Warmth on a Cold Winter's Day

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It is cold outside. The temperature is hovering around 10 deg. F. [-12 deg. C]. A half an inch of snow has fallen overnight. They are predicting a major event with around a foot of snowfall beginning in the next few hours.

I get up and go to my wood stove. There is no better warmth than standing next to a wood stove in the morning. You warm your body up and then race off to do some little task and then after a few minutes, return to the warm stove. It warms the very soul.

This morning I am taking my wife to get her first COVID shot. That is if the vaccination place remains open for a few hours. I will expect it to shut down due to the snowfall as the day grinds down. So I will try and get her there a few hours early when they first open so she can get her shot. It is a 5 mile trip into town but I am running snow tires.

We have been heating the house with wood for almost 45 years now. We use a Jotul wood stove made in Scandinavia. It is a simple wonderful stove. Too bad they do not make the model we use anymore. It was a good stove with one small defect. Once the defect was fixed, there is no better stove. In the Spring we cut trees that have fallen down over the year into logs. We pile all the logs into a mound and then when we are ready we use a wood splitter to split them. We take the firewood and stack it into the pole barn to dry for the rest of the year. And then winter comes and we burn the firewood in the stove.

We have a dog. It is a golden retriever. But it is red in color and looks more like an Irish Setter. The dog is a water dog. He has a thick coat which allows him to survive in the cold. He is an outside dog. On days like this, we bring him in for a few hours and let him warm himself by the stove. He really likes these mornings.

We use a Stihl chainsaw to cut up the trees into logs. It is a great chainsaw. I believe out in the country, this is one of the most important tools one can own. If a storm hits and you need to clean up the damage, this is the way to go. It took me several years to figure out how to use the saw properly. They did not have a course on the subject. It was just learn as you go. Several things not to do was cut into the ground or cut into water. That dulls the blade instantly. I use a little electronic motor sharpener to keep the blade sharp.

The wood stove offers a type of warmth that is truly magical as it settles into your core and your bones.

I heat my home exclusively with wood as well. Nothing like the heat that comes off a wood stove! We also have a Jotul. Great stove.

Until recently I too heated my house with a wood stove. We stopped just before Christmas because of a study by Sheffield University that highlighted the health issues associated with it. Here if you're interested:
[url]
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/12/1326[/url]

I've had a cancer in the last few years and my partner has developed asthma in the same time period so we got a bit spooked. We have a kid in the house too which affected our decision.

I don't mean to be a downer. I loved my woodstove and everything about the process of gathering wood, seasoning and processing, burning. It's the loveliest heat and is psychologically warming as well as physically. I was so sad to retire it.

We have been heating with wood since 1978 and have noticed no ill effects. We now have air cleaners in place (since COVID) that removes almost any contaminant from the air.

SUCCESS! It was a hard fought victory.

I took my wife in to get her first COVID vaccine shot. The weather was suppose to turn horrible today. So I figured the early bird gets the worm, so I got her there 2 hours before the appointment time. I arrived to find out that the place was closed for the next two day due to the upcoming storm.

So my daughter changed the appointment to the next city over on the fly and we drove another 15 miles. This was at a hospital. It was a drive-in clinic. She received the Pfizer vaccine.

So it was a battle hard fought but we are home now.

The snow is beginning to fall. Not heavy yet. Many places in the U.S. are breaking cold weather records dating back to the 1800's. This is about what to expect because we are in the deepest part of an unusually long solar minimum. The sun has been without sunspots for 874 days since 2016. And this number is still growing as we transition into Solar Cycle 25. One has to go back to Solar Cycle 15 [June 1913] to find a deeper solar minimum [1023 spotless days].

Just eyeballing it, IMHO I think we may break the Solar Cycle 15 record.

This is a picture of my wood stove. It is a Jotul Model #12 Firelight. It is 25 years old but it is almost like the day we bought it.



We had 10 inches of snowfall last night. This is what it looks like out my back door.

Last night it dropped to -6.3 deg F. [-21.3 deg C.]. It was just at the edge of bitterly cold. We brought our dog in last night and let him sleep by the wood stove. I have a busy day today. I hope the car starts.

Well it is -2.0 deg F [-18.9 deg C, -15.1 deg Reaumur] at the moment outside. My dog is sitting next to the wood stove and he is happy. One more cold night is forecast and then things should begin to warm up.