No fire needed tonight. Outside temp is 46 and dropping to low 40's before morning. Looks like the wood stove will be in retirement for the rest of the week. Good luck to all my FHC friends up north on the brutal cold days/nights ahead.
It got up to low 30s below at the homestead today. Sun went down and the temp followed right along with it. Last I checked it was 46 below F. Ambient. Got a little bit of wood home Today. So I have some nice big splits of white spruce in the stove
1850 sq ft. . R19 bat in walls and R38 blown in ceiling. Dbl pane gas thermal something windows. Wouldn’t be enough up north but in Oklahoma it’s great. Mike in Okla
7F and 68F. We are enjoying a warm up! Looking at 33F tomorrow. The saws are coming out in force. A couple Ash already on the ground are going to get some attention I loaded straight Elm a moment ago. Can't believe I'm still up!
10 out right now but the wind is blowing probably a good 20mph, loaded the OWB with red oak. Fire was so bright my phone didn't want to focus. We went to farm and fleet tonight, as I was walking through I seen a 1 gal jug of Mystic bar and chain oil, $6.49. Couldn't say no. Was a lot better then the $171 for my 15 gals of diesel engine oil...
I think it might warm up. -44°ambient. It was -46 a couple hours ago. Course, there will be wind involved. Lots of wind. The Barley field out in front of my house looks like a white bay that the waves froze inplace. Currently I think with the cold we've had since my plow truck quit , will have froze all the water and crap to the bottom of the tank. I hope I can pull the filler necks off and siphon the clean fuel oil out of each tank. Should be about 35 gallons. Save having to filter it this summer when I drop the tanks. Going to reload the wood stove with 3 year seasoned white Spruce. Then do it again at around 1:30 am. Then go to bed. MLW ( My Loving Wife ) can refill it when she gets up. At 6 in the morning. I really NEED a BKP !!
One thing that comes to mind often, when I make my trip to the boiler on a frigid night. I know I am soon returning to the comfort of my warm house. i think of our soldiers from Valley Forge , Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Chosin, and many others, in which they had no respite from horrid conditions, and no idea when they may have comfort- with people who wish to kill them not far away. I am in awe of how strong they were.
I filled a little early last night. About 8:20 I was down to a few coals and it was too close to bed to do a small "hold me over" load. Knowing the temp was dropping and the wind had picked up some, I did a puzzle fill (as little air gaps as possible and max wood) with red oak, white oak and beech. I got up around 5 assuming it would be ready but still had a tall coal pile in the back of the firebox that needed to be raked forward to burn down. Gave it an hour to do so and refilled with super dry red maple and birch (about 7-8%MC) for a fast hot fire to get the house warm for the girls when they wake up. Outside temp was 9 but wind chill brought it down a bit to -8. Being on the top of a hill, it always amazes me how the wind has as much (or more) of an effect on my inside temps as outside temp does. Anyways, inside temp in the main house area was between 68 and 72 depending on which thermo I looked at. The room over the garage is the only one that really takes a hit on these cold mornings. It's 65 up there now but will be back to 72 in a hour or two after the reload. The Max Caddy is earning her keep on days like this as it's got 3500sq/ft+ to maintain.
I awoke to a frosty 13° and plenty of coals this morning. Another mixed load of birch, beech, and apple having a go at things today.
10 here, just used last nights coals to relight some Red Oak and Apple. We picked up 6" of powder yesterday.
5f right now just got up gotta feed my jotul some breakfast heat this house up 67 inside from the overnight
I have Beech and Spruce mix going now. The Wood Gun went through all its firewood last night and ran out. I should have got up about 2 and filled it.There has been a breeze with this cold out there and it makes quite a difference in heat demand.
-7 last night then amazingly it started warming. It is already up to 13 and they say 30 for today. Hooray!
