The girls and Eric are all in the kitchen with Sally learning to cook pancakes. Breakfast is a few minutes off. Eddy stood off and looked a bit bored (disinterested in cooking. Saves energy for eating!). I went outside and cut a few ’rounds’ off the logs with the chainsaw and left them by the chopping block.

“What were you doing, sweetie?” asked Sal.

“Oh, just cutting a few rounds in case anyone wanted to take a few whacks.”

Eddy slipped out, put on his shoes and next thing I hear is ‘whack-thunk’, ‘whack-thunk’. It was like a duck taking to water. He couldn’t help himself.

I went back outside. “Do you need any more instruction, Ed?”

“No. I think I can do it!” ‘whack-thunk’, ‘whack-thunk’, ‘whack-thunk’. No splitting. Just ‘thunking’.

“No strength required, Ed. Remember, it is all in the rhythm. Swing those hips!”

Ed looks at me. Sweat is pouring down from his forehead. The little round of wood (size of a presto-log) is undamaged except for a dent or two. Still very much intact. “Soooooo hard!”

“Nah! Little girls can do it. One handed. Blindfolded! You just need to practice.”

“Oh, little girls with blinds? They can do this? One hand?”

“Yup! Piece of cake! All of them! No problem!”

Ed wipes his brow, picks up the splitting maul and whack-thunks his way through that first piece. He is well on his way to ‘little lumberjack girl’ status. I walk away grinning from ear to ear.

Hmmmmmm………we may just may fill the last two rows of the woodshed over the next few days after all.