When I wanted to warm my home back when I lived in the Netherlands, it was easy: flick a switch and the central heating came on. And after a while the whole house was warm and toasty. The bathroom, the living room, the kitchen.
I now live in Norway in a small cottage in the countryside. I don't have any central heating. Instead I have three different types of heating. First there is the warm air thingy in the hallway. Not the most logical of places, since it basically only heats upstairs. Where I don't need the warmth as I like to sleep in a cold room. Then there is the heating element in the bathroom. Switch it on and the electricity meter goes haywire, since it just gobbles up my kroners! I don't really use it that often.
The third way of heating my home is the woodburner in my living room. Which, after I finally figured it out, works a treat. It warms up the living room, the kitchen and even the bathroom. The only thing is: it needs wood to burn!
Yesterday the first of two loads arrived. At ten in the morning. Two pallets with 1000 liters of firewood each. Dumped on the grass. I store my firewood in the basement. It's dry there and I don't have to go outside in the rain/wind/snow to get to it. Grass does not equal basement.
So, from 10.30am to 2.30pm I moved all the wood from the grass to a huge pile in the basement, since it looked like rain. Then I clambered my way over to the back of the basement and started stacking. I was absolutely pooped when I was finally finished and the shower was heavenly! But I do now have two piles of firewood, and it will probably last me until sometime in January. In a few weeks two more pallets will be arriving. Another day of stacking!
Bravo!
ReplyDeleteI have many memories of stacking wood, and shoveling coal, and cutting kindling. No woman should be without these skills in case she finds herself living alone in an arctic climate.
I'm proud of you.
Luv, K
Well done! We have had our fair share of stacking wood. Now we collect on our walks - a far gentler way of replenishing our stocks.
ReplyDeleteThere's something about heat from wood. Maybe it's all in my head, but it feels different, or at least smells different.
ReplyDeleteI would be tired too! That's a lot of wood. We do have a fireplace, but it wouldn't heat up our house. We use a furnace for that!
ReplyDeleteWow, that was a lot of work!!! There is something very charming about having your heat come from a woodburner.
ReplyDeleteWoah! That's a lot of hard work. As a child in England, we used to have to go outside to fill up the coal skuttle to keep the fire going. But the coal was in an outside cupboard in the wall of the house. So outside we had to go come rain wind or snow, if we wanted to keep the fire going. We have an oil furnace in our new home but really haven't used it much. We've had so little cold weather since we moved here in March -- just a few cool nights. But I'm sure there are more to come.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the wood moving. Will miss that wonderful aroma of burning firewood.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine has a stove too (on top of the central heating, to save gaz) it burns also coal and that lasts longer then wood and is also cheaper. So she makes a mixture of wood and adds two bricks, and the thing warms the whole house !
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