Two slow cuts sent the tree falling, busting through the canopy of its healthy brethren and shaking the woods upon its landing. I then went down the line, cutting it up into sections to be split. Our house had a woodstove in the living room, but it was pretty small, fitting for our little cabin. It may be possible to simply heat the house with only the sticks the girls had found, but I wanted something with a little more girth. I just had to make sure they could fit.
With the tree diced up, I began chopping up the sections with the axe, first setting them onto the stump and then making a few heavy swings. Damn it, I had forgotten how much I hated splitting wood. It always takes ten times more energy than you think, a lot of which is wasted on bad swings. But I had Sonja with me, watching in awe as I worked. Who knows? Maybe I was even turning her on.
By the time I had finished chopping the wood, the afternoon had already started and the September heat was sapping my strength and leaving me drenched in sweat. I had hoped to get a few more trees done, but there was always tomorrow. Compared to the girls, I had gotten barely anything done. Oh well, once we reached fall, I would be much more productive.
"All right, we'll haul this wood back to the shed some other time. Let's head back and relax."
"Ok!"
Sonja pranced through the woods with me behind her, still trying to figure out if we would have enough wood for the winter. Winters in Maine were rough, and I only wanted to use gas heating to keep the pipes from freezing. We would have to keep the stove going almost nonstop. But once we got back home, I put those thoughts away with my tools and followed Sonja inside. The first thing we did was drink like racehorses. I should probably get some water bottles.
I looked into the living room and saw Momo sound asleep on the couch. Since coming in, she had stripped down and taken a shower, but her hair was almost dry from the heat.
"Come on," I said to Sonja, "let's get cleaned up."