Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice.
Robert Frost
The relief from the cold happened as I predicted. The cold didn’t leave. A clear sky in Winter usually means cold air from a high-pressure system.
Nighttime for the next week or two will hover between -15 & -20.
My fire was out again. I made kindling, tore up an Amazon box as I usually do and filled the woodstove with fire.
My kettle full of water is on the woodstove. Today’s water will take longer to heat because the stove is cold.
The way it works, fire has to heat the fire bricks inside. When they are hot then the metal of the stove gets warmer, then eventually the extra thick piece of metal at the top gets hot enough to heat the kettle then the water.
After all that, the air around the woodstove gets warmer, then the mass of the fireroom gets heated. The walls and floor.
Soon after that, the water is hot enough for coffee.
When there is lots of wood, the fire is loaded full every 4 hours and everything is kept warm.
Right now, that’s not the case. Wood is scarce. So the fire burns for a while and goes out. Then is relit, right now that is 4 or five times a day.
My starting temp is better than some days, at seven feet high it is 4 degrees. At floor level, it is probably zero.
When the current load of wood has been consumed it will be 15 or 16 inside, and maybe it will be -13 outside.
Maybe, just maybe, the water will be warm enough to make coffee.
30 minutes later, the air in here is 13 degrees. Some stem is escaping from the spout of the kettle.
I looked at my cast iron frying pan. I still wondered how I was going to clean the plant-based eggs out. I ran a dull kitchen knife across. The eggs flaked off.
I spent ten minutes scraping the pan was clean. I chipped a bit of solidified organic coconut oil out of the big jar.
I put that on the woodstove. Ya, you guessed it was time for woodstove pizza.
While the oil was heating up, I took my morning outside pictures, I noticed my yard moose Luna had stopped by to say hello.
I have a story about her, I might tell after coffee.
Coffee poured through the filter pizza in the pan, I added a measured amount of shredded cheese, measured meaning lots of.
Pulling Gracie out of the garage was a bit tricky. Solid ice with a little snow on top.
I went to the village picked up freight, then went into town and picked up a few groceries.
Then made the trip home, got Gracie back in her home. I cut up one more 2×10 for the fire tonight.
This is what 10 feet of board looks like cut up. My poor little saw started to smoke.
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