The Last Load

Maybe this "Last Load" was really just a half a load. It
seems like much of what I try to do any more isn't quite
what it used to be. Altogether though, there is enough
firewood here at home to keep the fire burning for seven
or eight months straight. I always used to feel such a
sense of security when this was done each year, knowing
my family would have a warm place to spend the cold
winter nights in case the electricity went off or the gas
supply was somehow interrupted..

Nonetheless, and perhaps less selfishly than most of the
loads before, it took a lot of sweat and a few sore muscles
to get this tree from the forest to the wood pile behind
the tree in the backyard. This summer I have never had
any intention of using so much as a stick of it, since we
will have moved to Logan before the cold of winter arrives.
The intent was and is to bring someone else the same joy
and comfort we so often felt on those cold winter's nights
of the past. I hope it will be used. At least my heart was
in the right place.

Iris always used to worry when I went alone to get wood.
I would tell her, that I was never alone, and indeed I was
not. My faithful River was always near by, though of late
he's a little like his master, he'd rather just lie in the truck
and snooze instead of go chase tree squirrels like he used
to. And besides, I often felt closer to my own Master in
the woods than about any other place. We had lots of long
talks, which I will continue to have in another setting.
Age tells its own story for man as well as his best friend.