Wood

Well, since we heat with wood, that means there is "extra" work to be done in getting ready for winter to come. Bob has spent many afternoons and Saturday morning chopping what he could... by hand! Well, thanks to our home teachers, he now as use of a splitter for the really big stuff... and we'll see what else depending on how fast that goes.

Anyway, we had this lovely big pile of wood that was just sitting out, airing, and knew there was a bunch of rain heading our way. That meant it was time to stack it undercover, where it will live until we bring it into the house to burn. This year, we had more hands available to help out - and since we're trying to teach our children the principle of "hard work", yet "fun work", and that we all benefit from what we help with, we got everyone involved. Bob did the most, of course, and the kids were back and forth playing and helping. Peter took a nap, and I, of course, was involved in getting him there and taking care of snack needs and such. Never the less, we all worked well together!

Each of the kids helped by filling the wheelbarrow, then either Bob or myself would run that in. A game was created to see how busy everyone could keep Daddy. So, while he was unloading the wheelbarrow, we'd all bring in more wood to add to what he was staking! Then the kids stopped helping to fill the wheelbarrow (except for Peter) and just kept taking him more wood so that Peter and I could get the wheelbarrow filled back up before Bob ran out of wood to stack! It didn't always work, but it certainly kept things moving right along.

It always feels good to work together and to get things ready for the winter!