Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Stacking Wood and Hummingbird in Flight
A misty day in the Pacific Northwest and I offer to help my husband stack wood.
The fragrance of the freshly split Douglas Fir is indescribable, as we load the wheelbarrow, taking turns delivering the contents to the woodshed.
The path is lined with fallen leaves; winter will wait for another week.
We fit the imperfect, irregular shapes, together like a puzzle,
and I think, “there must be a poem about stacking wood.”
I find The Wood-Pile by Robert frost, this section:
“It was a cord of maple, cut and split
And piled—and measured, four by four by eight.
And not another like it could I see.
No runner tracks in this year’s snow looped near it.
And it was older sure than this year’s cutting,
Or even last year’s or the year’s before.”
His was Maple, unattended and forgotten; ours, Douglas Fir, to be burned this winter to keep us warm and cozy.
As we finish up, I see a hummingbird across the yard and hope to catch it in flight.
Refreshed by the time outdoors.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Weather like we might see in Ohio this time of year (if we’re lucky it’s not worse !) but not a hummingbird in sight !
At least last week’s ‘atmospheric river’ has passed and we’re back to normal amounts of rain, though none today. And I’m happy to see hummingbirds, every day here! 🙂
Beautiful capture of the hummer, Susanne! I can almost smell the fresh-cut pine from here 😉
Thanks, Terri! I was hoping you could smell the wood through the pictures! I was a bit far from the hummingbird but was happy to get some photos anyway.
I can almost smell that wood, so nice. The Hummer looks similar to the one I photographed yesterday, a black-chinned Hummer. ❤️
Thanks so much, John. I must have missed your hummers yesterday and will go take a look!
You’re welcome, and that’s okay. No biggie. 😊
Terrific photos…and a world where you can still have a fireplace! When we did our house addition we were not allowed to add one, even though we have two in the older part of the house…new rules!
Thanks, John. 🙂 I can see it may come to that eventually. For now, we have an insert in the fireplace that is certified for use. It’s a bit messy but there’s nothing like a wood fire!
Great photos!
Thank you!
That must be a satisfying task, to know that at the end of it you are all set for a warm and cosy winter 🙂
Yes. 😊 And it’s nice being outside with the fresh smell of the cut wood, getting some exercise.
Our woodpile is almost a year old, as we generally only light the wood-burner in December and January, so restocked last January. Half is stacked outside in an open-fronted container to weather, the rest piled up at the back of the garage, completely dry, and ready to burn when needed.
The hummingbird photos were perfect! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
So you know whereof I speak! Bob loves having a fire in the early morning most of the year except for summer, so we go through a lot of wood! And I never get tired of seeing (and photographing) the hummingbirds! 🙂
Lovely photos. Reminds me of home. ❤️
Thank you. Are you from the Northwest? 😊
The Northeast actually! But my dad always cut wood for our house in the winter. My sister and I used to climb over the stacks and look for creepy crawlies as kids. haha
Fun memories!