14.02.2026 Visitors in the sunshine.

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  Saturday 14th 21F/-6C [8.00] A cold but sunny day is promised. Peaking at -1C with lighter winds. Still waiting for the cloud to clear. Expected to drop to -10C/14F around 7am tomorrow morning.

 Up at 7.30 after a busy night. I was waking at 1-2 hour intervals and using the excuse to feed the stove. With some difficulty in catching the very large logs alight from the glow in the ash bed at times. Too much air and the log burnt too rapidly. Filling the room with bright, flickering light. Too little air and it just smoldered. 

 Despite everything I managed to maintain 60F/15.6C in the room overnight. The stove is going well after a new and last log went in before breakfast. I'll have to start searching for more fuel!  The snow has prevented me from fetching more logs from the vendor. There is a large stack of chestnut logs outside but it is not very accessible. The snow is deep from drifting just there. 

 8.30 It has reached 62F/16.7C ad I can feel the heat from the stove on the back of my neck. 

 9.00 22F/-5.6C. 63F/17C. Thinking about a walk but I would prefer some sunshine. 

 9.15 Finally some golden light on the trees and blue sky. 

 9.45 Back from my walk. Mostly in bright sunshine. The drive was even more difficult as the snow had frozen harder. I had to use my own footprints to make steady progress. The neighbour's drives had been partially scraped. Allowing me to detour. There were waves of drifting at intervals some 30cm/12" high. 

 My nice neighbours came around to check on me after lunch. Which was kind of them. Bringing their pretty little pony with them. And their cat. Which had followed them. Then complained that it wanted to go home again. I see the cat going back and forth almost every hour on my security cameras. It doesn't like the snow. So I haven't seen it for a while. 

 I brought some  of the chestnut logs in from under the shed roof overhang. They measure 20% moisture content. on average. I had hoped it would be lower. They had a little snow on them but I don't think that has affected the reading. I think they will dry out further if they are indoors near the stove. At a safe distance of course. 

 I could fill the circular rack. Which I haven't used for the beech logs. Due to their large size. It was a nuisance to keep filling the rack so often. So I just used the plastic baskets for storage. I'll mix the chestnut with the last of the beech logs.

 The snow is at least 8" deep over the western lawn. So I had to wade through it going both ways to reach the far side of the stack of logs. Where access to useful sizes is easiest. Returning with a heavy basket full of logs on the way back. Which made me a bit breathless. Though I soon recovered. 

 The first chestnut log went in behind the beech and is already burning well.

 I am making sausage rolls for dinner. Boiled potatoes and tomatoes. First I have to thaw out the pastry from the freezer.

 20.15 Frost: 11F/-12C. 66F/19C in the room. It is supposed to be colder later. Not this early.

 

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