A New Wood Furnace

We finally decided to install a wood furnace this year.  We have enough wood available to us that it just didn't make sense to keep paying for oil if we didn't have to.  So about two weeks ago Whit prepared an area and we poured a concrete pad for it.

The next project was to dig the trench and install the plumbing and wiring for it.

It was a dirty job, as you can see.  The trench was about 5 feet deep.  Those first few steps out the door to hang my laundry were a real toughie.  I had to jump over the trench near the house, where  it was narrowest, and walk around behind the dirt pile to get to my clothesline.  Well, yes, I did have to do the laundry this particular day for the same reason he was digging trenches across my backyard.  It was the only sunny one in the near future.  And yes, I did get in the trench (and in the basement, and I even stood on my head to reach piping from inside the wood furnace as Whit stuffed it up from the trench.)  I was more helpful than just taking pictures.

The day before this, TBear, Sunny, and I went apple-picking in the rain with my sister; well, it wasn't raining when we went, but it had been raining all day.  Anyway, I made an apple pie after I helped play work in the dirt, but nobody ate it after I left that evening because they didn't pay attention when I told them it was for them.  Just sayin'.  The local apple festival was last weekend, in between the wood furnace jobs.  I'll share some pictures about that next time.

A Snapshot of Summer

I certainly haven't done a very good job of keeping up with this blog again.  Part of the problem has been finding a big enough chunk of time to sit and write in the middle of hay season.

After our Fresh Air friend went home in July, we had a few weeks to finish up some chores, like turning over the manure pile, and finish getting in our first cutting of hay.  Whit let TBear do the pile-turning.  It was a good opportunity to figure out the controls on the loader-backhoe without worrying about hitting anything.

Nutmeg came home in July to farm sit for us so Whit, TBear, and I could take off on a fiddle tour of Prince Edward Island with the Pineland Fiddlers.  We would spend the next week or so camping and listening to not just our kids but also some phenomenal fiddlers as they played in the Atlantic Fiddlers' Jamboree.  It was a great week!

Waiting to perform

We arrived home again at the beginning of August in time to start on a second cutting of hay in the fields we'd first cut in June.  Happily, all the grandparents were able to come visit in August.

School started on August 16th for us and, somewhere in there, we squeezed in TBear's recital.  The hay is in the barn now.  The wood shed is full.  The weather is starting to turn cooler too, which I'm really thankful for after the four or five weeks of sweltering 90 degree heat that we had.  It's time to turn our focus to school!