Woodburning Bliss is:

Simply being warm...

It's 10 degrees outside right now, and the wind is blowing 30+, I've been outside for the last nine hours. I'm relaxing here on the couch, daughter is reading a book in the big chair; and the dog is insanely close to a 600 degree woodstove. Pretty blissful for all of us.

Bliss for me is consistent outside temps. That makes it easy to get into a rhythm with mostly equal loads. Like right now its -30 and has been foe a few days. I just put in a couple of 8" rounds morning and after lunch and that takes care of day time. When the temps fluctuate a lot I sometimes put in to much wood and then its open something up.

A cat at 1300 with the window clean, the first, the last and the one that burns when you look out the window and see the neighbor's getting his oil tank filled!

Natural gas instead of oil out here, but bliss is looking at my bill last year vs this year...

Jan 2010 Jan 2011
$323 $77

Feb 2010 Feb 2011
$237 $68

Yeah!!

Colorado => Solar Gain

Stove still feels really good at night.

Um,....ok. As long as "BB" doesn't turn into 'Basement Boy". Exercise is a good thing. Hell, I just hit 44, and I'm only 32lbs. over my HS wrestling weight.
Edit- Just bought a new snowboard, had a tough time keeping up with a friend of mine.......he's 62

Ok, so you don't need the exercise. You saying you wouldn't miss that first fire of the season? c'mon... not even a little bit?

Bliss is seeing my family walk around in shorts and tanks in the middle of the winter as if it was August and getting a bill thats not even 1/3 of what my neighbors get. Wood burning is where its at baby.

'course he would. First, last , and every one in between. There's just something about a fire. BTW- my HS weight was 112.

Johnstra, that is great that your saving money with your stove. Congrats. But those are some low numbers to heat your home in the winter. It would have cost us between $600-$700/month to heat this place in the winter without the stove- and some days it wouldn't even be warm in the house.

By the way, I had some woodburning bliss of my own tonight.

We had some friends over tonight. Very close friends of ours. My friend's wife has been having a rough winter. It was nice to see her sitting by the stove with a hot cup of coffee in her hands, a calm smile on her face, basking in the warmth of the 500* stove. She really seemed to take a moment to herself and relax. I knew it was that wood heat that was helping her find a bit of peace amidst her circumstances.

That was pretty nice for me to watch her have some peace for a few minutes.

But usually woodburning bliss for me involves sitting in the living room with beer and a blasting fire warming the whole damn house. I'm still not over it. I love heating this place with wood. Saves me money, it's good for the environment, keeps us far warmer than before, we have heat even if the power goes out, and it does something to a man's soul. I know you guys know what I'm talking about, but not everyone gets it. Woodburning is a real passion.

It's all relative, but I do not envy you guys your high fuel bills. I think the most I've paid for winter heating was a little over $500. That was one January when I was living out in the middle of nowhere at 9000' with a propane furnace. I was burning wood that year, but we had a couple of trips that took us away for a couple of weeks. Had to run the furnace unassisted to keep things from freezing up.

Double the bliss for you guys with your extra big cost savings!

ok, I am going to go there, can't help it.....Woodburning bliss is a warm house, sitting in a tank top and shorts in winter, a dogfish head in one hand and a stink free house................... I know I am a boldy, can't help it it's my nature. Oh yeah haven't seen the oil man in months and more $$$$ in my pocket for clothes and shoes............

BeGreen said:

... sitting by a summer campfire, knowing your woodsplitting and stacking are all done.

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Big +1 on that!

DaFattKidd said:

Johnstra, that is great that your saving money with your stove. Congrats. But those are some low numbers to heat your home in the winter. It would have cost us between $600-$700/month to heat this place in the winter without the stove- and some days it wouldn't even be warm in the house.

Click to expand...

Wow that is a hefty bill $600-$700/mth What can you get it down to with the stove going

...naps on the couch near the stove.

BeGreen said:

... sitting by a summer campfire, knowing your woodsplitting and stacking are all done.

Click to expand...

especially when your non woodburning friends are getting drunker and adding armfull after armfull of wood to get a "real bonfire" going,,, then realizing its ok cause you've got plenty of wood for winter

andrewdee said:

DaFattKidd said:

Johnstra, that is great that your saving money with your stove. Congrats. But those are some low numbers to heat your home in the winter. It would have cost us between $600-$700/month to heat this place in the winter without the stove- and some days it wouldn't even be warm in the house.

Click to expand...

Wow that is a hefty bill $600-$700/mth What can you get it down to with the stove going

Click to expand...

Sorry if this is a side track. I'm answering johnstra's question.

I've cut it down significantly. Before the insert I think I averaged somewhere around 1,300 gallons of oil each year. This past year i started burning full time. So from Feb 15 2010-Feb 21 2011 I've burned 790 gallons of oil. I expect to burn even less in the year to come for two reasons: Five weeks ago I installed a larger stove, and last week in December I finally replaced my old water heater with brand new super efficient Bock. I guess we'll find out around this time next year. (The reason I'm still burning so much oil is because I have a basement apartment with a tenant that is heated with the oil burner-but I'm still saving a lot of money in oil and my house is way warmer than it ever was)

This too is a form of bliss for me.