While chopping firewood the other day I had this thought:
For many years I sailed. My last sailboat was the U.S. documented vessel “38 Special”, a vintage 1960’s 38 foot sloop designed and built by Ted Irwin. She was well found, fast and beautiful.
My dog and I enjoyed many days of extended cruising. I found that shortly after loosing the sight of land, life became simple! I enjoyed the silence, the gentle motion of the ocean and the independence of being able to navigate the world’s oceans using just the power that nature herself provides – the wind. The satisfaction and pride of being able to go where I pleased using absolutely no engine at all was fantastic.
Now here I am living in the mountains on the edge of the National Forest surrounded by a different mother nature. Beauty is everywhere. Other than the rustle of wind in the trees or occasional sound of wildlife, the silence ever present (bar the mail delivery vehicle once a day). I walk into the forest and loose myself for hours and enjoy a peacefulness not entirely unlike that of sailing upon an ocean with nothing but water in sight.
It’s winter. We usually don’t have extreme cold here where I am but I still have to heat the house for a couple months in the winter. These days I’m heating with firewood in a furnace located in the basement. I find the exercise of chopping and splitting firewood to be healthy and invigorating. More than this I find the whole process to be rewarding. I feel the independence and satisfaction of being less dependent upon being “on the grid” to be similar to sailing.
Each time I chop wood (yes, I use a chainsaw and log splitter most of the time) I think about NOT buying propane for the “other” furnace. It makes me smile and feel a bit more independent . . . not unlike being miles from the world in the middle of an ocean.
Life is good here in the mountains.