Reading Tom Sawyer

I just came in from stacking firewood and was scratching mosquito bites & feeling sorry for myself, when I discovered you can check the mosquito forecast! Isn't that convenient? Yahoo's weather page offers it. Just plug in a zip code and it gives you a very serious and professional looking graph as if that's of any use whatsoever. I popped in my zip code and found out -- as sorry as I was feeling for myself -- we only have moderate mosquito levels. Rank amateurs on the mosquito front. The bunny hill. Training wheels. The shallow end. Worse yet, the baby pool.

Still, I enjoyed stacking the firewood. Once the smoke-belching, racket-raising chainsaws & splitters are quiet, I enjoy making a neat orderly stack out of the chaos. I'm good at it. Actually, I'm the best in the house. It takes a developed sense of spatial relationships to make the stack come out nicely balanced so next winter when you pull out a chunk, it doesn't all land on your foot. It takes careful attention to the wood species & sizes, blending big & little, the hot burning maple with the slower burning oak so your fire doesn't get too hot, or too cold, but just right. It takes a keen eye to watch for snakes (to avoid) & toads (not to squash), all the while quietly singing Rolling Stones songs to myself. It is a Zen-like art.

Then there's the anticipation of those cheerful fires when the weather turns nasty, a cozy glow to toast your tootsies. All in all, stacking firewood is satisfying -- a delight even.

Do I sound convincing? Do you think the kids will buy it?