Winter – Page 2 – New England's Narrow Road

Burning Wood For Winter Heat

Cordwood under tarps in snow. — Cord wood ready to burn

I’ve changed some things to make burning firewood easier this year. Last year my wood was stacked and covered with blue, plastic tarps. I had to trudge through the snow to the stacks of snow covered wood, brush it off and dig it out, then haul it in through the back sliding door to the living room.

By about mid-winter the snow was so high, and with the thaws and re-freezes, the wood became buried in solid snow hills. I dug out what I could, but mostly I was careful to not use too much. There is always the threat of an ice storm that would cause days without power. If that happened, keeping my small wood stove going for a week or more would really use up the wood.

This year I have a new plan. I had a wood shed built this summer! I also added a door to the back of the garage. I can walk out the back of my garage and within a few steps I will be in the wood shed collecting dry pieces of firewood. This is much better!

New wood shed to keep firewood dry and snow free. — Love the new wood shed!

More is stacked inside the garage and so I feel like I am ready for the winter’s cold. No more shoveling out the tarp covered piles. The wood shed was an investment that I will enjoy for a while.

My New Wood Shed

All of us who burn wood over the winter months to keep the high cost of heating oil at a minimum, must begin gathering and stacking it long before the snow flies. This winter my wood will be stored in my new wood shed.
For me, fire wood is gathered during the summer when my son visits and uses my chain saw to cut up trees. He does what he can during his visit and my other son then splits it for me during the rest of the summer. I do all of the stacking. Up until this year, I’ve stacked the fire wood on wooden pallets along the side of the house, and then covered the wood with flimsy tarps to keep the snow off.
That hasn’t worked so well. We get lots of snow here, and the wood ends up buried. With melting and re-freezing, pretty soon the wood is tough to get to. Also, unless I keep a path dug, it’s hard to even get to the wood to bring inside and burn. Usually I give up and end up leaving much of it to re-stack for the next year when I could be using it to heat my house.
So I splurged and hired my contractor to build me a nice, dry wood shed. Continue reading “My New Wood Shed”

Catching the Winter Sunrise

winter trees and sunrise — Winter Sunrise

Some of the most beautiful moments of my days happened when sitting at the bus stop early in the morning on winter days. To enjoy seeing the sun coming up, I’d have to leave the house where too many trees kept me from seeing anything except a glimpse of orange far off. But at the bus stop, near the wide open area of the lake, it was sometimes a spectacular view.

Sometimes I’d bring my camera and take a walk after my son got off to school. That is just one wonderful advantage of working at home. Having the ability to work my own hours means enjoying the best parts of the day if I choose. Yes, I am lucky.

Now I don’t live near the lake and I never see a sunrise – except the occasional bright color way off through the neighbor’s trees. I always think about how beautiful it must be to live on a hill. If you live on a hill, I hope you take time to enjoy that beauty.

The woods are something I can enjoy. Whenever I walk in the woods I always think of this part of Robert Frost’s poem. It’s the only part I can ever remember. Certainly the thickly wooded areas of woods in the northeast are lovely, dark and deep.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
(Robert Frost)

Don’t You Just Love the Snow?

Every time I mention that I moved to the north FROM Florida, people give me an incredulous look. You did what?

Well, it wouldn’t help to try to explain my reasons – Florida is paradise in their eyes. So I just let them think there is something wrong with my way of thinking.

Back in the winter of 2010, when I was renting a duplex, I had a mailbox attached to a tree by the driveway. To make the place feel more homey I attached two red, velvety ribbons to each side. When the snow fell, this is what it looked like. I went out to shovel and saw how pretty it looked and went back to get my camera. I ended up taking a lot of winter photos that year of the lake and the Girl Scout Camp, but this one is one of my favorite.

My photos bring back bittersweet memories. I hated renting, but my landlady was a good friend to me. I never felt settled, even after three years there, but I loved the area with all it’s nature to enjoy.

Each time I see this new address postcard I wonder if the people who buy it are moving to the north and snow, or away from it.

I decided to add the blue text for this post, but I suppose I could make a humorous card like that too!