Oh, I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK....

Ok, we got a wood stove installed the other week. And I friggin' LOVE the damn thing. Heat the house up to 73 degrees and it doesn't cost a damn thing? LOVE IT!

Yesterday, we went and played Lumberjack at some body's house cuttin' down some eucalyptus trees for firewood next year. I cut down my first tree!!! EVER! And I did it right, too! Making that third cut above the notch and the slow movement of the tree as it begins to fall.... It's almost poetic!

And today, I went out and took our new maul out to split some wood for a little bit. It's a thing of beauty! >THWACK!< And the two bits of log fly off the block in opposite directions. I never thought I'd enjoy doing that sort of yard work, but I did!

Yeah, I know at some point it'll become drudgery but for now, I'm enjoying it!

Free Heat!!!

Ah!!! The comforts of free heat in the winter!

Ok, so it wasn't really "free". The wood stove cost me $35 on Ebay. (Yes, it's fine....) The chimney and assorted pipe and accessories cost me another $450 or so. But! I no longer have to worry about how much propane I'm using to heat the house! Propane bills last winter were about $160 a month! YIKES!

So, if we use the wood stove for three months, it will have about paid for itself in propane savings. Yippee!!!

Next thing I need to work on is getting enough trees growing on my little hill to provide about a cord of wood a year. It'll take a while, but I think it'll work out just fine. Besides, while that's happening, there's plenty of free firewood to be had around here. Just gotta check the newspaper and the internet.