The importance of being warm

       First the situation. It is above freezing midday, and the snow is melting in the sunlight, but it will get below freezing tonight.

            My mission is to be warm, albeit with lots of clothes and long johns also worn, and to make sure my pipes under the two 1905 cottages do not freeze. I think I am OK in both regards.

            Also I had to actually burn real hard wood, like chestnut oak, which has a lot of "heat" or "energy" in it. Today, it was really big logs for my medium size wood stove, so I had to split it. On one log I split it in half; on the other log I split it into quarters. All sizes were heavy to me at age 65, but the expectation that heat would come of my efforts pleased me.

By the way, splitting was easier on the long axis than the horizontal axis. Said another way, putting the logs up "vertically" made them much easier to split. And this was "seasoned" wood, like dried out over time, like a half year or more. And I was doing it the old fashioned way, like using an axe, just to prove I could do it.

            So bottom line, I like being warm during the cold season, and I am willing to work for it, too. And I do like the rewards, too.