They Warmed Me Twice

If you have never read Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," you are missing out. Thoreau was a thinker and doer, well ahead of his time. He was also a lover of nature and natural beauty - a man after my own heart! (See his cabin site)
I was recently reminded of a quote of his where he talks about being warmed twice by stumps of wood, once as he cut them with his ax, and again as they burned in his cabin at Walden.

Read the full paragraph here:

Every man looks at his wood-pile with a kind of affection. I love to have mine before my window, and the more chips the better to remind me of my pleasing work. I had an old axe which nobody claimed, with which by spells in winter days, on the sunny side of the house, I played about the stumps which I had got out of my bean-field. As my driver prophesied when I was plowing, they warmed me twice, once while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire, so that no fuel could give out more heat. As for the axe, I was advised to get the village blacksmith to "jump" it; but I jumped him, and, putting a hickory helve from the woods into it, made it do. If it was dull, it was at least hung true.

As I was searching for this Thoreau quote online, I happened across the website of Ken Kifer. Ken took the time and wrote out "Analysis and Notes on Walden," which is well worth reading. As I looked around Ken's website more, I was sad to learn that he was killed in September 2003. I post about his site here because his site is worth visiting, and further, I was touched by his words, purpose and hopes for his website.