Mailbox Merry-Go-Round!

Only in Forks, I suppose ...

Firewood and Preparation

We have noticed that most homes here in Forks are winter-heated with wood-burning stoves. Maybe it's because wood is so plentiful on the Olympic Peninsula. You cannot walk 20 feet from any highway and not be among gorgeous and enormous trees. In a ward welfare committee meeting here, I learned that wood burners who would keep warm throughout the winter need to have enough wood cut, split and stacked to last from October through March.

The wood should have been cut, split and stacked in the late Spring. Green wood doesn't burn very well.

Furthermore, the wood should be protected from the rains. Wet wood doesn't burn very well, either.

There seems to me to be a profound lesson in this wood-storing story. Good preparation is not a last-minute activity. It requires knowledge of our circumstances, advance planning and diligence.

Spring Has Sprung!

And here is our proof:

Our garden is awash with bright colors again this year.

We may not have Vermont fall hues or intermountain west snows, but we do have spring.

Our neighborhood bees and hummingbirds are happy now.

And so are we!

Roses are my favourites!

We are grateful.

Meet Blake!

This is Blake, a lop-eared rabbit adopted recently by our son's girl friend. Until then, I did not know that one could adopt a rabbit. I'd heard of adopting dogs, cats, wild mustangs and donkeys, but never rabbits. When I was a lad, we raised rabbits for food ... we had them for dinner, fried, like chicken. The idea of a tame and cuddly pet rabbit never entered my consciousness.

Sometimes, when Jeff and Heather are busy, Maureen and I get to tend Blake. He seems to enjoy exploring the nooks and cranny's of our family room. He doesn't make sounds ... he just wiggles his nose at things. If something is in his way, he tries to move the encumbrance by biting it. The other evening I was a little inattentive and the rabbit bit my foot. Rabbits have oversized incisors! And, Yes, they like carrots!