How Do You Know?

How do you know it's going to be a good day?  It's a sure thing when one of your Kids calls in the morning and says he's coming up; not only that, he's bringing a friend and they're going to split wood.  A couple of hours later, two Harleys rumbled up my drive and I was one happy mama.

There is a definite hierarchy in a sanctioned motorcycle club, the bottom rung being the Hang-Arounds.  Hang-Arounds, low men on the totem pole, are to help with anything asked by a Patch Holder (top echelon).  Dave is a Patch Holder in the Freed Spirits MC.  I'd bet that Jeff, a flat-lander, never expected to split oak rounds.  He looked at the large pile of very large rounds and said, "Well, it's been a long time since I've used a maul."  He breathed a sigh of relief when he was told that I have a gas-powered splitter to do the hardest work.  On his last visit Dave had noticed that the woodpile was getting low and knows that I become very frugal, lighting the wood stove only when absolutely necessary, hoarding the dwindling supply.  The guys not only split the logs, they stacked the firewood.  The only way I can repay Dave and his friends and show my appreciation is by keeping them hydrated while they work and feeding them well when they're finished.  The added bonus is a beautiful ride up from the valley.  After they'd gone and the temperature dropped, I lit a fire!

I don't like to jump to conclusions, but I think Thing has got a black-market blanket business going, probably off the tailgate of my truck.  That bugger completely emptied an entire package of diaper wipes.  That's one hundred tissues!  Don't try to tell me that one whatever-he-is can use one hundred blankets all by his lonesome.  I went into the middle barn, sure I'd find piles of wipes somewhere.  Nary a one anywhere.  When the mice and ground squirrels steal wipes from the bucket in the barn, there's always a telltale bit left showing where they'd dragged them away.  Not so with sneaky Thing.  The least he could do is share his ill-gotten gains.

I got a surprise visit from my Kid, my woodpile is replenished; it was a good day.  I knew it would be.