Firewood

Sick of paying the increasingly staggering price of firewood, I figured now would be the time to do some selective logging on our little 10 acres of heaven.  For the same price as about half of a year’s worth of wood I could stock-pile about two year’s worth, or more- a no-brainer.  Sure, more work for me splitting it all up, but I could use the physical work and, actually, love the chore (though a chore it is).  I mean, who doesn’t love their time playing with a chainsaw?

So the question, of course, becomes who to get to hike into the woods behind the house, chop down some trees, and haul them 500-1000 yards down the hill to the house.  I soon realized the answer was obvious:

• “….brought a bit of theater to the evening.  He startled the audience by starting his chainsaw, filling the auditorium with the stink of petroleum as he made his point.”
• Colby said that he told the arresting officer that, “I come in peace.” Colby said then the officer punched him in the stomach.  Wardinski said his arresting officer called him a, “punk asshole.”
• …demonstrators were arrested on trespass charges Wednesday night inside the Burlington offices of Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., while protesting what they said was Welch’s unwillingness to firmly oppose the Iraq war.
• Wardinski rattled off a list of political stands that included the immediate shutdown of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, universal health care coverage for all Vermonters in a publicly-funded system, a halt to public employee layoffs, and an immediate withdrawal of all Vermont service members currently fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and “who the hell knows where else.”
• “For Vermonters who have seen Howard Dean up close and personal for the last eleven years as our governor, there’s something darkly comical about watching the national media refer to him as the “liberal” in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. With few exceptions in the 11-plus years he held the state’s top job, Dean was a conservative Democrat at best. And many in Vermont, particularly environmentalists, see Dean as just another Republican in Democrat’s clothing.”
• “We go after the folks who have the power, directly, tenaciously, and in a way that empowers people.”
  

Michael Colby and Boots Wardinski, aka “Horse Loggers for Peace”.  Yeah, these guys will do just fine.  They’re polerizing, divisive, loud, and un-forgiving for it all.  They rub a lot of people- including many friends and aquiantances of mine- the very, very wrong way.  But of all the things we need and don’t need in this world, true iconoclasts will always be necessary.  So while I sit here “working”, Michael, Boots, and Michael’s trusty (and absolutely beatiful) horse are playing hard at work in the woods behind my house.  Thanks guys!