When the Homily is about Immunology

Rural Thermodynamics

Having a woodstove is quite a novelty for me. I had a fireplace in California (stop laughing), but never really had one in Washington - except when me and some buddies were renting a house in Bellevue...I'm pretty sure we hade a fireplace there.

Anyway, Fall has definately arrived here in Washington and it has been getting chilly. Consequently I have been dirtying my hands while trying to learn all the ins and outs of wood stove use. Now, I realize it isn't exactly rocket science, but I know me and even before we took ownership of the home I bought a CO monitor to install - just in case I might poison my family.

Well the stove works fine and the previous owners left us a fair supply of wood, including some large rounds in the woodshed that Rade has graciously been hacking away at for us. I also found a fair number of smaller rounds from a recently felled tree the owner told me about. Kesley and Ally (our priest's daughter) spent a good portion of moving day hauling these out of the woods - but there's still some more to retrieve so I hope to get the rest this week as we are expecting sun. Anyway, as I was saying, the stove works great - perhaps TOO great because it seems to warm the kitchen, family and dining room MORE than just fine, but it underheats the master bedroom and boys' bedroom while WAY overheating the girls' rooms in the loft.

Using the large ceiling fan in the main room has majorly reduced the overheating in the girls' room, but the boys' room remains much cooler. I worry that when the REAL cold comes we may have to use electricity to heat their room.

So, I wondered what effect it might have to set up a fan to blow some of the warm air into the boys' room from the kitchen area. I could not notice a difference - I don't think - so I am going to kidnap a fancy thermometer from the lab and test it. With and without fan to see if it makes any difference...and also to test where is the best place to put the fan. I will report my findings here which will no doubt inspire some complaints - to which I will simply answer: "Was it electric heat in 19th century Russia? No it was not."

Collecting wood yesterday after Church on a damp and cool day was just plain enjoyable. Walking back to the house with Killick in tow, chasing unseen critters in the ferns, and seeing home through the trees with smoke climbing gently out of the pipe - a sure sign of life therein - was a real treat to me. It was positively an idyllic scene...adding a bit of snow would have made it worthy of a Christmas card.

Ahhh...but this idyllicness (ha...made that one up) is still trapped in real life. A large spider in the wood had me nearly soiling myself, and brought me back to reality. This beauty isn't free...tomorrow we do the feasibility study for the addition to the septic system - another chance to put the fiscal pinch on my family. Never the less...what a beautiful place we live in...I would not change it for anything.

Friday's bus ride home had me listening in on a conversation between the driver and a passenger regarding tips on feeding your hogs just before slaughter (amongst other hog related issues.) I was all smiles...tough to complain about the commute when you can get farming tips while enroute.