Is it just me??

It is not just you. I think at night I try too hard to get the perfect load with the biggest and best splits and end up with a load that takes an hour to get cooking. I'd be better off doing the same thing I do all day.

Nope it's not just you, I have been there and done that. It usually results from trying to pack as many of the the biggest and best splits in there as tight as possible. Anymore I make sure I leave them a little bit of airspace and leave at least an inch or two minimum at the top of the firebox. Brotherbart was the one who enlightened me last year when he commented that fitting that last big split in there usually wasn't worth the trouble and it would burn just as long without it. In fact I have found if I pack it to tight it is a bear to get it going and then it coals even more than usual. When they have just a little bit of airspace they burn more fully with the same burn time and still have plenty of coals to light off of.

I start fartin around with the stove an hour before bedtime, so that dont happen