I actually put in a full day’s work yesterday, and never raised a sweat. I was just finishing up the morning’s edition of my keyboard gig when Geiger Counter Guy called begging (literally begging) for help with arsenic caps, which he’d put off until after the last minute and now people were yelling at him. I know that feeling well, plus caps are quick though boring money. So I spent a few hours over there slicing and drilling and tapping things with hammers. Got back to the Lair to find even more keyboard gig had landed in my in-box. So I worked on that into the evening, and since that was the last installment my customer and I traded emails and settled up.
My new wood stove is in the bank! Or it will be when I get the money, which will take a couple of weeks minimum. Still need about $100 for pipe, taxes and unexpected extras, but I can raise a hundred bucks when I need to.
I know I’m obsessing and probably boring the hell out of you with the wood stove thing, but let me tell you something I discovered yesterday morning which may help convey the full horror of suck and fail that is my current wood stove. Yesterday I rolled out of the sack with the thermometer telling me it was 38 degrees inside. It was shivery as hell, and I was in a bad mood, and so I did something I’m normally far too cheap to do: I opened the oven door and gave the gas valve a massive crank. And do you know, the oven heated up the cabin far faster and better than that wood stove ever has? If Zoe had tried to warm her toesies in there she’d have roasted like a squab.
Yes indeedy, 38 degrees inside is just a bit much! I was pleased to find it up to 52 in here this morning, especially since I failed to leave any heat on in the main room – which was really dumb because it had been 46 degrees on Monday morning when I got up – having left the heat on low all night. It was something like 6 degrees outside Monday AM, but a balmy 27 today.
You really do need that stove, my friend – and maybe some better insulation one of these days! I don’t often wish for central heating like I had in California… but there are days. 🙂
Joel,
Out of curiosity, have you ever looked into or considered building yourself a rocket stove mass heater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mass_heater)? If you have seen or considered it before, what did you think?
tpmoney,
Yeah, we had a rocket mass heater discussion here a month or so ago. I hadn’t ever paid much attention, but looked into it carefully after that.
I think there’s real merit there, but decided it’s not for me. They take up too much room (I’ve got 200 square feet, much absorbed by bathroom and kitchen) and I’m not comfortable with a fire that hot that close to my very combustible floor. But M has decided he wants one for his dome – which made entirely of concrete and steel, and when he gets to that stage we’ll cover the construction.
*snickers* And just when I was gonna poke you about the rocket-mass-stoves, tpmoney goes and does it for me – thanks dude!
But yeah, combustible floors + fire = “tad” dodgy.
When I *eventually* get my ass together, get myself some land and build my own place with pallets etc, floors have gotta be solid concrete, possibly bamboo layer for aesthetics; the mass-stove will be the centre of the house. *sighs* Dreams and all that.
Looking forward to this article. I’ve got somewhere ~900sqft and have been thinking a wood stove is a way to go.