A Gentle Giant Comes to Help the Lonely Potter

The main topics of conversation around here for the last few weeks have been forest fires and smoke. Everything has been revolving around whether the fires that surround us are growing or moving, whether to be worried about evacuating, and how to cope with the terrible smoke that has brought outside activity to a stop. Yesterday, then, was like the first day of spring after a terrible winter. There had been enough rain in the night to wash the smoke out of the air, and there was enough of a breeze to keep the smoke away. The lonely potter and I decided to spend as much of the day outside as we could, since there was no way of knowing how long this reprieve would last. We had no idea that we were on an island sticking out of an ocean of smoke, and that out of that ocean would come someone who needed to do some physical work due to a bad case of smoke induced cabin fever. At last, the silver lining to the smoke clouds!

He arrived in a beat up pick-up truck with peeling paint and newly repaired muffler. When he got out, he towered above the cab of the truck. A tall, muscle bound man with long blond hair. Sparky grovelled shamelessly at his feet. In a thick German accent he explained that the smoke at his place was still really bad and his wife had invited her girlfriends to spend the day, so he had to get out of there. Did we need help splitting wood? 

I should explain that this gentle giant was not a total stranger. The farrier we have had ever since we moved here is a woman. A very tough woman, who has not had an easy life. A couple of years ago she decided that she didn't like it here and was going home to Manitoba. She disappeared in the fall that year, and we thought she was gone. We tried to find another farrier all that winter, with no luck. Then, in the spring, she called and asked if our horses needed a hoof trim. Surprised, we said sure, and she arrived, along with her new husband! This was our first meeting with the gentle giant. It was followed by several more meetings, as our farrier has been dealing with crippling pain in her back and hips, and  her husband is slowly taking over more and more of her work. Fortunately he appears to be an excellent physical specimen who revels in hard work.

In response to the gentle giant's question about wood splitting, the lonely potter supplied the chainsaw, axe and maul, and left the gentle giant to his rhythmic work. Thunk! Set the block of wood on the chopping block. Whack! One blow with the maul. Chunk! Chunk! Two cleanly split pieces of wood tossed onto the wood pile. Hour after hour this went on, while the lonely potter hurried to stack the wood as the gentle giant split it, and I tried to carry on with potting herbs for winter instead of staring at the jaw dropping amount of work that was being done across the fence. Even the discovery of a hornet nest and the resulting sting only slowed him down a for a few minutes. In gratitude, I picked raspberries, apples and rhubarb and made some pies for him to take home (and maybe for us too).

When the last piece of wood had been split, the lonely potter convinced the gentle giant to stay for supper, which, fortuitously had already been planned. So, not only did this wonderful man take a day out of his life to help the lonely potter with a chore that would have been almost impossible to do alone, he then spent a couple of hours raving about the lonely potter's cooking and looking at photo albums of the ranch. What a prince. Sparky would not leave him alone, trying all kinds of antics to get his attention, which the gentle giant obligingly laughed at while rough housing with Sparky to his heart's content. Both dog and master had a very good day.