my bucket list just got longer
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Hi All,
Well I/we are now ~115 days into our expected annual ~250 days of needing wood heat period.
Wood shed usage confirms we here PNW westside are having a dryish (for us), warmish El Nino effect year. The North Pacific jet stream keeps getting diverted south down rain/mountain snows hammering California instead.
I am now at least 30% under my expected fuel wood usage.
My evolved Mama-Bear woodheating system the only differences this has meant is some finer splitting of the stove wood to reduce hourly heat release. And much less below grate ash pan “maintenances” needed.
I long since with the too-small, ran too-hot Baby-Bear woodstove 1996-2006 learned to never have to do any chimney/stove pipe maintenance. No smoke, no creosote build ups.Ha! Just every 3-4 years full internal cast iron plates changing out on the Baby-Bear from running contact glowing wood charcoal bottom, sides and back end in that only 1.5 cubic foot internal stove.
And the only used 2 seasons huge internal 4.5 Cubic foot Papa-Bear stove was a constant house-over-heater and a daily constant soot-up the glass doors razor-blade forced soot scraper. Every day if I wanted to bask in my woodchar glow.
MamaBear 3.5 cubic foot internal volume stove is just right. Ha! After 4-5 years I finally did metals destroyed the whole center cast iron chevron slotted grate from direct red-hot wood evolved charcoal contact heats. Bridge that now for years with three $3 each stove-bricks. These last for 1-2 years. Easy, cheap maintenance.
The Real woodgas system Design challenge now should be to get the minimal maintenance points; and have all of those maintenance points tool-less, and in the same area. Just like a modern car.
Only VesaM tries to do this so far.
Ain’t no challenge at all to stack systems onto systems trying to create a de-humanizing one-button tech-enslaver. People been stacking over-complication shit higher and higher since the days of Babylon.
The real challenge is to simplify, simplify, and make a system human experience-use, enriching.
All of the best systems. . .
the best tools . . .
the best philosophy’s are simple and human respectful.
Steve Unruh
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Glad someone has spare wood. My shed looks like I should have spent less time fixing old tractors and making hay and more time splitting wood. Just spent the day digging out some wood which was sawed but never split because I got busy bringing mom home and helping her the last few weeks. We have a massive north Easter headed our way 2 feet of snow Sunday so I need to get it cleaned up before then so I can clean out around the pile and work up the wood I should have worked up last summer. I will get by but hope to get ahead this spring. Always too many things to do on the farm. I think with this next storm I will have to close off the yard or the cows will walk over their fence. It is really building up in their yard now.
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It’s actually supposed to freeze here this weekend. Got a jump on the garden though. It’s been a while since we put any lime out so we put 6 ton on the garden and twice that volume of chicken litter. If anything survives it will grow quite well. Smells like April around here. Fortunately it’s raining.
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People been stacking over-complication shit higher and higher since the days of Babylon.
You are so right on that statement Steve. Make it simple and human enriching. Right on.
Bob
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Hope this is not boring 
Copy of an old presentation . Some of the pictures are 10-12 years old.
Many miles, lot of smiles .
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It was -25 F upon wake up this morning. The house at 63 F, the first order of business is a flame under the coffee and immediately after, the wood stove. When the heat radiates from the wood stove, this is where I will find the animals.
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Sorry Bill , I can’t comprehend .
53F muddy and rain here
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Maybe this will help.
When one needs a face mask to protect the skin from frostbite, wearing a baseball or cowboy hat over that will yeild strange looks from someone walking by.
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Looks like a bank robbery gone bad.
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Garry ,
I get cold just looking at your picture!
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That’s the beauty about cold and work, you can balance heat output. I wasn’t cold at all, no hat necessary. I think my dog was a bit chilly, sitting watching. 
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Wayne, I get cold just knowing that you looked at his picture.
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Garry what those southern boys don’t realize is your biggest fear working in the cold is over dressing and sweating. You learn pretty quickly that getting too hot in the cold is actually easier then in the summer. Ok that and keep your feet warm my only real issue in the cold is my feet getting too cold even when I dress for it. I spent a good part of the day splitting wood not nearly as cold as your way but down in the teens. You learn to keep moving especially when the wind comes up.
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Too true. I was over dressed, that jacket was too heavy. I should have just been wearing a hoodie. Layers is the key.
Fortunately I don’t have much issue with cold feet. But the main thing is to keep moving. And as soon as you stop, zip up, or put another layer on. And certainly never sweat up your gear, that can be dangerous.
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I just stumbled across this and it is too funny. Up there in Canada even the wildlife is friendly.
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I’m sure you used it the last couple of days. TomC
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All to true Garry and Dan.
Our short cold/frozen went bye-bye here now. Back to winter rain, raining, been-raining, and sometimes just flat out Rain. That means mud and more muds. Feet get awful layered up heavier and heavier. Same, same with the clothing layers. Any working in 40’sF rain and you will get either sweating wet from the inside. Or seeped in wet from the outside. Keep moving, working generating body heat. NEVER stop until you can get inside un-wet-layerd and dry-warmed.
Ha! Took me years to convince the wifie that my muddied up boots and wettened outerwear WAS TOO going to be brought inside to dry and warm before the next outdoor useage.
Regards from the mud (just to dumb and set in my web-footing-ways to move east up into higher-colder-uplands like some of our members)
Steve unruh
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