I love the cool, crisp mornings of Fall.
It reminds me of my teenage years and deer hunting along the Mogollon Rim near Payson, AZ. – or in the Kaibab forest around Flagstaff, AZ. I can still recall breaking the ice off of the wash basin so I could wash my face in ice-cold water to wake me up (before the sun came up).
More recent memories are those of a nice cup of coffee in the hand, sitting on the porch swing and watching the sun come up. Or snuggling under covers with my darling wife to keep her warm… until it’s time to pop up and start a fire in the wood stove for her! You see, we use wood heat in our home here in Verona, and starting a fire in the wood burning stove in the early evening and sitting around sipping tea, hot cocoa or coffee while we watch the flames dance in the stove and slowly get groggy from the warmth of the fire is something that has to be experienced.
Forget about the “mood DVD’s” that show video clips of a fireplace burning – they just can’t compare. There is a certain ambiance that comes with the real thing. The smell of wood burning, the flames, the warmth, the company – all are relaxing and rejuvenating – at the same time!
But the cool, crisp Fall evenings remind me that there are garden beds to start shutting down, more wood to split for the 2 wood burning stoves and less light after I get home to get all of that work done.
You may not have caught it, but, I said stoves, as in plural… Which reminds me that I have to close in the porch so my lovely wife can use her new wood burning cook stove that sits on that very porch. I intend to start tearing apart, framing and closing in the West wall of the porch this weekend.
My hopes are to get the entire thing framed, windows installed and siding up on the outside, along with the insulation and a good start on the inside wall coverings before the end of October. I won’t have much time to work on it in November, considering we have a craft show every weekend. But, if I can get the outside walls sided and painted, and get the insulation done, we can have it pretty warm out there come winter, with a wood burning stove fired up!
Of course, I will need 5 – 6 cords of wood instead of the 3 – 4 cords I usually need. But there is still the greater part of a huge walnut tree to cut up and split, not to mention 2 dead locust trees that need to be cut down, cut up and split.
I still need to get the cow bred. I couldn’t take her down this weekend because the uy with the bull had some health issues. We’ll try again in about three weeks.
I still have to finish the barn stalls and gates, which also need to be done before winter. I think I’ll have that wrapped up this weekend, though.
