~o~
Friday 5th 20F/-7C at 5am.
5.00 60F/15C in the room. Up at 3am worrying about my lack of stove fodder. The roads were still covered in hard packed snow yesterday. The hard frost will only make things worse. The road salting doesn't seem to cut through the ice without the help of sunshine. Which means my old car won't safely drag a heavy trailer home where large or steep hills are between myself and the timber yard. Nor can I guarantee the availability of dry firewood logs when I get there. Will the steep ramp up into the timber yard be navigable?
I plan to investigate the wood briquette option again. They may have restocked at the local farmers supply shop. The briquettes must burn hotter than real wood. Because the stove manufacturer does not recommend them for continuous use. Burning only one per hour, as recommended, wouldn't provide much heat. I'd better get back to bed to catch up.
7.30 21F/-6C. 56F/13C in the room. Just got up again. I slept in my usual indoor clothes. Except for the fleece jacket. Temperatures are expected to rise to -3C later. It will also be breezy. The roads are reported to be icy everywhere. So my log trailer will not be moving today.
8.00 I have just lit the stove. Using flakes and scraps of firewood on top of the kindling. I'll bring in more logs from the greenhouse. One rack full and perhaps the same again. The average moisture content of the ice cold logs is about 18%. Which is fine. The logs will dry even more stored near the stove. The greenhouse is at 30F/-1C. There is a tobacco filter glow in the east. Possible early sunshine before more cloud and light snow showers arrive.
8.15. The battery is showing 13.4V on charge and 13.3V disconnected. While charging there is only a slow and slight variation in brightness of the green LED. I turned off charging overnight and reconnected this morning. The temperature in the hall, where I am charging, is 46F. Slightly lower than the bathroom. Which has the small 50W oil-filled radiator to keep the chill off. All internal doors are closed. The kitchen is at 54F/12C thanks to the larger radiator. I have to keep adjusting the controls upwards to cope with falling outside temperatures.
8.30. Bright enough for a walk to go and check the condition of the road. I have to arrange the annual appointment for the sweep to come and sweep the chimney. Next Tuesday at 10am. I shall let the fire go out at 9.00 to allow things to cool off.
9.00 Finally going for my walk.
9.15 Back again after checking the flooding. No real change. Though the beck is lower. The roads are separated into tramlines. Where the traffic keeps to its own lane. Snow in between. Everywhere is hard ice. Even the snow had ice under it and crunched under my feet. I dived onto the verge to let the traffic pass safely. Without having to detour around me.
I have checked both sheds for stray briquettes. I must have used them all up last winter. To be rid of them and make slightly more room out there. Probably worried about them getting damp and disintegrating.
9.30 I checked a log from the chestnut which I felled and split in 2022. Despite being exposed to the weather on a west facing stack it measured 20%. I have put it in the stove to see what happens. Just to see if it burns readily. Or even at all. It took far longer to catch fire than a dry piece of beech but is now burning. Perhaps I ought to bring some of the split chestnut indoors. To keep the stove going until conditions improve.
The large stack of chestnut is presently covered in snow and frozen together. I could bring a wheelbarrow full into the greenhouse. Bring baskets full into the room to dry off some more. Then add chestnut to the beech at intervals. It is recommended it be used this way. Because it provides only moderate heat but will help to keep the stove going longer. It spits so is not recommended for open fires.
10.15. I am going to swap batteries in the old car and then collect some wood briquettes in the boot. They will provide a reserve for safety. If I can't obtain dry, beech logs.
11.00 The old car battery was showing 13V after my repair and a cold night. So the car started instantly and I left the new one behind. De-icing took longer. I now have four 10kg bags of briquettes as a reserve. The price when buying four bags has risen from 25-30DKK per bag since we used only briquettes. The roads were dark stripes with hard packed snow in between. It paid to stay on the dark stuff. I am not risking using the trailer today.
17.30. 25F/-4C. The stove has been on all day and the room is still only at 61F/16C!
20.15 24F/-4.4C. Room 62F/17C. Dinner was fried, sliced chicken, mushrooms and boiled potatoes. I forgot to put butter on the potatoes. Didn't forget the sauce though.
~o~
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