The important question is not “How to move the firewood?”, the question is “How to have a firewood party?”. Let me tell you how my two humans, with my help, realized this fundamental fact of life and have used it to everyone’s advantage.
Hi! Mr. Monte here.
Each and every one of my 23,417 faithful feline followers can attest to the fact that living with humans is rather awkward at times. They’re not really very bright and evolution has not favored them as it has the cat family.
That’s why we cats sometimes have to take matters into our own paws. – Life has been so much better now that Blondie and Ol’ Fuzz face learned from what I taught them about the proper use of incentives.
This Year’s Firewood Panic
Every year my two humans find two or three cords of firewood sitting in a huge pile in the East 40. When the wood arrives, they immediately go into a panic because they know they have to move all that firewood to the woodshed, which is all the way over in the West 40.
Ol’ Fuzz Face is completely useless when this annual firewood panic sets in. He can be seen turning around in small circles trying to figure out what to do first. – Should he start moving wood? No, because the shed needs to be cleaned. Should he start cleaning the shed? No, because the wood carts are full of gardening debris. And so it goes on and on.
That’s where I have to calm him down, smooth his ruffled feathers, and give him an easy to follow, step-by-step plan. – First, empty the carts. Next, clean the shed. Finally, find someone strong and fit to move the wood.
Finding someone strong and fit to move the wood is where Fuzzy messed up bigtime. – When I said that, I meant he was to do the job. But no, the lazy lout declared himself less than strong and fit due to an ancient, perfectly healed hernia. That’s when he tried to get sweet Miss Blondie to move all the wood. After moving a few loads, Miss Blondie realized she’d been hoodwinked. She had enough and shared her thoughts with Fuzzy. It wasn’t a very pleasant exchange. – If Miss Blondie were a cat, she would have to bite Fuzzy on the ankle.
Genesis of the Firewood Party
After his encounter with Miss Blondie, Ol’ Fuzz Face recognized that he was in deep trouble. That firewood still had to be moved and he wouldn’t have a moment of peace from Miss Blondie until the job was done.
Being somewhat sane and sound of mind, Ol’ Fuzz Face came to me for my sage advice. I told him the problem was entirely of his own making. He had to man up and take charge. I suggested that he could make use of incentives. – It works with me. Give me treats and good food and I will do tricks for you.
And that’s when the light came on inside his fuzzy old head!
“We’re going to have a firewood party!“
Ol’ Fuzzy told Miss Blondie his (my) plan. They made the arrangements. Daughter #1 would have her family assemble at Serendipity Farmhouse for the First Annual Firewood Party. – Because Fuzz Face was such a failure at management, Miss Blondie would oversee the day’s work.
The Apple Blossom Crew did a fantastic job under the close supervision of Foreman Blondie!
Even Fuzzy realized that having a firewood party had to be fun. That was the incentive. However, Fuzzy might have gone a bit too far when he thought it would be fun teaching Son-in-law #1 how to drive the lawn tractor. From my vantage point, it looked like lives were in danger.
Fortunately, no one got hurt. But it only reinforces my thought that Fuzzy should always be kept under adult supervision.
Now Miss Blondie, on the other hand, really knows how to keep the crew at a firewood party happy. She made sure that no one went hungry or thirsty. – She even gave me some snacks!
Finally, after hours of hard work and more fun together than we’ve had in a long, it was time to celebrate.
To my astute readers, although this was the first official Serendipity Farmhouse Firewood Party, it was not the first time that moving firewood was made fun with the help of family. For example, read the posts here and here.
If you’d like to see more of the fun times at the firewood party, check out the video below.
Funny thing is every year the same routine…..somehow it almost magically gets done PERFECTLY. Amazing.
Picture perfect woodshed. Mary