How Much Wood...

We all know the familiar tongue-twister:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck 

if a woodchuck could chuck wood? 

A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could 

if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

That bit of doggerel has little to do with the humble woodchuck, Marmota monax, aka the groundhog.  It's really a corrective for lazy mouthed English speakers.  M. monax prefers squeaks, squeals, and barks in Groundhogish, when not feasting on grass and small insects.  It hibernates from October to April, which has made the woodchuck a perennial one-day news story when a sleepy pet groundhog in Pennsylvania is dragged into the sun (if any) and forced, squinting, to look upon its own shadow (if any).  I believe the woodchuck's estimate of spring's arrival is about as good as NOAA's.

When not sleeping and eating, woodchucks are industrious.  In particular, they dig burrows, typically moving some 710 lbs. of dirt in the process.  That habit of hard work is probably why I couldn't get the famous tongue-twister out of my head today.  I too was industrious: I spent seven hours quite literally chucking wood to keep my own burrow warm this winter.

Now I should have 4-5 cords for the heating season.

The two bins above each hold a face cord of firewood — roughly 8'x4'x17-20".  I wanted to finish this chore today, because it was a spectacular northern Michigan day — high about 60, brisk breeze, and mostly sunny.  Snow showers are predicted for Wednesday, however, and rain for most of the coming week.  Hence my industrious chucking.  I trust this, plus the firewood split earlier, will be sufficient for the season.  If not, there's always Florida. •••