The weather has turned very cold up here and I have had my beautiful  eight month old twin grandchildren and my daughter staying for a while so I have had to keep the house very warm.  We have had snow and  freezing cold winds that seem to blow right through you.  Not that I am complaining too much as I just love cold days, particularly when it snows and you can come inside to a warm house with a lovely fire blazing away. Which brings me to the topic I wanted to talk about.

We have two wood burning fires in the house which require fire wood to keep them going.  Peter used to be the one to do most of the work collecting, chopping and stacking the fire wood. Now it is up to me! I don’t think I am quite ready to get out there yet with the chain saw and blaze away so I had some hard wood delivered as it burns really well and long.  I will supplement it with some stuff around the property that I will get a little later on.

I gathered a whole heap of kindling last week, big pieces and small bits too.  When I came back with it all it was quite a load.  I was able to break up the smaller pieces but the longer bits were beyond my strength and expertise.  With the cold really starting to set in for the afternoon, I didn’t feel like standing there with a bush saw trying to saw my way through the tougher pieces.   They say necessity is the mother of invention so I had a bright idea.  I went into “Pete’s Shed” and started up the band saw that he has there for cutting proper pieces of timber for jobs that need to be done around the place, and put all the pieces too big to cut by hand through it! Voila!!! with no fingers cut off in the process, I had them all cut into fire size bits in about ten minutes.  So pleased with myself!  Pete would have flipped if he had seen me dong it with his beloved band saw but “needs must”!  It may not seem such an accomplishment but only those who have to cut timber for firewood all the time would understand.  It’s a painful job but one that must be done in winter to stay warm and I am “it”.

This lovely pile of wood arrived this morning!  Stacking it will keep me out of mischief for a few hours.  I call it “The Wood Pile Workout”  Great for upper arm development!

The result though is lovely!  Stay warm everyone!!