Pipe Dream | Chickens in the Road

Nov
8

The wood stove is almost ready to come inside! I dream of the wood stove. I dream of playing with kindling and stuffing the stove full of our free chopped wood. I dream of simmering potpourri in a pot on top. I dream of a kettle of water, too, always ready for hot cocoa or tea. I dream, I dream, I dream…

…of heat!

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11-8
1:59
am

You are going to love it. Nothing better than watching cats hang out near the wood stove on a cold day.

Sheila Z

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11-8
3:54
am

yes,yes, wood stoves are the best, i spend all autumn wishing it were just a little bit colder so i could light the fire then do it anyway and sit with the windows open!

Louise

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11-8
5:56
am

And think of the pots of beans and soups you can cook on it!!! My Mom said her mother used to bake bread on the wood stove……..I’ll pick Mom’s brain to see if she can bring up a memory of how that was actually done!

CindyP

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11-8
7:01
am

This was the first thing we did to our new house last year, new 100 year old house I might add. We were not happy with the company the handled the installation but now that’s it’s in, we love it. There is always a kettle of hot water on top for tea and a kettle with potpouri…………and I even kept mulled cider on it a few weeks ago for guests.

Melissa

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11-8
7:15
am

WoooHooo Suzanne!! You’ll love that wood stove…the heat feels so good..it’s different than other sources of heat. This heat is what I’ve always called ‘bone warming’ heat…it feels so good after being outside in the cold or damp air. We’re splitting wood this week…love doing that. It gives you that satisfied feeling that you get when you do your canning and other preserving…you know you’re ready for winter. Can’t wait to see your pictures! ENJOY!

Chic

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11-8
7:19
am

Suzanne,
Have you really considered the ramifications of using a wood burning stove as a source of heat??
Are you going to use it as supplement heat or only in the winter in case of power outage on occasion?
Won’t your homeowners insurance go sky high, based on the fact that you are really out in the country away from fire departments..
Ours went up!!
The fact that you need to burn only seasoned wood. Much hard cutting, stacking, drying of wood long before said wood is really needed? Careful burning treated wood(kindling)that you might breathe, I was told…
Use no real green stuff. Watch the creasote buildup to avoid a chimney fire! Been there done that, when 6 inches of snow was on ground! Very scary!
Which chimmney sweep is going to clean out that long tall salley stove pipe before winter use every year?? Just sayin’ and wondering…

B. Ruth

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11-8
7:29
am

I have great confidence that you are more than capable of contending with a wood burning stove. After reading your posts daily for a year I find you incredibly independent, smart, creative, funny, and given all the other hurdles you’ve crossed in building your life of ordinary splendor, I find it humorous that anyone would even be rude enough to challenge you! You go girl – or I mean – you go Chicken Lady!

Rebecca

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11-8
7:30
am

I also mean’t to add…if you have help in all those departments of wood burning…then you will love it…nothing like a cosy fireplace in the winter….but I am getting old and we had our crab orchard stone fireplace with a cast iron wood burning stove insert put down…lol…now we just look at the artifical flecking flames….

B. Ruth

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11-8
7:38
am

We had a wood stove many years ago in the basement at one of our houses… one of our cats must have jumped from something to it and severely burned her paws. Poor thing could hardly walk which is how we knew something had happened to her. So just keep an eye on your cats.

Howdy

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11-8
7:45
am

I am sorry if I sounded rude…I very much admire Suzanne…she is woman, she is strong…I know that.. and she is on the top of my vote and blog list…but I am a grandmother and I am old and weak and a worry wart..LOL Sometimes I forget when reading her posts that are so sincere and real that I forget that I am not talking to someone that I really don’t know and begin a grandmotherly conversation…thru my computer…again sorry…

B. Ruth

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11-8
7:55
am

I appreciate your concern. I know there’s more to it than playing with kindling, and I’ll have to have help, that’s for sure. Thank you!

Suzanne

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11-8
8:27
am

We love our wood stove, which has been our only heat since Hubby built the house 14 years ago, baseboards heat is installed for insurance purposes, but never used after final house construction was completed. That $200 electric bill was crazy compared to the $55 we pay now. But this year we are pulling out the baseboard and installing a heat pump. We both work days and travel to visit relatives for days at a time over winter holidays so it can get pretty cold in the house when we get back. Sometimes the stove goes out for no apparent reason during the day and the house is barely warm before bedtime. And after returning from a week long trip it can take days to get warm again. So the heat pump should add some reliable back up heat. We plan to set the thermostat at about 55 degrees and then not worry about coming home to a cold, cold house anymore. It also helps with the future, cutting wood is not always going to be an easy option for us.

Sandy

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11-8
8:39
am

Yes. It is the best heat in the world. You will love your stove/shrine more than just about anything….

IowaCowgirl

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11-8
8:45
am

also…don’t worry about burning wood: common sense (and you have that!) will prevail. I have heated with wood for 30 years and it is the best heat in the world (in the country of course). You’ll figure out how to stoke the fire at night with harder and a bit greener wood for overnight; how to keep the pipe clean with good hard burns and chimney sweeps; etc etc etc…..

And the potpourri will be on 24/7!

IowaCowgirl

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11-8
9:02
am

I grew up with wood heat. I always loved coming home from school and seeing the smoke coming from the chimney. I knew it would be nice and cozy and mom would have something cooking in the kitchen. Of course, my brother and I always dreaded having to carry wood and fill the wood box each evening!

KentuckyFarmGirl

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11-8
9:31
am

Hope its ready before winter. That’s going to be wonderful.

Shelly

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11-8
9:43
am

We have a fireplace. Yes, it has an efficient heatolator insert, but no fans. We heat with it all winter, have done so for the past 8 years and have never had the chimney cleaned because our fires are exceptionally hot. We also don’t make a practice of burning green wood. That and “cold” fires, those that don’t produce extreme heat, will fill your chimney with creosote. I don’t think you’ll have a problem.

But we only have one. Our next is going in the bedroom. I may never leave it then

Right now though, it’s what, the 8th of November? I live in Michigan and I’m staring at my fireplace which is cold because the windows are open and it’s 60 degrees out!!

I can haz fire?

nightsmusic

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11-8
12:28
pm

I hope you enjoy your wood stove as much as we do! I had to laugh at the unfinished chimney picture . . .52 is going to finish it right??

One or two trees per year should give you plenty of firewood.

I just came back from the goodwill here in pittsburgh–They had a sewing table/case just like yours for $40. It had the same handles and everything I think! If I was back home, I probably would have bought it!

monica

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11-9
12:58
am

Best money we ever spent. And we had to have it insatlled (40+ feet of chimney liner!) and have to buy most of our wood. We’ve had it 4 years & love it. We have a 2 story, 14 room old farmhouse, so still heat some rooms with ventless natural gas stoves, but the wood stove in the LR handles a huge amount of our heating needs. Ern did a spread sheet on what we saved over our natural gas bills the year before we bought it. We paid a lot for the stove (Vermont Castings top loader) & installation, buy most of our wood, and still broke even in less than two years.

We have the chimney swept each year. The years the g-kids were toddlers, used a big old screen in front of it.

Ern cooks on it nearly every day and keeps an old blue-speckled enamel coffee pot going on the side.

You’re going to LOVE it!

pamb

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