Your better half is a smart lady for who wants to be cold-----------not meeeee....Here in my state they were saying on the radio that they expect "maybe" it to go right above freezing on Wed but I think it will go to freezing (at night this is) so I am begin to winterize my hoses and stuff..Daytime temperatures are still pretty good 70 or so and I just wonder about your tomato's since I have one in Oregon did you get a lot of tomato"s this year...Sounds good and you will just love the heat and especially the ambiance of it all--get a glass of juice or hot cocoa or something and really enjoy it..My new stove will be lite on Oct 28th and my stove installer is suppose to bring over a wood gage to test the moisture and a stove pipe temperature gauge as well and I got some fire extinguishers just in case---lol lol...First time burner here so Happy Heating Season back to you too and you have a sensible better half who does not want to be cold and is getting you in the mood for burning your stove ahead of time...good for her...clancey
HAHA - yes, she is a smart lady - she was the straight "A" student when we were in school! we caught back up about 12 years ago, both of us going to the local community college - I did beat her GPA this time!!
we are in a cold pocket - usually 2 or 3 degrees lower than the forecast - I do expect it to be frosty - but at least the rain quit.
June 27, 2012 - Jackie and I had been married almost a year - I was in Indiana loading a trailer - at 113 degrees - I called J to tell her that I would be heading west in less than an hour - she told me she was lighting the stove. I pretty much melted into the parking lot!
really?
turns out it was 55 and overcast, she was cold! I think that was her first time lighting. she almost gave up.
I gave her some ideas and lessons the next fall - she is an ace now - we have competitions - as we are kind of prepper/survivalist - we compete to be the one-strike lite with the ferro rod. no matches are harmed in fire building here!
we only did two tomato plants this year - (water issues) and the little cherry tomatoes just gave up - but the bigger ones have been going on overload - we have been giving baskets of them to the neighbors almost every week. cucumbers have been steady and awesome - but no extras, as the chickens get one every week - (J does spoil them). the slicing cuke has gone in to overdrive now.
water issues - I am such a goofball - as the rains started coming back a few weeks ago - it finally dawned on me - I setup some buckets off of the tarp shelter - to catch rain water for the garden. nobody has ever called me Einstein! it works well, I haven't had to use any of my hauled water for the garden now in over three weeks!
I can't use the water off of the house/garage as they are asphalt shingle - but the garage is due for a new roof and it will be metal!
you can never go wrong with fire extinguishers hanging around a few places - I have always (at least in my adult life) had one in the room of the stove, and one near each outside door. I carry the standard 2.5 pound next to the seat in my truck, and also always carry a ten pounder in the truck - and have put out fires out on the freeways at least 5 times, and once while pulling in to a parking lot a dumpster fire was starting - I had that out just as the fire department rolled up - they told me I shouldn't do that, but thanks, and they paid for a refill on my extinguisher.
I have 10 acres of timber - my very own tinderbox I live in - with the house on the SouthEast corner - so I am very diligent on fire safety.
and crazy enough, we want to build an outdoor wood-fired cookstove.
R