20.01.2023 Mauling the firewood.

 ~~

 Friday 20th 34F. Overcast. Up at 7.am. I have finished the last of the antibiotics.

 10.30 2C/35F. Morning coffee. 17C/63F upstairs.

 I was fed up with trying to burn oversized logs. They would usually sulk in the stove even with full air. Nor do they dry out quickly in such large sizes. So I brought the large wheelbarrow into the greenhouse and wheeled away four full loads to be split. Each load took the tour around the house to the back lawn. Where splitting is most practical and least dangerous to the buildings. The halved logs fly for yards and I have the scars to prove it!

 Once I had split the logs with the sledgehammer/splitting maul they were collected from the debris field. Then went back into the barrow. So they could be wheeled back around the house and in through the greenhouse. Then reloaded into a basket and brought indoors for stacking to dry out. I was soon sweating despite the outdoor temperature. It is still early in the Danish winter. So I really should fetch another load of logs from the furniture factory/timber yard. For which I'll need cash. 

 14.30 3.5C/38F, overcast. I have shopped. Where the manager refused to allow me £50 equivalent in cash over and above my purchase. "We are not a bank!" He said. How ironic! Those were the very last words the village dragon said to me at the huge village coop before they closed down. She was a constant feature on the checkout. So one presumes the racist bitch was specially chosen to force the closure of that branch.

Getting cash over and above one's purchases [using one's debit/credit card] is extremely commonplace in Denmark. Many tills have a notice asking that customers choose a round figure to avoid holding up the queue when they are busy. Many village bank branches have now closed. Taking their "hole in the wall" with them. So obtaining cash can be a serious problem. 

 Fortunately the nice girl on the checkout at the coop, in another village, was delighted to provide the necessary cash for purchasing my logs. I duly turned up at the timber yard to collect more logs. Smaller wasn't an option apparently. So more splitting to do. I

 'll split them straight from the trailer to avoid triple handling. I can work at the east end of the house if I am careful. I fetched my big Horse chestnut splitting stump on the sack truck. That will save a lot of toing and froing.

 15.30 Weak sunshine. I have split about 1/3 of the trailer load. Then ferried it into the greenhouse. I covered the rest in the trailer and moved it into the back garden/parking space. Which involved some shovelling and raking of gravel to ensure a firm surface for the car to reverse over. Quite a busy day so far. Time for a rest! 

18.30 0C/32F.  It is so much easier being able to put smaller logs in the stove. They don't need the air supply to be boosted just to catch fire. Now 20C/68F upstairs. I have the internal doors closed. The stove is heating the lounge and attic. The larger 1kw radiator is managing the kitchen quite easily. 

 Note that it has reached freezing point outside. With the internal doors open it was very difficult to keep the place warm with the smaller 500W radiator sharing kitchen duties with the stove. There were some losses through the front hall/greenhouse doors.

 19.00 and I should be preparing dinner. I have no appetite. Made fish fingers, mushrooms and baked beans. Tidied up with a bread roll.

~~