Have a dream, chase it down, jump over every single hurdle, and run through fire and ice to get there.
Whitney Wolfe Herd
My day started at 6 am. Really 6:30 by the time I had finished snoozing the alarm that tells me two hours have passed, and it was time to feed the fire.
On arthritic knees, I made my way to the door. I grabbed the drill I use for a flashlight, stopped long enough for my morning pee, and made my way to the fireroom.
I looked at the log hoop I had filled earlier. There was one lonely piece of firewood. I realized then I should have brought a light with me. I needed to chop more wood.
I threw the single piece of wood in the woodstove, inside just a few glowing coals.
A few moments later it ignited, throwing a dim light in the fire room. Was it enough light to chop more wood? I would try.
I grabbed the last reasonable-sized pine log, about 12 inches in diameter. I had lots of bigger logs, not so easy to chop.
I swung the smaller splitting maul at the log with a good amount of force. The splitter just buried itself in the log and was stuck in there. I grabbed the 12 pounder using the hammer end, I swung hard at the buried axe.
Nothing happened, it would take 4 more hard swings to drive the smaller splitting maul deep enough to split the log in two.
Twenty more swings with both splitting maul to split it into pieces small enough to burn.
I loaded the fire and went back to bed. I could see the flames from where I slept. Something was wrong, it was too bright.
I made my way down again to have a look. The fire was burning way too hot. I choked down the air intake. That didn’t seem to help. There was air leaking in through the door. The latch was a poor design, I had to wedge an old samurai sword blade in there to seal it.
I decided to sit and watch the fire to make sure it would behave. Slowly the flames died down. The wood I had chosen to burn was extremely dry. Too dry. It had caused the fire to burn hot enough to be a danger.
Danger avoided, I went back to bed, where I am typing this.
It is ten AM now. I went outside to sweep the night’s snow from the solar panels. Just dressed in my snow boots, sweater and sweatpants. The cold bit hard into my lungs. We still had another day left in the extreme cold.
The temp would be better tomorrow. Of course, I don’t believe it till I feel it.
I just went out again, dressed a little warmer. The snow bowls needed filling. Cats’ dishes were empty. And yes, I did take time to grab a little long dry grass for the cats. They love that stuff.
I just learned the real meaning of naughty pine. I just split everything but two big pine logs. The pine was brutal, 4 years out in the weather, full of knots. So bad, I destroyed one of my splitting mauls. The head is cracked, not safe to use anymore. I tried using the big one, and it just bounces off the last two logs.
I decided to take a break from chainsawing, I already know it’s a mistake. By morning, fresh snow will be down.
I hear my good Samaritan outside. He will be pushing snow and more logs, I hope. I will need them. I said back in October I would only have wood till November. It’s January. There are still logs buried under deep snow and ice.
Thanks to him, I survived the extreme cold event. I wouldn’t have made it without him.
He didn’t stay. Looks like I am on my own.
I just chopped through the last big pine logs using the 12 pounder. It wasn’t fun, but got done. Although some of those pieces are big.
The vibrations through the handle were brutal. Miracle I can even swing that, a lot of broken parts. My neck, back, wrist and knees. There are more, maybe too many to list.
Will I have enough firewood to get me through the night? I hope so. The warmer temps won’t arrive till noon tomorrow. Warmer meaning -20.
So why do I do this, same as always needs doing.
You must be logged in to post a comment.