We’re getting our first taste of winter here at the Secret Lair. The sky’s been all socked in, lots of snow flurries. The mud hasn’t frozen hard yet but there’s ice in the puddles. It’s only November so we’re not getting the single-digit nighttime temps that are coming, but I think it’s safe to say the work we did on the cabin this summer will not be wasted. The Lair is proving itself easier to warm up in the morning and more prone to hold heat than before. No surprise there, but it’s a pleasant confirmation. This morning at very first light I can see something besides clouds, and the forecast says it’s supposed to be sunny though no warmer for the next few days.
Wet weather makes me feel for Scott the Road Guy. He’s a contractor armed with an ancient road grader, a loader and a dump truck, and he has the twin Sisyphean missions of keeping the grader working and keeping the dirt roads around here passable. But the road that runs through our little valley here seems as if by design to follow a vein of caliche that turns to snot at the drop of any water, and where that’s not true there are ash deposits that are even gooier when wet. Fortunately the wash is composed mostly of deep sand, so I can always get to the Lair on my rounds when everybody else is sliding sideways into ditches, junipers, and big rocks. Pretty ironic when there’s better driving off road than on, but that’s life in the boonies.
And of course every improvement points out the need for another improvement. Burning a bunch of hardwood pallet slats in the woodstove, the stove comes up to higher heat faster than in previous years. Too much of this will drive me right out of the 200 sq. ft. Lair, plus the vicinity of the stove can become an uncomfortable place to put flammable materials – like Ghost’s bed…
So I cut a scrap piece of cement board to line the stove side of Ghost’s bed. With the wood stove cranked to 11, which is its best point of sailing, that seems to work well and I don’t detect that annoying scent of smoldering upholstery.
Do you have enough of that cement board left over to build yourself a fireproof kindling box? ‘Cause that flammable wooden box you are using looks like it’s disturbingly close to your stove.
I have had the same concern, Ben, but experience so far is that it doesn’t get quite that hot.
“annoying scent of smoldering upholstery”
Not as bad as smouldering dog… Or cat. We’ve had one of each. To be fair, the cat brought in on herself. Both are fine.
Good on you for being able to overheat the Lair.
It’s been my experience that off-road driving is almost always better than on, as long as you don’t go crazy and bust your vehicle up. Mainly because there’s less people…
Good thing about dry weather, or cold weather, is that the road ruts become cast in concrete, heh.
I always have the same problem with wood stoves. They either are off and do nothing, or they are on and drive a person out of the house. I keep dreaming I have one of those massive Russian stoves that you fire hot for a short period and keep you warm all day. Maybe stacking bricks on a regular stove would help.
One thing I have done in the past is to take a decent sized round river rock and set it on the stove. When you go to bed, take it with you to put in your bed down by your feet. Of course you don’t want it getting too hot for that purpose…