Chop Wood, Carry Water

It's a bit bloody cold, I have to say. Brrrr! The cold goes straight through clothing, chilling one to the bone, as the breeze blows. It's a good chill though, fresh and alive, you know you are breathing and feeling something.

"Woooooo oooooo," calls the wind from the trees, as we head out into the forest to chop wood.

I pull the collar of my jacket up around my ears, as I go to get the ute. Mark gets the chain saw, he has already sharpened the blades, chain, whatever you call it? The ute starts first go, as it always does. It is a wreck now a days and it is a miracle it still goes at all. But, it is a HiLux and you know what they say about HiLux utes. Unbreakable.

We head out into the forest, the eucalyptus scented, mulch covered, mossy-floored forest. Mark walks ahead. I follow behind, the old ute chugging along in low gear. The muffler has gone, so it is a bit noisy, noisier that it once was. But, as I said, it is on its last legs… wheels. Mark has on his checked lumber jacket and work pants, so he looks quite the part. I’ve got on my wool lined jacket and old jeans. I’ve got several pairs of gloves lying on the seat next to me.

Mark finds a suitable dead tree still standing. He raises his hand and I kill the engine. I throw him a pair of gloves.

The chain saw is noisier than the ute, but only just. In no time, there is that familiar crack of timber piecing the serenity of the surrounding forest, and the sound of rushing air as the tree collapses and falls to the ground. The earth seems to shake just a bit as the tree lands between us and the ute.

The chainsaw buzzes, higher pitched and lower pitched, as it slices through the thick trunk like a deli slicer. I pick up the pieces, as Mark continues with the segmentation. Pretty soon the long, luxurious trunk of the tree has been segmented into burnable sized blocks. I pick them up one by one and hurl them into the back of the ute, where they land with a thud, which echoes into the trees closing in over the top of us in a thick canopy.

We fill the ute with wood before we head back to the house.