Let's say about a year ago I split a nice big old pile of firewood and as I'm walking past it on my way to the pole shed today, where I'm going to start splitting some more firewood, well I go walking past thinking I did that, I got something accomplished. I also think about her.

The gray ended wood is about as seasoned as it's gonna get so I think when I start hauling, I'll start hauling and burning from that pile. Each log end I think log butt. Just log butt makes me laugh to myself. I'm standing here at about four above zero , wind chill close to twenty below making what I think are hilarious log butt jokes. Hey there's a pile of log butts, a pile of lazy log butts, a pile of aged log butts. What a bunch of log butts.

The wind catches me and I leave my log butts to gray a day or two more. Before I get to the shed a shadow floats cross the yard. I look up and it's a big voluminous fluffy cloud, and I think hey, that cloud looks like an elephant with an umbrella hovering over his head. I think it's a male elephant because he has two elongated tusks. The cloud being pushed by the wind in no time morphs into a bowl of popcorn with popcorn falling out of the bowl. Then it's disappearing at the tree line so I stop looking up. In no time at all, the entire yard is a query.

Snow banks piled, they're going to melt someday. Snow draped eves, that stuff will fall off the roof eventually. The pole shed floor is a menagerie of wood chips and splinters and piles of potential kindling and I need to rake or shovel to clean up. Will it bio degrade or will I get around to burning it? In any case, it's all going go past about like that cloud a few minutes ago and I for one am going to miss all of it. I think this life of fishin and firewood, woods and a child, her and how I miss her, the friends, the times of fun, and the ones that kicked me right out from under myself has been a pretty good deal.

This life business, aint been so bad. Yes I'll take so more.

The trout whisperer