As much as I hate to admit it, the season appears to have officially arrived. This is the fourth morning in a row I’ve started a fire, and we’ve started it twice this week in the evening. Still not cold enough to keep it going all day… house will overheat… but looks like most days will require at least one fire in the furnace from here-on-out. It’s been cloudy with highs in the 40’s this week, so not a lot of solar heat during the day makes for a shiver or two when climbing out’a the rack in the morning. Geeeezzzz….. They’re talking lows in the 20’s tonight. We are gonna’ get a bit of a reprieve this weekend though, they’re calling for sunshine and low 60’s… but still gonna’ see cool nights/mornings.
Won’t be long and the furnace will be burning 24/7… usually right around Thanksgiving. But (as far as heating), I hate this time when you’re just not sure… Should I start a fire? Half load or fill it up? Hmmm… should I throw a few more sticks on before I leave for work? Wonder if the sun is gonna’ pop-out today? Is the wind commin’ from the north or the south? … … Damn, it sure is hot in here… open some windows already! I do like the smell of burning wood when I step out the door on a cold morning though… just nothing like the smell of wood smoke on an early, crisp October morning.
I’ve been missing my outdoor fire pit… this is the time of year I like it burning from the time I get home until I head in the house, or all day on weekends. We’re heading into our forth week of the “ban on open burning” because of fire risk… that’s four weeks of having to cook indoors during my favorite time of the year to be cooking outdoors. Looks as though will be under the “open burning ban” until the snow flies. That really sucks, but the dry weather has also “sucked” the moisture right out of my oak the past few weeks… seems as though the splits “went gray” overnight, and the stacks have shrunk noticeably. If this weather stays dry that oak will keep drying fast until Christmas, just in time for the “fill ‘er up with oak” nights. I haven’t even covered the stacks yet… been no need; we haven’t had enough rain since the beginning or August to make a small mud puddle. Even the standing-dead I’ve been taking down are bone-dry to the base.
Speaking of standing-dead… I figure another two, maybe three more cord in the basement by months end and I’ll be set for this year. First of November I’ll be back to cutting firewood for use during future seasons. Feels good to be “ahead” by a year or two… I can cut at my leisure, pick my days, or just skip it like I did last weekend and do other things. The “making” of firewood is much more enjoyable if there ain’t a deadline (of sorts) that you feel you have to meet. One of the neighbors stopped last weekend and talked to me about my stacks; he figured I had more oak than I could possibly burn this year (he’s right, probably close to three years supply) and wanted to buy a couple cord from me. I had to turn him down, its worth more to me in heating fuel than cash… he was a bit put-out by my refusal, but…….
This sure is a big difference from last year when I didn’t have a single stick of firewood on Halloween. Instead of spending those cold and snowy, wet and windy weekends wading through crotch deep snow to keep the furnace fed… I can just kick back and look out the window. Yep, it’s gonna’ be a good winter… even if the weather sucks!
Won’t be long and the furnace will be burning 24/7… usually right around Thanksgiving. But (as far as heating), I hate this time when you’re just not sure… Should I start a fire? Half load or fill it up? Hmmm… should I throw a few more sticks on before I leave for work? Wonder if the sun is gonna’ pop-out today? Is the wind commin’ from the north or the south? … … Damn, it sure is hot in here… open some windows already! I do like the smell of burning wood when I step out the door on a cold morning though… just nothing like the smell of wood smoke on an early, crisp October morning.
I’ve been missing my outdoor fire pit… this is the time of year I like it burning from the time I get home until I head in the house, or all day on weekends. We’re heading into our forth week of the “ban on open burning” because of fire risk… that’s four weeks of having to cook indoors during my favorite time of the year to be cooking outdoors. Looks as though will be under the “open burning ban” until the snow flies. That really sucks, but the dry weather has also “sucked” the moisture right out of my oak the past few weeks… seems as though the splits “went gray” overnight, and the stacks have shrunk noticeably. If this weather stays dry that oak will keep drying fast until Christmas, just in time for the “fill ‘er up with oak” nights. I haven’t even covered the stacks yet… been no need; we haven’t had enough rain since the beginning or August to make a small mud puddle. Even the standing-dead I’ve been taking down are bone-dry to the base.
Speaking of standing-dead… I figure another two, maybe three more cord in the basement by months end and I’ll be set for this year. First of November I’ll be back to cutting firewood for use during future seasons. Feels good to be “ahead” by a year or two… I can cut at my leisure, pick my days, or just skip it like I did last weekend and do other things. The “making” of firewood is much more enjoyable if there ain’t a deadline (of sorts) that you feel you have to meet. One of the neighbors stopped last weekend and talked to me about my stacks; he figured I had more oak than I could possibly burn this year (he’s right, probably close to three years supply) and wanted to buy a couple cord from me. I had to turn him down, its worth more to me in heating fuel than cash… he was a bit put-out by my refusal, but…….
This sure is a big difference from last year when I didn’t have a single stick of firewood on Halloween. Instead of spending those cold and snowy, wet and windy weekends wading through crotch deep snow to keep the furnace fed… I can just kick back and look out the window. Yep, it’s gonna’ be a good winter… even if the weather sucks!
