French Toast, Popple, and Kids – There’s a Connection

[Johnny Yooper]

The wife gets on my case once in a while for working the kids “too hard”. She tells me “you’re not gonna work them as hard as your Dad worked you when you were growing up”. I tell her “I ain’t no worse for wear”, but might as well be talkin’ to the woodpile. Yeah, it’s true, for more Saturdays than I can remember, Dad and I would head several miles out of town to the camp and cut firewood; we burned wood in the fireplace at home until I was just about out of high school when he installed a wood boiler in the basement. Burned maybe 5 or 6 cord a year. We’d have that ’71 Chevy K10 shortbed overloaded every time, and never failed, always lost a few pieces crossing the railroad tracks in town, we’d just look at each other and laugh and whoever was driving at the time would push in the clutch, pop ‘er in neutral hit the e brake and we’d get out and toss the pieces back on and then only six or so blocks home. On a good day, we’d hold up a whopping 1 or 2 cars ‘til the last piece got tossed back on. That was back in the mid 70’s. Fast forward to today………family and I are eating brunch (French toast, bacon, eggs, etc.) and I say to one of the kids “pass me the syrup” and then I ask “who makes the best syrup?” and they all chime in “you do!”. We have some woods behind the house and this will be our sixth year of tappin’ maples and boilin’ sap for that liquid gold we enjoy so much. So I tell the kids I have a bunch of popple cut and split for the upcoming syrup season and need some help with the piling. I tell them if they want to have syrup on their pancakes, French Toast, and ice cream, there’s this thing called enjoying the fruits of one’s labor, and today we’re going to labor. So we head out and it starts snowing about half way through our task, but the little troopers finish the job with nary a complaint. We were just about wrapped up when I took the pic below. One or two more piles like that and we’re set for the season. Other pic is from 8 years prior, kids helping pile some firewood in the garage for the wood stove in our living room. I think I’ve got ‘em primed now for helping with the bigger stuff that goes in the OWB. Wife knows it don’t hurt ‘em to do a little work here and there, but the main reason for getting them out there tappin’ trees, hauling sap, piling wood, feeding the syrup stove, and so on, is the memories. Will they look back on those times when they’re 20 and smile? Not likely. When they’re 30? Maybe. But, some day they will. Those railroad tracks in my home town are long gone, but the memories are there for a lifetime. For those of you with kids, go make some.

 

[newyorker]

very nice man

 

[unclemoustache]

Good stuff! Any time you include the family, you win. My hat is off to you!

 

[mr.finn]

Good for you, nothing wrong with teaching kids how to work.

 

[sdt7618]

Every weekend we bring in a weeks worth of wood, me and the 3 kids, they know why we do it, but every week they ask why do we have to have so much under the deck, as there is already so much. Hard to explain that for every week we burn if we replace it that when the bad weather comes the nice stack under the deck will keep us warm for a long time rather than use it up.

like you I enjoy their company and sure do enjoy the memories that we make along the way.

 

[Hinerman]

My boys (7 & 10) and I have a small firewood business on the side. They help with splitting, stacking, hauling limbs, etc. They get all of the money we make; it goes in their savings account (most of it anyway). We were cleaning up a blowdown for a neighbor. She came out and "thanked me" for making my boys work and teaching them responsibility. I know there are times when my boys do not like the work. I am a little hard on them at times, especially when it comes to stacking. I hope they look back some day and appreciate the time together and the memories we made.

 

[outbackrider]

If they're working...their not getting into trouble. Your instilling life long lessons that they will draw upon
for years to come. These are your good 'ol days...enjoy.

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

my 3 girls grumble when i make them work but i'll be damned if they are going to grow up not knowing how to break a sweat and get their hands dirty. Someday they will look back and cherish those times as something besides work.

 

[svk]

Just looking at the families that I knew growing up. As a whole, the families who taught their kids how to do manual labor and the benefits of hard work now have the kids who are successful.

 

[zogger]

Good for you, won't hurt at all!

I did all the outside chores growing up. Dad was off to school most of the time or working someplace else, he was an early computer mainframe tech starting in the 50s. When he was around and on the weekends we would go to the beach or go fishing or sledding or icefishing in the winter, but we didn't share outside actual work. My mom bought the wood, had it delivered from a local farmer (who I worked for spring and summers), and I brought it in, that was it for doing firewood, wasn't hard. That geezer farmer would work my azz though...hahahaha!

I worked by myself, still do. Best memory though is gardening, they helped me get started and with two tomato plants at 4, after that, I did the gardening.

 

[unclemoustache]

I know there are times when my boys do not like the work. I am a little hard on them at times, especially when it comes to stacking. I hope they look back some day and appreciate the time together and the memories we made.

Ah yes - the trials of stacking it just right! I'm pleased to say that my older kids have it down pretty well. Making them restack something a few times gets a lesson learned quick!

 

[Bob95065]

I grew up the same way during the same time. I have two boys aged 6 and 4. When our younger son was born people at our church kept asking us if we wanted a girl instead of a second boy. I told them, "No! One will split, the other will stack and I'll run the chainsaw." I got a lot of funny looks.

At 6 and 4 they help stack wood and the games they play are diesel pickup, rebuild the engine, run the chainsaw and drive the tractor. They don't know what a video game is. We moved up in the mountains in August 2013 to give them the outdoors lifestyle.

Nice trailer. Looks like a M101 or M101A1. I have a M101A3 that I bought from the government at auction years ago. Hauls a lot of firewood.

 

[460magman]

that is great from start to finish

 

[Johnny Yooper]

I grew up the same way during the same time. I have two boys aged 6 and 4. When our younger son was born people at our church kept asking us if we wanted a girl instead of a second boy. I told them, "No! One will split, the other will stack and I'll run the chainsaw." I got a lot of funny looks.

At 6 and 4 they help stack wood and the games they play are diesel pickup, rebuild the engine, run the chainsaw and drive the tractor. They don't know what a video game is. We moved up in the mountains in August 2013 to give them the outdoors lifestyle.

Nice trailer. Looks like a M101 or M101A1. I have a M101A3 that I bought from the government at auction years ago. Hauls a lot of firewood.

that's the way to raise 'em; everything they're learnin' now and going forward will help them much more in life than scoring points on a video game. And you're correct on the trailer, it's a M101A1, bought it at an auction as well, about 8 years ago.....almost impossible to overload that thing.