Chop Wood, Carry Water

What do you do before enlightenment?

Chop wood, carry water.

What do you do after enlightenment?

Chop wood, carry water.

How do you impress my mother?

Stack wood

into shed.

Faithful readers may remember last winter's adventures with the wood stove. And the woodshed. I was debating whether to stay another winter. I really was. I'll just pop across the river & stay with Mum for the bleakest days...because toward the end of last season, after I thought I'd mastered the wood stove, it started not working. I couldn't get it to light, not even with Fisherman Willie's firestarters, and I just ended up with a giant smoke fest. Pioneer Sister M came to visit and built a fire for me with her 3 paltry sheets of newspaper & a smug There! That'll make a nice fire. She left, and her fire--well, it went up in smoke & that was all I got. I have a neighbor, Dave, who keeps the road navigable, the river lots clean & clear, and comes to my rescue when things break down.

Pioneer Sister's twigs and logs were still there when Neighbor Dave came to inspect the wood stove and give me a lesson on how to work it. It's v. complicated. It has a catalytic converter which I'd clogged up. The stove pipe was a chimney fire waiting to happen, so it's good I couldn't get it to light. Neighbor Dave cleaned out the stove pipe, taught me how to use the catalytic converter, explained that stupid damper to me and then brought his wood splitter over and split the heavier logs into more manageable pieces for me.

Now I'm nice and toasty. The wood stove heated up to 1200 degrees! I'm here for the winter. Not so bleak. THANKS, Dave!