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Wednesday 29th 26F/-3C. Slightly more overnight snow. Up at 5.45 after a reasonable night. I was too warm at one point. As the room temperature dropped from 67F/19C at bedtime to 60F/15C this morning. 33F/1C in the greenhouse. 35F in the balcony room.
7.00 I just checked and it is snowing lightly now. I am warmly dressed but ought to light the stove. Not sure what to do about the museum. What could I do if I did go? The fallen leaves will be under the snow. Or frozen in place. The forecast shows little or no new snow for Fyn. There could be up to 15cm/6" elsewhere. I won't risk a ride on the e-bike on icy roads. The trike could get there but what is the point? Somebody else might lose patience and control, on ice and run into me. The advice, from above, is to stay at home.
8.45 I was waiting for it to get light enough for a walk. So I watched some tests of wood stove fuel on YouTube. Interestingly, they filled the stove and let it burn for four hours. I have tended to burn one log a at a time. Whereas my English friend fills his stove. There is no doubting how warm his room becomes. While I am getting lower room temperatures until hours after lighting it.
My fuzzy logic says I will burn more wood if I fill the stove. Though that means I must be present to ensure it doesn't burn right down or even go out. This happens too often!
Wood fuel blocks burn hotter but my stove maker doesn't recommend them. As I had so little of them left I haven't bothered to buy more. We used them for years in our large Jøtul stove. They were far more convenient and my wife could manage the loading and tending of the stove. In fact she insisted on it. So I had no say in the matter. Most of the winter it wasn't warm enough indoors. I would shop around for lowest price and buy 20 bags of briquettes at a time. They were sold in supermarkets and farm supply shops. Which meant there was no need to take the trailer to the timber yard.
The Jøtul box stove was designed for long logs of softwood like pine. It was also made horribly inefficient because I fitted a Jøtul water heating, insert tank to provide hot water. Which it managed but at the hideous expense of losing most of its heat to warm the house. "Free" hot water was a costly delusion. Once I had fitted the tank to the stove. Then assembled the large bore, iron pipe, "gravity" plumbing system. It was far too late to go back.
I only had the new stove fitted while my wife was in hospital. The stove had been sitting in the hall for months. She was livid but at least it was a professional job. Installed by our kind, master, chimney sweep. The heat from the new stove was immediate and shocking. Sadly my wife could not enjoy it for long. She died within a few short days. On a hospital bed brought into the newly emptied living room. While the mobile nurses and home helps attended to her needs.
9.00. No museum today. Time for a therapeutic walk instead!
10.00 28F/-2C. A warm, 67F/19C in the room. I made it to my usual turning point in the lanes. The lack of wind made it quite pleasant. I was too warm on the last leg in my down sweater and undid the zip. Bullfinches moved away, along the hedgerows, as I walked briskly. Flocks and groups of redwings were moving around the neighbourhood. The roads were largely dry and salted.
18.00 I have started making dinner. Boiled potatoes, chicken, mushrooms and peas.
18.30 The potatoes have been peeled, boiled and turned down to simmer.
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