Wood Pile

Dare I say that spring has hit Bemidji? It's a little early yet, so I'm probably jinxing myself and it will probably snow a few more times before summer, but I'll take the warm, sunny 45 degree weather over cold and blowing snow anyday. We're all glad spring is here. The snow is (mostly) gone. I've raked up the gazillion pine needles that fell over the winter and our grass actually looks a little green. The kids have had the bikes out every day since the thaw and have been wearing sandals (with socks!) just to let their toes wiggle a little bit. They've protested their winter coats and are only wearing their "spring mittens". I've put away my winter boots for more practical and stylish shoes.
We've been waiting until mid-afternoon when the sun is hitting our backyard just perfect and heading out for playtime. We can actually stay out for several hours without saying "it's cold" once. I even hear lots of "I love the sun." comments. It's been fabulous.
This week we had two dead, gigantic pine trees cut down because we were afraid that they might fall and land on a car or the neighbors house or my children. We told them that we wanted to keep the wood so we could have fires this summer. Well, one can't quite perceive how much wood two 120 year old trees will produce until you have to haul the wood from the front of your house to the back. But, now we will have firewood for the next 10 years or so!!
The kids enjoyed watching the men climb the trees and cut them down foot by foot but, they enjoyed playing on the wood pile even more!