Fire

Last night was warm, muggy and still.  "Light a fire," I thought, "It's a perfect night for it."  So I lit a fire to burn some of the big pile of branches I have laying around.  Using a single piece of charcoal and a handful of dryer lint that I have saved up, I lit a fire.  At first it was slow to light.  I gathered twigs to keep it going.  As I worked gathering twigs I realized I was sweating so much my tshirt was as wet as it gets at the gym.  So I sat a minute to rest.  A small fire was definitely going in the woodpile that was probably five feet in diameter and 4 feet high.  To the side lay a giant branch of dead black spruce.  I lopped branches off the spruce.  As I fed them to the fire the flames rose 16 feet into the air singing the leaves of the tree above the fire. Dead black spruce will keep a fire going.  Some of the logs in the fire were 10 feet long so I set them in the middle.  As the center burned and the two ends came apart, I took the cool ends of the log and put them in the fire.  Man, was it hot.  I fed the fire for over 3 hours.  Tending a fire doesn't seem like much work but it sure gets rid of a lot of brush.  A couple years ago I took a giant 8 foot tall stalk of burdock in full seed and burned it.  So now I had 5 giant stalks of burdock around my fire spot.  I lopped them off and put them into the flames.  That dang burdock.  I used to think it was wild rhubarb and didn't mind it so much.  I even cast some burdock leaves into cement.  Now I know that one year it may look like innocent wild rhubarb but the next year it will grow into a towering 8 foot tall evil shrub full of velcro like seeds that will stick to your clothes and your hair and your dog.  Plus now I know it's an invasive species so I want to get rid of the dang burdock.  When I had time to rest in my lawn chair, a toad hopped up on the lawn chair next to me and we both watched the fire and listened to the crickets, the barred owl, and the squirrels.  A train blew the whistle 5 miles away and sounded lovely.  Someone blew off fireworks once in a while.  Normally I'm not outside listening to the sounds of the night.  Something scurried behind me.  It had four legs, was low to the ground, dark fur, and was larger than a mouse.  I don't know what that was but it made me a little nervous.  By 9:30 p.m. the flames had died down and only glowing embers were left.  I was hot and tired and really, really dirty.  I was so dirty I was past uncomfortable and almost to feeling good to be that dirty.  A hot shower was calling my name.  I will plan my next chore of burning brush for a cooler evening.