Spring Bonfire...sorta.

I wake to a dreary morning. A thick carpet of clouds blocks out the sky, and the temperatures are downright chilly when I wince at the sound of the alarm. Rather than get up, the way I should, I lie in bed, staring out the window at the miserable gray light, wondering if I can get away with another hour of sleep.

First thing’s first, however, the dogs need to be let outside before they play havoc with the insides of the cabin. Their eagerness to face the day is so painfully obvious that I fight the instinct for a snooze. Shutting off the alarm, I roll from the bed and stumble my way to the door, trying to keep Knight II at bay.

Once they’re out I’m completely awake, much to my regret. I make the bed and start on the morning rituals so I can get to the house and face the day as well.
After the usual hour of getting up-to-date with grandpa and breakfast big brother and I settle by our computers.

Deciding that a short break in the edit is warranted, we start on the monumental task of going through my extensive files and make a first stab at trying to create some sort of order in the chaos. It is going to take quite some time, we soon find. There is an eclectic mix of almost eighteen years of daily writing saved in more files than I even want to contemplate at this point.

I never think about the amount of data I wrote down over the years, but going through it, the mess is daunting at the very least. We spent several hours organizing, barely scratching the surface, for crying out loud.

A lot of the finished manuscripts were written in old WordPerfect files, and rather than using one file for one book, they are separated in chapters, due to WP’s problem with big files. This means that, in order to get some order, I’m going to have to spend more time than I have on copying and pasting everything together. Aaargh.

But anyways, gardening time arrives and the computers are put aside in favor of the great outdoors. As was discussed last night, we have elected today as clean-up day. Which means that we head for the old pool–a huge amount of debris have been tossed into it during our trimming, cutting and weeding–to see about creating enough room for a proper spring bonfire.

As is habit in this area, bio debris are still burned, creating a wonderful supplement for the earth once nothing but charcoal remains of the mess. This is the first time that we have such a large amount to get rid of, though, so the most important thing is to do it safely.

Considering that the pool is made of concrete we feel pretty confident by the time little sister has made a nice little pile to light up in the deep end’s center. While the sibs keep the dogs at bay, I head for the pile, spray a little fire exhilarant on top and squat down to hold a flame to several sections until it springs to life.

Slowly, but steadily a solid fire builds up and as big brother is using the chainsaw on the large dead conifers that we dumped inside the pool, middle sister and I begin to feed wood and leaves to the fire. Rapidly a huge fire blazes within the safe confines of the concrete, sending out a tremendous (rather uncomfortable) heat.

Little sister and brother are working around the pool, clearing the tiles and adding more to the flames, while the dogs settle comfortable within reach of the pulsing waves coming from the hearth.

It is quite funny, there we are going out of our way to keep our faces and other parts away from the scorching heat, and the dogs settle at a nine feet distance, cozily watching the flames eat their way through debris.
You’d think they’re wary of fire, but they treat the bonfire as a stove lit for the sole purpose of warming them on the cold spring day. Hah. Idiots! Smart, but still…

Considering we’re all lugging debris to the flames, going back and forth, none of us particularly like the idea of needing to make dinner later on, so little brother heads for the house to get a batch of potatoes and carrots. Might as well use the heat we’re generating for a proper meal later on.

After wrapping the vegetables in aluminum foil I toss them into the glowing embers under the fire while more wood is added in the hour that follows. By the time the meal is “cooked” we have a short break–almost two thirds of the mess is burning on the pile by then–to devour the delicious veggies that never tasted this good.

Strange how hard work combined with the woodsy taste of the roasted potatoes can make ones mouth water. Yum. With just a bit of salt, some ketchup and mayonnaise we all ate the snack and were thoroughly revitalized to finish the job. The carrots were an experiment, really, but man, were they good! We really need to start thinking about building a proper barbeque one of these days.

The evening has already started by the time we’re finally done and start heading for the house. The smell of smoke is heavy in the air, but it’s not an unpleasant smell at all. My skin does feel grimy, however, so as soon as we’ve relaxed for a bit I intend to take a long hot shower.

We watch and episode of “The Closer”, during which I do a quick repair job on my Jeans. It sports a large cut on the thigh, where the hand scythe cut through it the other day, and though fashion-wise it is still wearable, I really prefer my clothes to be intact.

At the end of the show, the TV is shut down, announcing that it’s time to do some serious editing. Rather than start immediately, I head for the shower and wash the grime off. That done, and with a quick snack in hand, I settle beside big brother to tackle the story once more.

Though we’re both weary from the work in the yard, we do manage another solid five pages. Almost sixty pages done and only a hundred and forty to go, yay.
I am grateful when the evening is over, though. My limbs are sore from the heavy lifting and dragging, and even my ribs ache when I head up the mountain to finally start on the evening rituals.

A busy day, but a job well done, in the end. Heck, this is the first time since…well, the first time ever we actually had a bonfire on the first day of spring. Hah.

Let’s hope that it’s a positive start of something good.