We woke to a small amount of snow, the second measureable snow of the season... The last having *just* melted off yesterday in our indian summers lasting until Solstice!
I've been burning fires hot for a month now, trying to keep the heat-mass of the house "up" and for the most part it has worked. I burned about a half cord of wood left from last year(s) and procured another cord just last week. It might be enough to squeek by on, but the wood was not ideal. I hit this every year, whomever I try to get wood from promises things but delivers different. The hardest part is getting consistently small pieces for the cookstove. When they advertise 14"-16" I usually get a LOT of 16-20"
and even some >20", often in large diameters. Most of it fits in the medium sized stove, all of it fits in the big stove in the sunroom but very little of it fits in the cookstove which is what we use most often.
The sunroom has been doing well for having *still* been unfiinished. I got all the storm windows repaired *only* to have two of the upper-deck exterior windows break.... leaving me with two of those single-paned! One of the two bancos is in but the brick floor is not, the space is almost as insulated as it is going to ever be, and it is still a tad leaky... So far, I've fired the stove in there maybe a dozen times, one or two, rarely three charges of wood.... and it is maintaining roughly 40-80 degrees which is suitable for the plants (Agave, Aloe, Elephant Ear) and probably ideal for some winter greens if I can ever be bothered.
Over the summer we had a mother bear and cub in the Bosque, a consequence of the fires in the mountains... the Pueblo Ranger caught Suzy out walking in the arroyos and ran her off... making it very difficult to walk the dog (twice?) daily as she seems to need. It feels unfortunate, as we would rather be "just good neighbors" than unwelcome trespassers. We've kept watch over their fences, roads, cows, horses and even a few teens from the pueblo wandering to the bosque with rifles... nothing extravagant, but we thought we were being good neighbors... calling in with unusual activity... I even hopped the back fence with boots, gloves, shovel to help one of the members maintain/watch a fire he had going in his fields... I think he had it under control, but I also think he welcomed the company and the potential help. But...
Solstice is nigh. This Thursday at 5:30 AM it would seem... all downhill from there!
I've been burning fires hot for a month now, trying to keep the heat-mass of the house "up" and for the most part it has worked. I burned about a half cord of wood left from last year(s) and procured another cord just last week. It might be enough to squeek by on, but the wood was not ideal. I hit this every year, whomever I try to get wood from promises things but delivers different. The hardest part is getting consistently small pieces for the cookstove. When they advertise 14"-16" I usually get a LOT of 16-20"
and even some >20", often in large diameters. Most of it fits in the medium sized stove, all of it fits in the big stove in the sunroom but very little of it fits in the cookstove which is what we use most often.
The sunroom has been doing well for having *still* been unfiinished. I got all the storm windows repaired *only* to have two of the upper-deck exterior windows break.... leaving me with two of those single-paned! One of the two bancos is in but the brick floor is not, the space is almost as insulated as it is going to ever be, and it is still a tad leaky... So far, I've fired the stove in there maybe a dozen times, one or two, rarely three charges of wood.... and it is maintaining roughly 40-80 degrees which is suitable for the plants (Agave, Aloe, Elephant Ear) and probably ideal for some winter greens if I can ever be bothered.
Over the summer we had a mother bear and cub in the Bosque, a consequence of the fires in the mountains... the Pueblo Ranger caught Suzy out walking in the arroyos and ran her off... making it very difficult to walk the dog (twice?) daily as she seems to need. It feels unfortunate, as we would rather be "just good neighbors" than unwelcome trespassers. We've kept watch over their fences, roads, cows, horses and even a few teens from the pueblo wandering to the bosque with rifles... nothing extravagant, but we thought we were being good neighbors... calling in with unusual activity... I even hopped the back fence with boots, gloves, shovel to help one of the members maintain/watch a fire he had going in his fields... I think he had it under control, but I also think he welcomed the company and the potential help. But...
Solstice is nigh. This Thursday at 5:30 AM it would seem... all downhill from there!
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