Woodchuck & Wood Chuckin’

There’s a difference between a woodchuck and wood chucking, but here at Serendipity Farmhouse we have learned that the two can live in harmony – at least for a time. Today, we will discuss that harmony.

You might remember in our post WWWT? #1 – What a Lovely Wood Stove! we were confronted by two harsh realities: old farmhouses get cold and wood stoves have to be fed. So, 2014 was the year we had to adapt to those realities.

My sweet, adorable spouse emphatically emphasized on more than one occasion during that Spring and Summer – “Buy wood! We have to buy wood before Winter comes.” Being wiser than I usually am, I decided to listen to her. I bought wood. How much wood did I buy. I bought three whole cords of wood, a truckload of wood, a pile of wood, a veritable mountain of wood. More wood than I could move in a lifetime.

Now, we were not dismayed by the immensity of our task to move the mountain of wood from the driveway to the woodshed, nearly a football field away. We had two aces up our sleeves – first we have grandchildren. But that particular labor force needs motivation. The second ace provided that motivation – Yes, the best pizza ever known to Sperryville and Rappahannock County was Rudy’s Pizza. Not only does it motivate grandchildren, it also goes a long way to motivating sons-in-law. — We played both aces. The Wood Chuckin’ Pizza Party would become a new family tradition.

The next problem was how to move the wood. We had found that it would probably take two to three years to move the wood with a wheelbarrow. So, the only answer was to fork out 100 bucks and buy a cart that could be hooked up to the lawn tractor.

That brought the next problem. We refer to 2014 as the “Year of the Skunk. Why”? Because not one, not two, but three skunks resided in our yard under the main shed. One of the three was a very pregnant female. Before the end of Summer, Serendipity Farmhouse was called home by eight, overly friendly skunks. This picture shows how curious one of those skunks was as yours truly was assembling the new cart.

 

Finally we had everything together: one cart free of unwanted odors; several grandchildren; son-in-law and daughter No. 1. So, we were off to chuckin’ wood.

Meanwhile, the skunks had moved on and a new character entered stage right. George the Groundhog was at first a little disgruntled because we were making noise in the woodshed just above his head. After he saw what we were about, he managed the moving project from the sidelines. Only after he had made a thorough inspection of all our work, were we to receive his seal of approval.

To this day George still resides under the woodshed. Although he’s not into Rudy’s Pizza, he does like the fresh apples from our five or so apple trees. Pizza for us, apples for him, and the skunks have moved on. There is harmony at Serendipity!