Paul Bunyan? Maybe Not..

There is something about trekking into the woodlands to harvest firewood that gives me a pioneerish feeling. (I don't know if pioneerish is really a word, but because this is my blog, lets pretend it is.)

I know supplying your own firewood, and using it to provide heat is nothing even remotely new, but for me, it is.
The most work I have ever had to do for heat, is to walk over to that little round thing on the wall called a thermostat, and turn it up, and the hardest part of that is paying the bill.

I am not sure what it is, but I get a tremendous feeling when I cut, split, and haul the firewood out of the woods. Every single log I touch, I think about the heat it will provide. When I split a large log into pieces, I think about filling the stove, and will this load last the night.
During the recent blizzard that dumped a massive 3 inches of snow, We had a couple of dead trees fall to the ground and I look at them and think, "OK, that tree will give us 5 days of heat, and that one will give us 7."

Tommy starts out strong, and some days he works hard loading the cart as I cut and split, but other days becomes bored with loading and designates himself the driver and delegates the loading to me.


Unbeknownst to Jeanne, I did teach him to split kindling wood with a hatchet, and he is really good at it. I was thinking because the boy and I are becoming genuine lumberjacks, maybe we could get one of those double headed axes, and practise the fine art of axe throwing.

So after spending part of a day in the woods, I can sit in my basement, give thanks for my Stihl chainsaw while I admire the nearly half cord of wood filling my wood bin, and think about the developing muscles I have not seen in years.

Tradition Continues

On Christmas morning, we continued the tradition that was started last year. After breakfast and before we could open presents, we took 50lbs of corn over to the river. Our ducks, geese, Swamp the Swan, and Venture the Canada goose were joined by a hundred visiting mallards, and for the first time a flock of 9 Canada geese.
If this flock of visiting Canada geese stay here for the winter, I wonder if Venture will form a bond, find a mate, and leave us to start a family?
This flock of Canada geese do not appear to fear us, and one goose in particular comes up very close to me.
I think that maybe we met before.
Some years ago a full grown Canda Goose showed up here and stayed somewhere between 1-2 years before disappering one day. Maybe he came back with his family.

"Boy, That's a Daisy!"

Back in 1886,inventor Clarence Hamilton introduced a new idea to a struggling windmill company known as "The Plymouth Iron Windmill Company, a manufacturer of windmills in Michigan.
Lewis Cass Hough, the company president took what was described as "a combination of metal and wire, vaguely resembling a gun that could fire a lead ball using compressed air" and after firing his first shot, enthusiastically exclaimed, "Boy, that's a daisy!"
In the late 1800s, "daisy" was a common slang term for "the best in it's class," and so The Daisy BB Gun was born.

I don't recall how old I was when I received my first BB Gun, but I do recall how much I wanted one. I do remember my father gave me my first 22 rifle when I was fourteen, and a 12 gauge shotgun a few years later.
Even back then I realized how special these gifts were. My father did not hunt, he did not collect guns, and his experience with guns was dating back to his service in the army. My father took the time to learn enough to pick out some quality guns that I still treasure today because he picked them out.

After giving this much consideration, I decided on Christmas morning, Tommy will receive his very first BB Gun. This is not just any BB gun, this is the genuine "Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun." The Red Ryder Gun was named after a 1938-1964 comic book hero, and was made famous to many by the movie, "A Christmas Story."

I look forward to teaching the boy about gun safety, and I look forward to the time we can spend target shooting. He will have some very strict rules that he will follow, and hopefully he will learn to respect and appreciate guns like I have.

I just hope I can wait until Christmas morning.

Someone Is Sleeping In My Nest

I was expecting some eggs when I went out to chicken coop. When I checked the nest boxes all of them were empty, except for one. Inside this nest box, was a ball of fur with a full belly sound asleep.
I woke our little egg thief, and he shot me a look filled with indignation. How dare you enter my own personal kitchen".

After he smiled for the picture,I think he said something about me showing myself out, and this little Possum rolled back up and went back to sleep.

Because I was filled with "The Holiday spirit", I allowed this little glutton a reasonable amount of time to sleep of his excessive indulgence before I persuaded him to move on.

Something tells me he will be back for breakfast.

My Santa List

With all the work I am doing around here, I never had time to write my Santa list and mail it to the North Pole in time for Christmas.

Because I am so late getting my list together, I will list my top ten things I want for Christmas with hopes that Santa may read my blog. The list is not in any order of importance.

I certainly wish for all the things we are suppose to wish for, world peace, end to all suffering, well paying jobs, health, and all the best for humanity.

I also should wish for my roof to be finished and the siding and windows installed on the addition. This is a major stress factor.

I decided my list this year would be somewhat self centered.

First thing on my list is a Miniature Donkey.
I really like donkeys and have always wanted one. Jeanne asked me where it would sleep, and I said, "we could name it Poncho and it can sleep in the boys room." I just think if we had a Poncho it would feel more like a farm. I don't think Jeanne takes me serious anymore.

Second item is baby Hampshire Piglet. I always wanted a pet pig I could name,"Wilbur". I would never be able to eat Wilbur, and since they can reach weights over 500lbs, maybe we should think this one over a bit more.


Third Item on my list would be a tractor with a loader and backhoe. The boy and I would be in heaven if we had a beautiful machine like this one. We could dig holes just for the sake of digging holes. Tommy and I both have dreams about owning a work of art like this John Deere.


Forth Item would be a Savannah Monitor Lizard. I have a serious passion for this Lizard. I have read about people training this lizard like a dog. One Savannah was house broken, it would go outside, do its thing then come back to the door. I read about one that would give kisses and walk on a leash.This Monitor Lizard reaches lengths of four feet or more. Ten years or more ago, I had a very small young monitor named Perkins, after the great Marlin Perkins. Perkins got out of his cage one day and did not survive a encounter with our dog.


Number 5 would be a real Bull Dozer. this would be the little kid in me. every boy at heart would love to be able to say they own their own Bull Dozer.

Jeanne would never have to ask me twice to clear the snow off the driveway. Plus I would never have to deal with stubborn stumps, razor sharp prickers, and certain neighbors.

Number 6 would be another Jeep. I miss my Jeep. It did not survive the flood of 05. In the past I have had some cool vehicles. My first car was a used 1972 VW Bug, I also had some nice trucks, but I loved my Jeep. Today I drive a station wagon and a mini van. I am sorry but there is no way to even feel slightly cool when you drive a station wagon or a mini van. Never in my life did I imagine I would own a station wagon.
Maybe driving station wagons cause men to have mid life crisis's and go out and get Tattoos and a Harley.

I could use a little coolness and a Jeep might do it.

Number 7 would be my very own Submarine. This would be cooler then a Harley, a tattoo, or a Jeep, and it would be a great addition to number nine.

I wonder if you can special order one with torpedoes.


Number 8 would be a very large powerball jackpot. If I won the power ball you could forget about everything above. Like the guy in the Lottery commercial, not only would I be cool, but I also would suddenly be good looking.


Number 9 would be Block Island. I am not talking about some property on the island, I want the entire Island. I would secede from the United States, start my own country, designate myself King, and award land grants to family, friends, and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Ok to be fair to Jeanne, I would put aside a couple hundred acres for Sean Connery and Sam Elliot.

I could use my submarine to patrol our territorial waters and maybe invade and annex Fishers Island.

Number 10 was added because it would be sad if I sent Santa my list and received nothing on it. So number 10 are the two items I am guaranteed to find under the tree on Christmas day, SOCKS and UNDERWEAR.

Happy Holidays

All Nighter Wood Stove Club

UPDATE! For a free installation manual, check out my post on 10/01/2011.

She may not be the prettiest wood stove, she may have a little bit of surface rust, and she may not have that shiny black complexion any longer, but she is a genuine, authentic, "ALL NIGHTER BIG MOE".

My love affair with the ALL Nighter Stove started well over 30 years ago when I worked for the company that produced this family of sturdy wood burning stoves in Glastonbury Ct. I delivered many of these would stoves through out eastern ct.

A few years ago I bought a used All Nighter Wood Stove. I had always wanted to put one in my workshop, but never got around to it, but just having one sitting in my basement allowed me to officially claim membership rights in the exclusive "ALL NIGHTER WOOD STOVE CLUB."

Our basement is no longer below ground, so we lose the insulation effect that most basements below ground enjoy. Our pipes started to freeze up and it felt like walking on ice when walking on the floors. Serious condensation was forming under our rugs and the wood floors in the living room started to buckle slightly.

Recommendations ranged from electric heat tape to a propane heating system for the basement space.

We decided to bring Big Moe to life.

This was not as easy as it seems. Where was I to run the stove pipe?? I always found that shiny triple walled stove pipe running up the side of a house to be a eyesore. But I did not have time to run the pipe up through the middle of the house, and through the roof. I needed this up fast. So after some careful consideration and a couple of nights of frozen pipes, I decided the pipe running up the side of the house was going to look beautiful in my eyes if it heats the basement, and in the future if I want to run it up out of sight I will.
I was very lucky to find a guy over in Manchester selling copies of the out of print owners manual. A owners manual is needed for the building permit and the stove has not been in production for many years, so I was lucky to get a copy so fast.

Willie came out and to help me run $1000 worth of pipe and hook it up. He then gave me some pointers on burning wood, but no one warned me how awful the new black stove pipe was going to smoke and smell as it seasoned. the entire house smelled extremely awful.

Now that Big Moe is installed, I am going to call on the Guru of All Nighter Stoves. I am lucky to know this ancient wood burner from Bozrah who may be one of the founding fathers of the All Nighter Wood Stove Club, He has burned a All Nighter for at least 30 years and hopefully will share some secrets of efficient burning.

In the meantime, splitting and hauling wood is cutting into my Oprah time.

Final Hook Up

A permanent wire was strung from the house to the utility pole yesterday and my hands froze just watching them.

The Importance Of Vision

In order to live here over the past 9 years or so, one must maintain a vision of what it could be, not what it is.

The new roof over the front porch is nearing completion. It looks like I will farm out the shingling of the roof and will make that decision this week, "I Hope".

I am very happy to say that all the work I put into covering the roof with plastic paid off. We had some massive amounts of rain and wind yesterday and all is good.

Someone recently told me they thought the house would look like a giant, ugly, cement foundation with a small house sitting on it.
That was one of my original concerns, but thankfully I had found a picture on the FEMA website of a house in Alabama that was raised up 16 feet, and it was this picture that allowed me to develop a vision of the look I wanted. I did some rough drawings, and Ben Souza from Souza Engineering created some awesome official drawings.

Below is the Wallace house in Alabama. I really like the symmetry of the front steps and thought this would help take the focus away from the cement foundation.


Now, as I see the vision becoming a reality, I need to envision this muddy, wet, sometimes frozen, construction site, with green grass and beautiful landscaped gardens.
"THINK SPRING"

Comfy Cozy

I dream about a dock at night in the warm Florida Everglades, sitting with a fishing pole in hand, never knowing what you will catch. Then I wake up and I hear 13 degrees on the TV weather forecast.
So much for that dream!

Very soon we will be able to say, "We are in the home stretch".
I must say that Willie, Ron and myself did some really good stuff when it comes to the front deck. Ron and I worked on framing the roof over the front porch and I have a bit more to finish. I took a break from the roof this week and worked on some of the railings. Ron and I spent a hour or so attempting to come up with a plan to correct a terrible mistake I made. If I can figure out a solution, I might claim the rank of Genius, and if not I may be forced to maintain the title of "Goober".

This week has not been easy with 30 degree weather and wind that cuts strait through to your bones. I am hoping to farm out some of the remaining outside work. I would prefer to let someone else do the siding, install the windows and shingle the new roof. I hope to make that decision very soon.
I contacted a local contractor to give me a estimate on the labor that we have done ourselves, and if I have covered my 10% as required by the grant, I should be able to hire someone to do some of the work that I really don't want to tackle. It would be different if it was 50 degrees out instead of feeling like 50 below with the wind, and when your fingers are frozen, it really hurts when you hit one with a hammer.

I still have all the inside work on the addition, walls, insulation, sheet rock, flooring, painting, and design and build doors for the openings in the basement.
For now I have sheets of plywood up to block some of the wind that turns our basement into a wind tunnel.

Words we use a lot the past couple of days are "comfy cozy" so for now during the day, I will freeze my hands and body to near frost bite levels, an at night I will dream of far away warm places from my comfy cozy bed.

We Are Home

We survived living with approximately 48 square feet of floor space.
We survived 3 months of plastic outhouses and a tiny tiny shower. We survived living in a sardine can.

We survived We survived We survived!!!

Today I flushed the toilet 17 times because I have not flushed a toilet in 3 months.

Today I took a long hot shower and walked back and forth in the shower because I had the room.

Today I celebrate because we can all be in separate rooms.

Today I feel like a little kid on the eve of Christmas.

Today I lay down on our bed and thought this was the largest, and most comfortable bed in the world.

After living 3 months in a small camper, I decided I would never do anything that remotely resembles camping.

We have lots of work ahead of us, but I think I am re energized.