Shopping in all the Wrong Places

Michael went back in the creek bed to see if any dead trees needed to be removed.  These he chopped down and hauled up the hill to be further cut for firewood.  Michael prefers to use an ax instead of the chainsaw as he says it gives him a good bit of exercise.  (Only my son would see the extra work as a good thing!)  He made several trips back and forth until he had several logs to chop into firewood sized pieces.  His logic being that it was far easier to haul a tree out of the creek bed than to haul armloads of small twelve inch long cut logs.  When I heard his ax chopping through the logs, I went out to stack the wood.  All of the twigs were cut into "starter" and put in the bins near the woodstoves.  The larger logs were stacked on the rack near the garden.

After working for several hours, we were a bit exhausted.  I suggested it was time for a cup of coffee to which he readily agreed. "I'll be right back.  I have to get something." he said as I headed to the kitchen.  As he jogged back down to the creek bed, I thought perhaps he had forgotten a tool.  Michael is a stickler for caring for his tools!  He always collects them and wipes them clean before storing them.  He is so much like his two grandfathers!  After just a few minutes, he was back at the door.  "Got you something!" he said.  Hmmm..I am not sure this was a good thing.  Just what does one bring his mother from the creek bed?  Back in the day, I would not have been surprised to find a frog, turtle or snake being hauled into the house but hopefully, he has outgrown those days.  I stepped outside just in time to see him turning on the water hose.  Uh, oh.  Now what?

He actually had something rather neat.  Most women would cringe at his "find" but the wheels in my mind started twirling!  What could I do with this and where would I put it?   "Merry Christmas, Mom!  I got you a Gnome Home!" he grinned.  There sat a stump.  Yep, a stump.  When he chopped down a dead tree, he noticed that the remaining stump was rather oddly shaped and had lots of nooks and crannies among the roots. Several parts of the tree had rotted leaving holes that looked a lot like little rooms and hallways.  On the outside, a lovely green moss covered a good bit of the bark. It was, indeed, a most interesting stump!  With that, he pushed and pulled until he had uprooted the thing.  He knew that I would find it intriguing!  Wow!  This thing was so neat!  I am quite sure that I will somehow find a perfect place in the garden for my little Gnome Home!  We giggled a bit about the fact that he could give me something like this and I would find it perfectly normal.  I really do love it!  He looked at me and made the comment that it was easy to get presents for me.  "Anyone that cannot find the perfect gift for you, must be shopping in all the wrong places, Mom."....only my son...only my son.  You have to love someone who knows you so well that a tree stump is a great gift!