Monday, January 19, 2009

Ahhh...the warmth of wood...

Sure, it isn't exactly all that cold right now here, but still...it's getting cold still overnight, down in the mid to upper 20's.

It was cold in here Friday and Saturday with windows being pulled out, Dewey coming in and out with cement board, blocks, pipe, etc. And the camera, well, it's all in the person using it I suppose. It's our video camera -- a bit touchy with focus indoors moreso than outdoors. Excuse the fuzzy photos :o(

I once had double front windows in that room. And a sewing room filled with all my sewing goodies and fabrics and such.


Dewey and Matthew are putting up the cement board on the floor and walls. Note that we started well early enough...yet it's getting dark and we are still on the cement boards...
Seeing as it was growing a bit too dark (and cold) to piddle about outside, we concentrated on putting the blocks down over the cement board for the flooring/hearth, etc.


Saturday, Matthew helped line up the pipe for Dewey to anchor in place (they are just a touch inward, but not too bad)...oh wait, I didn't buy anything for mounting and anchoring :o( Those little white legs at the roofline there...LOL, necessity IS the mother of invention, right? Those are my shelf brackets from a shelf that was in the sewing room. Dewey can be resourceful when he's not on the job in the big city :o)

Dewey figured as long as he was framing up windows and covering the are with that cement board, he might as well go ahead and put in the cookstove...yeah for me :o)

Once the heater is given a much better cleaning and maybe a good coat of stove black or something, it will look better. That, and some paint on the cement boards on the wall...and after I finish figuring out where to relocate some of the remnants from the room-that-was...
Ain't that a pretty fire there? There is some sort of sensor that kicks in the blower...and wow does it blow! I burnt my arm today from the heat coming out of the blowers (you can barely see them along either side of the door there...) Ah-ha...first casualty and teaching moment of the wood heating experience. The olders have all grown up with wood heat, but from Abigail (8) on down, they don't really remember much of it.

Here's the fire in the firebox of the cookstove :o) Isn't it pretty? Not that I have Clue One what I'm doing, but I boiled water on it once we tested it out here. That's a start, right? Now to get a fire built for real cooking...and learning to do some baking.

I'm right proud of my husband, coming home to get some heat for his woman and the children :o) Right now, over there in Arkansas, it's getting cold tonight...and he is sitting without any heat of his own. The furnace seems to have issues of its own, and it fried it's own motor now. He called the lease company and they said they'd send someone out tomorrow.

Wish I could send you some of this heat, honey...it's really really warm in here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dewey and Matthew did a great job. And to have fire in it the same night. When I first saw you had two stove pipes I thought What??Then I saw the cookstove then the all nighter? Or is it an all nighter? How big is the inside of your cookstove? Happy Baking I'm sure you will do just fine..If I can help just give a holler..
Blessings Brenda/haflinger

Anonymous said...

Hello from NC! Congratulations on your heat! Your guys did a great job. I understand having your house torn up in the winter. One year in January we discovered our floor was rotting and would have to be replaced. Replacing a floor in a 100 year old house is no picnic. I know it ended up being the coldest, windiest 2 days of the winter. But Ray managed to get it done and it looks so nice.
I love your blog. It's one of my "don't miss". I, too, feel a certain lack of likeminded friendships. Fortunately, I have found you and others on the blogs that I can "fellowship" with.
Have a great day!
Laurie

Anonymous said...

You are so blessed! How great to have a wood stove AND a cookstove! It helps to have a handyman husband, too ;-) And what a savings on the utility bills! Now you're a huge step closer to the off-grid life! Way to go!

Unknown said...

Haflinger...you feel free to send me all the information I need for learning to USE that cookstove!
I loaded the firebox yesterday -- I cheated, I loaded it with huge hot chunks of embers from the heat stove, then added some wood -- and I swear, I didn't get enough heat to do much with.

I know it's all a matter of what kind of wood you use, and to be honest, I have no clue what all we have here. Matthew has been chopping away all during the day for me to have plenty of small 'fire starters' as he calls them, to coax the dying fires up in the morning, and plenty of small pieces for the cookstove.

Sadly, I'll admit, were I only to have the cookstove for our meals, we'd be eating cold sandwiches...until the bread was gone!

I'm stubborn. I'll get it worked out one way or another.

And yes, the other stove is an all nighter...although I need to refine my fire building skills. Three years not having to deal with it has made me forget a few things...like banking a decent fire overnight for warmth!

Deanna

Trixi said...

Oh, Deanna, your guys did such a great job. Be careful with that "green" wood, as that is what we used at the beginning of the season and the smoke and creosote from it is terrible.
I am so glad to see how easy it was to put in your stove. My mom has been staying with us some and loves my wood heat. I hope that we can put her in a little pot belly stove to snuggle next to.

Jer.6:16

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

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