Mojo finally feels she is ready for winter. The shed is full of firewood, finally out of the rain and drying for the first time in two months. The remaining cord or so we managed to finagle our neighbor to take. He broke his back this summer and got behind on his firewood, yadda yadda yadda. So we spent most of Sunday moving this cord or so with two pickup trucks and three people and two dogs flinging sticks about. Okay, so maybe the two dogs weren't much help, since Mojo spent much of her time ordering "No! Drop it! DROP it!" whenever there was a lull in the conversation.

About half way through it started sleeting, which actually made the work sort of pleasant. I would have preferred plain ol' snow, but sleet has that eerie hiss that I can sort of get into. Plus you don't get all that wet, since it just bounces off of you. It was a snow and sleet mixture, but it was also a reminder for all of us to get this wood under a roof somewhere so that it could dry out before he uses it. We've been taking cold wet pieces from the pile and putting them in the stove, which helps it burn longer, but it doesn't burn so hot in the thermal meaning of the word. Plus on those rare occasions we neglected it until we pretty much had to start over....forget it. Starting a fire with cold, wet wood is not something I would wish on anyone.

We also collected two big garden carts full of chips for starting the fire. One was dumped in the three-season room to dry, the other was left in the cart and put out under the carport to (hopefully) dry. Since the stove goes like gangbusters it's rare we need kindling, but if we do we finally got some.

I still think I want to buy a battery backup for the stove fan. But it's not as critical, so I've been holding off.

Life is good....

Mojo

But Mojo DESERVES to be extra-lazy, since she spent the extra-long weekend stacking firewood. Lots 'n' lots of firewood. She is almost happy with her stash. I have a woodshed that fits about five rows of stacked wood, and we historically go through about four rows a season. Each row is a foot shy of a full cord. I now have three and a half rows stacked and out of the rain, with a purty big pile of maybe another cord cut and split still out in the yard ready for stacking. (If you have nothing better to do....)  MORE Mojo! »

Or maybe that should be "pooring"? As in "poor Mojo. Poor, poor, poor, poor Mojo."

How sweet it is, to see how optimistically she ends yesterday's blog! Here, let me repeat one of her last statements: "This morning it starts like a charm. So far."

"So far" being the operative phrase, here.  MORE Mojo! »