The winds of a coming winter, woodn't you know it.

    It's mid September and already you can feel winter in the air, it lurks like a proverbial horror movie villain just outside the windows.  It's presence is felt in the dropping temperatures and the winds that blow across my neighbors open fields.  

    I had escaped it's grip twice before in my life, moving to North Carolina when I was a younger man fresh from college, and when I moved to Florida shortly after the 2008 housing crash because I could not get arrested in the Pittsburgh job market.

    Now I had returned, perhaps for the last time due to aging family and the wishes of my long time girlfriend I easily called "wife."  The first winter would be hard on me I knew.  I loved the warmth, the sun, the longer days of spring and summer.  I was not someone that enjoyed the concepts of being cooped up for three months hunkered down and waiting for the golden rays to return.

    However I could survive it.  

    It's all in how you prepare for it.

    For me, it's a matter of replacing our wood stove, first and foremost.  When we bought this house, somehow we didn't realize that there was no furnace in the home.   Only electric baseboard heating, which could be dangerous and inefficient, and a big old wood burning stove inserted to the fireplace.  At first I was looking at the wood burner as a joy.  

 "I wanted county living right?   You can't get more country than heating your home from wood!"

     However what I quickly found out is that the stove that was heating out home was thirty years old, had a broken blower and was out of code.   The professional chimney sweep could get us a blower and bring the unit up to code but that run us about three thousand dollars.   Which frankly I thought was bullshit but try finding a professional chimney sweep in Western PA with winter closing in.   They were...are...a dying breed.  So we decided to replace the whole unit which would run us close to 5K, this didn't make me happy but you have to look at the alternative.

    Our home could be heated by electric baseboard heating, and although this would work, would be very expensive.   At least the wood was renewable and was relatively cheap. A cord of wood only costing about $150 bucks.

    Now this is where shit gets boring.  In fact, you may fall asleep here and saw some logs of your own.

    I learned more about wood in the last three weeks than any man should know in a lifetime.   I also learned that I really enjoyed the mindless activity of stacking wood. 

    First thing I learned is that you buy wood by the "Cord."   That's basically a 4 foot high by 4 foot deep by 8 foot long pile.  You really don't know how much wood that is because the wood is often cut into different sizes and shapes depending on how the wood splits.   The wood is normally cut into triangular pieces for a couple of reasons.   1)  It's easier to stack and gives some stability to the wood pile.   2)  It allows air to circulate throughout the pile keeping the wood dry.

    The wood itself pretty much puts out the same amount of heat no matter what type of tree it comes from.   HOWEVER a denser tree is going to last longer in the fire.  A dense wood like Mahogany is simply going to last longer then a lighter wood like pine.  That staying power generates more heat over time.

    How efficient a stove is, frankly, is bullshit.    Modern wood burning stoves are designed to burn hotter and they recirculate the air in the stove itself, combusting any fine particles and volatile gases before blowing the heated air into the room.  This means that very little soot or gas is released into the atmosphere.   That's the "efficiency" of the stove.

    The actually amount of heat depends more on the density of the wood and how dry it is.   To properly "season" wood, it's suggested that it dry out for at least six months or longer.  Thus the longer the period of time a wood pile sits, the longer and better it burns.  Old times refer to this as having "money in the bank."

    Even though Winter was still technically three months away, this city mouse wanted to have at least two more cords of wood piled up and do what he could to insulate the home as much as possible.   "Winter," to quote the Stark's, "is coming."

    It's best to be prepared.