-27

....This is not with wind chill factor. This is actually air temp at are house as the thermometer read last night. It was a beautiful, clear night with a bright moon. Interesting things happen when it's that cold.....seems like you're living on another planet. Door knobs on the inside of your house are covered in ice....window locks and metal sealers become ice covered on the inside. The cold is just driven through the cracks. We heat solely with a wood stove that has one of the largest fire boxes on the market. This winter we have not had to make a fire on a daily basis, but then again we don't like the house to be too warm. The wood stove is a very romantic way to heat, however as a sole source of heat it has its draw backs. We are really unable to be away from the house over night or for a weekend....have to be there to do fire from November to April. This is alright with us, but really there's not a choice at this point. Preparing wood is a time consuming process, especially if you want to make it cost effective. We buy log length, or whole logs and cut them into 18" pieces, and then rent a splitter to make the manageable pieces that have to dry or season and be stacked and re stacked. Buying logs is also a difficult endeavor, finding the direct source, getting on their list, and then hoping the conditions are right for harvesting and delivery. A good cold winter is important....ground needs to be frozen. Not too wet a spring because mud will ensue...many class B and C roads do close to logging trucks at some point during the spring of every year, but how long is an important factor. Rain can effect delivery in the summer months as well and even if you get your load, which comes on a huge truck and has a charge separate to price of the wood, drying it out during a wet summer is unlikely. So we are thinking about our fuel source pretty much year round. It's so fortunate for me that my partner seems to enjoy this process right now.....may grow sick of it. But for now it is a joy to take my coffee and sit by the stove and prepare for the day ahead.