Where There's Smoke There's Firewood

I recently wrote about all the great things that come from trees, but I fear I may have forgotten something. Did you know that firewood also comes from trees? Its true. Now maybe that fact was in my last column (I never read the columns very carefully). In any case, firewood is something to think about this time of year (8:02pm).

Firewood is measured not in pounds or gallons but in a unit called a 'cord'. A 'cord' is 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet. In other words; it won't fit into the back of a Subaru, no matter what your firewood supplier tells you.

There is also something called a guitar cord which is firewood made from smashed guitars. Musicians sometimes smash their guitars in a frenzy at the end of a performance. Now you know why.

Rather than cords, most of us are likely to measure our firewood in units called piles. What you have in your back yard right now, as winter is getting close, is known as a 'small' or 'puny' pile. What your neighbor has is a 'large' or 'big' pile.

Eventually you will want to cover your pile of firewood with some sort of tarp. Your tarp should be made of a bright colored material so that it will be easier to find when the wind blows it off your firewood moments before the snow begins to fall.