Heat Wave

Today Jason went up into the Blues with his dad and chopped up a couple of trees. This may not look like much, but it took them about four hours to chop and load this and his dad's load. I helped Jason unload these and it felt good to do some manual labour. These are heavy pieces, and they weigh around 100 pounds each, I think. This goes with yesterday's post and would be the FIRST step, before chopping.

Wood wasn't the only thing he brought back with him. His mom had a box of warm clothes for Kayla that he brought back. When I saw the box, I had to laugh:

Don't you think she's a little too young for this quite yet? (Don't worry, there weren't any lacey negligees in there. Just several pairs of pants and some long-sleeved onesies. Super cute ones, I might add.)

Something else I noticed this afternoon: My crocuses are coming up!!! What the heck?!? Just because it was 70 degrees today doesn't mean it's spring! I hope they don't die...

Staying Warm

Today I will show you how we stay warm in the winter months. We do have heaters like normal people, but they cost a LOT more money. Enough wood for our stoves for the winter costs us $20. Our heating bill would be many many times that.

Step One: Cutting the wood. They must be small enough to fit into our stoves, which is about 12 inches long, and up to 8 or 10 inches wide.

Step Two: Though this photo isn't entirely accurate, we stack the chopped wood in the wheelbarrow and park it next to our back door. The wood pictured here is scrap wood from my dad tearing down the playhouse earlier this month. We're using it until it's gone and then we'll have regular wood chopped and stacked in here.

Step Three: Place wood in stove. Jason is good at stacking it in the stove so that it catches fire and burns best. I'm still learning, though I do have to say I'm capable of starting a fire. (And not just in places I shouldn't.)

Step Four: Give it some air. Here Jason is blowing on the flames to give them extra oxygen and get them going brighter and higher.

Step Five: Watch to make sure the fire keeps going. If it goes out this early, you'll have to start all over. Later in the game when there are hot coals in the bottom of the stove, you can usually start it again with just a wadded up piece of newspaper.

Step Six: Enjoy the fire!!! (Preferably with a favourite person and a tasty hot beverage.)