The rewards of preparing for winter ~ November 4, 1993

David Heiller

The evening grosbeaks fought for food at our feeders on Sunday. They jostled for a spot with the chickadees, nuthatches, and blue jays.

So many gathered there that when someone walked around the corner of the house suddenly, they would take off with a roar that made you jump, like the sound of grouse that you scare in the woods.

But they soon returned. They are bolder this time of year, because they know they have to fill up for winter. One grosbeak sat on the edge of the dog’s water dish. I walked to within five feet before it flew off.

Maybe it got the idea from the blue jay that I saw on Sunday morning. It was perched on the edge of the dog food dish and calmly eating dog food.

And perhaps the blue jay stole its idea from my least favorite animal. Two weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night, and headed out-side to answer nature’s call. Our dog, Ida, wanted to go outside too. I flipped on the outside light and started opening the door. At the same instant I saw a skunk no more than six feet away. It was eating food from the dog’s dish.

Ida eating from the dog dish outside.
After the skunk feeding incident,
 the dogs were not feed outside anymore.

I slammed the door shut, but not before Ida saw the thief. She slipped through and leaped for it, then suddenly realized it was a skunk. She turned 90 degrees in mid-air, almost defying gravity. But it was too late. The skunk already had turned its backside and lifted its tail.

It was a foggy night, and the smell was so strong that it gave my wife a headache, and she didn’t even get out of bed. Ida didn’t come in the house for a week.

It’s hard to like a skunk anyway, but when they eat your dog food and spray your dog, they are downright unwelcome. The .22 is ready and waiting.

This tells me that either winter is just around the corner, or that Larry Dagel sells good dog food. Or both.

PEOPLE HAVE THEIR OWN ways of getting ready for winter. There’s always a bit of stress involved because you are fighting a deadline of snow and cold.

Making firewood is my biggest fall chore. It’s a lot of work, and I worry about it, but in a perverse way, I like it. It gives me an excuse to get in the woods and feel the season.

Like last Thursday, October 28. I took the day off to bring in wood. When I drove the tractor, the cold wind snuck through my coat and made me shiver. In the woods, away from the wind, it felt brisk and refreshing. The woods had that fall feel, everything dry and crisp. And no mosquitoes. The sun came out and it was almost hot. After sawing and splitting a huge birch, I was sweating. All this in the course of an hour.

Then there’s the stacking. I asked a neighbor kid on Sunday if she liked stacking wood. I was hoping for a miracle and some cheap labor. But she said no. I asked why. “Too boring,” she said.

Stacking wood is boring. She was right. Yet there is something about it that I like. I like how my thoughts wander to all different subjects. The pole barn we would like to have built. Putting on storm windows. The book I would rather be reading (Lonesome Dove). Friends I haven’t seen for a while. Stacking wood helps me organize my thoughts.

You work at a slow, steady pace. You can’t go too fast, or you’ll tire, and your woodpile will fall down. After a while, your body wakes up. It always takes me 10 or 15 minutes. My muscles start to feel tight and strong. After dumping an arm full of oak or maple, I feel like I could lift anything. I don’t feel like that any other time ex­cept when I stack wood for an hour.

Noah and Jake were four season friends.

On Saturday, my son Noah and his friend, Jake, helped me make firewood. When Noah works alone with me, he likes to talk. When he talks, he doesn’t work. I’m not a big talker when I work, so Noah stands around and talks a lot while I work.

But he and Jake were somehow able to talk and work at the same time. Jake has hauled wood before, and some good habits rubbed off. He loaded Noah’s arms with wood, and Noah did the same to him. So I was able to saw while they filled the trailer. We got a lot done. But better yet was watching them working so eagerly. It didn’t seem like work to them. It was more of a game, seeing who could carry the most, seeing what neat piles they could make.

Then when we unloaded it, we made an assembly line from the trailer to the woodshed. Jake would pass the sticks to Noah, who passed them to me. We were all amazed at how fast it went.

Getting ready for winter carries a little stress for people and birds and skunks and dogs. But it has its rewards.