It’s that time again. Actually, we are very late for putting away wood for the winter. Fortunately we had a lightning storm last spring that knocked down a very large live oak tree, splitting it in two and laying a substantial amount of premium firewood-to-be on the ground. Another stroke of luck is that it fell near to and uphill from the road. It is only a matter of cutting the wood, then kicking it over the edge to the waiting truck. Then of course we lift the log rounds into the truck, drive the truck to the waiting log splitter, lift the heavy rounds onto the splitter, pull the handle to do the splitting, and throw the pieces in the cart to be rolled to the wood shed to be stacked. Then pick up the pieces to take them to the house and put them in the stove which has to be cleaned of ashes daily which have to be spread evenly on the ground so as not to cause a big alkaline stain on the soil. We are so blessed with the modernity of our lifestyle!
We can burn wood in our stove without being bashed by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District because we are far beyond the reach of natural gas service. Our stove has a catalytic converter that reduces the amount of crud spewed into the air, and most of the time we never even see smoke coming out of the chimney. Besides, cutting firewood results in your being warmed twice, and it keeps you young.
Yeah, right.
2 comments:
When the wind got violent today and snapped power poles like toothpicks (a common occurrence in Death Valley), we had no way to cook anything with our electric microwave, electric oven, electric stovetop, electric crockpot or electric toaster. We couldn't even boil water in our electric teakettle.
The modernity of your lifestyle is more blessed than you think. I'm going to build an earthen oven out of mud and have some really futuristic cooking experiences. Send us some firewood!
Turn on your TransPorter. I’ll send firewood via email.
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