I’ve been doing business with Greg Burch for some years now, and every time I see him, I am grateful for him. He is warm, honest and admirable. Greg is one of those people I wrote about who are good people who lead good and fulfilling lives.

You will never see them on the news – people like Kelly from the Bog, Robin from Jean’s Grille and Greg, who provides us with good, dry and well burning firewood for the winter.

But I am happy to write them and the very important values they represent, even if you will never see them on cable news. I don’t know if our media is fake, but them do seem sick to me.

Greg brought the second load of two cords today ($360), three more cords to go. We stack and store one, and then order another.

Maria stacked the first load, our friend Nichole is coming with her son Keene to help her stack some more this weekend.

Greg and I are telepathic, he drives by once in awhile to see if the wood has been moved into the shed, and if he sees that it is, he calls up and brings in another load.

Greg is fun to talk to, we know each other quite well by now, and his dog J.D. – he’s getting old, he only comes out once or twice a day now in the heat – was the inspiration form my small dog initiative. J.D. and Greg are responsible for  Gus and Bud and my interest in the big men in trucks with small dogs they love.

When he comes, we talk for ten or 15 minutes, catch up, talk about the weather and dogs.Greg is one of a vanishing breed, the independent woodsman who loves the forrest and cares about it. If I’m not home, I’ll leave the payment posted to the barn door, if we miss each other, I’ll mail him a check.

The point is we trust each other. The Big Men In Trucks always tell me they know where I live.

One interesting thing: Greg talked about how difficult it is to find young people who want to work cutting wood. He says they just don’t want jobs like that, and when they do, he can’t get them off of their cell phones. He says this is why he can’t retire, nobody will work as hard as he does, or work at all.

Greg is up at 6 in the morning chopping up the wood and delivering it. He’s been doing it for nearly 40 years, I told him he looked tired today, he said he was up in the dark.

I don’t know what to say about young people today, they seem smart and interesting to me, and I like the younger people that I know very much, but I hear people up here all the time say that Native-born American kids will not work nearly as hard as refugees and immigrants.

Greg is not into Old Fartism, it’s just a reality of his life.

I always resist nostalgia, every generation thinks the next one is lazy and irresponsible, but I do hear  Greg’s complaint a lot. He works hard, every single day, and loves being outdoors and  independent.

When I lived in other places, I never got to know the people who cared for our properties and delivered things like firewood. There were always different people, they were always in a hurry. They were never particularly friend, and I can’t remember chatting with them much, if at all.

Greg and I always are happy to see each other, he’s a good guy.

We never take good firewood for granted. Bad wood can make winter a nightmare. I hope Greg delivers wood forever, I know he will retire one day. I don’t want to think about it.

(Greg raved about Maria’s stacking job, he said it was among the best he had ever seen.)

It’s a special gift to look forward to dealing with people like Greg, even when it costs money. They always earn it, and charge a fair price. And it is worth a lot to be warm with long-burning and dry firewood in sub-zero weather.

Our heating oil bill for the winter was about $400.  We were always comfortable, even in the coldest weather.

Their values and work ethos and honesty breed trust and comfort and make me grateful to live where I live.