Our Woodstove

"We're seriously going to go bankrupt," I complained one month after realizing that our mortgage payment and oil bill were about the same!! That was 2 years ago, shortly after moving into our new home, this darling, albeit, drafty farmhouse. We immediately switched to electric heat, space heaters galore, 7 to be exact, plus 2 "fireplaces" and an "eden pure." We weren't doing a lot better w/ the heating costs, but we weren't going to go bankrupt after all, so there's a start. Well, while reading the Farmer's Almanac this past Fall and talking to the "weather pros" around town, we realized we were in for a cold, hard winter. What to do? What to do?? Without too much pause for thought, my handy husband announced plans to "break into the existing chimney"!!! Which was behind these lovely floating shelves.....um, okay!!I've learned early on in our marriage to just go along with my husband and his plans because 99% of the time they are awesome, amazing, efficient and beautiful. Here's a post about the remaining 1%. Quite literally the next day a man came out to make sure the chimney was clean. After the inspection, work began in full force. It looked like he was breaking into a vault, layer upon layer of plaster, wood, cement, and finally, the inside of the chimney! My husband never ceases to amaze me with his vision for this old house. He took some old "lick 'em, stick 'em" stone from his shop and with mortar, applied them to the wall for the rustic look. They also act as an insulator. man, he's a cutie!!!

He was finished in no time at all. He's a machine!
Our friends GAVE us their old wood stove, they were buying a larger one for their home.
Seriously, GAVE it to us!
It was pressure-washed, polished and installed:
IT

IS

AMAZING!!

When it's doing THIS outside, we are toasty warm! We are so grateful it was able to work out so nicely. The average temperature throughout the day is 78* although occasionally it will get up to the mid 80's, especially during the night. It is what I call our "perpetual newborn" because it needs constant care. But, it gives it return so we don't mind looking after it!

I have fond feelings when I remember my childhood and the warmth of a wood stove. I don't have fond memories of carrying wood inside each night from the "lean-to", but apart from that it is a pleasant thought! When I was extra cold my Dad would hold me above the stove, the warmth radiating all over my back, my legs, my head. It was heavenly. On cold mornings my Mom would lay my clothes around it, getting them really warm and then quickly dressing me. I can almost feel the warmth of it even as I type the words.

So, Winter, do your best....have at it!

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth,
for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire:
it is the time for home."
~Edith Sitwell~