Hey hey - first fire, 2012, while Sandy howls outside

Global warming/climate change? For sure. Being that it's almost November and this is the first evening this year we fired up our Intrepid? Unheard of! This is the latest in the season we have ever waited, in 14 years. Of course having hurricane Sandy beating us up is kind of an invitation for a nice warm fire.

This is the first year in a long time that I have a good supply of seasoned, pre-spit oak, cherry and tuliptree. It has been seasoning a whole year, which for me is a bleeding miracle! Not split to burning size, mind you, just big pie slices. But split all the same.

So I imagine I won't have to burn with the doors open almost the whole time, like I did last year. One cool thing about that though - I didn't clean my stack at all last year. I burned the entire season without one cleaning. I finally cleaned it in the heat of the summer, and it was definitely in need, but that amount of creosote would have been a typical holiday schedule cleaning - Thanksgiving, New Years, Valentines Day. Those are my normal cleaning intervals during the winter. Last year, nada.

Cheers to you all. And love and light go out to all those who are not high on a hill, inland and 150ft above sea level. We are watching the news and we send you our very best.

Now that is a beautiful hearth ! Looks great Mikodel.

Pete