“The family that gathers wood together stays warm together.” So says Paul as we spent the afternoon in the wood lot limbing and stacking trees for winter firewood.

Although the day was glorious, sunny and in the low 70s, the changing colors of the trees were a clear reminder that the heating season is not far off.

The view from the wood lot in the back 40.

Hannah joined us for a couple of hours. Notice her adjusting the tunes on her iPod. I wonder what appropriate manual labor accompaniment music is these days?

Here I am having a brief pause watching Paul and Hannah work. The miles on the treadmill and hiking have not prepared me for cutting, lifting, and hefting that goes along with gathering wood. I fear we have many more afternoons like this in our future before snow flies.