15.01.2024 Frying tonight! 😋

 ~o~

 Monday 15th 32F/0C. A dusting of new snow. Temperatures will remain just below freezing or a few more days. Just as the last lot of snow had vanished. Up at 8.15. I must bring in more logs while the weather allows it. I need to go shopping. The fridge and larder are bare.

 9.30 60F/15C in the room. I ought to light the stove. The new logs are 20-23% moisture content. While the earlier stock are just below 20%. Bringing in a rack full helps to reduce these numbers significantly. After a couple of days near the stove the logs are down to 5% and even lower. So I ought to fill the rack from the earlier stack. The air humidity is high and temperatures low in the unheated greenhouse in winter. It takes time for the raised moisture content to fall in the occasional bright sunshine.

 10.30 Periodical, weak sunshine. Having a rest for morning coffee. 63F in the room. The rack is full again. A freezing cold, northerly wind outside is making my eyes water. The corner of the greenhouse under the kitchen window is now full. It took three heaped barrows. 

 The logs remaining in the trailer are mostly shorter and squarer than average. Meaning they will need far greater care in stacking to remain stable. There isn't much rubbish this time. I try to keep most of the small sticks and flakes to use as kindling. It all helps to save on the expensive kindling. Of which I have now started on the second bag of three.

 12.30 Mostly bright sunshine. The greenhouse was showing 74F. So I hung a piece of white card in front of the insulation block containing the thermometer sensor. The indicated temperature dropped to 64F. 

 Only the rubbish wood is now left in the trailer and covered.

 19.15 Returned from the shops with five large bags of groceries. The village backstreets were still coated in snow and ice. I took a chance and looked in the upmarket kitchen shop for a frying pan. 

 They were doing a half price offer on a Jamie Oliver extra deep pan by Tefal. So I bought one. It would do as a baby bath and even fits the ridiculously large ring on the hob. Finally I can use the fourth ring! If I put wheels on it, the huge box would pass as a cycle trailer. Except they aren't allowed on "45s." 

 There was a half price offer on Philips LED downlighter, outdoor, wall lights in another shop. So I bought two for the greenhouse. The old lights disintegrated in the UV years ago. So it has been dark out there, in the winter,  ever since. Not that it mattered until I started keeping the logs out there.

 Dinner was beef mince, with onions, peas, carrots, boiled potatoes and gravy. I must be doing something wrong with the mince. I gave it 20 minutes at modest heat. I think it needs a higher heat and a shorter fry. The same thing happened last time. 

~o~