Another beautiful September day... Out front the sunlight glistened on the tides of the Bay of Fundyr...
Out back the woodpile waited... it's been waiting for months now.. no ignoring it any longer especially with the threat of big rains coming...
The woodshed door has been propped... all ready for another days work...
The dogs are making good headway on their side of the shed... the wheelbarrow is almost empty...
John's been working hard to keep up with them ... You heard the expression Working like a Dog..... it's one of those dog days...
Just one more load... one more load... one more load...
... Just one more....
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30 comments:
That's a lot of wood to tackle. Good luck getting it all put up before the snow flys
I absolutely love how organized you two are, and the dogs of course who keep you on your toes!
All cut the same length and stacked off the ground. When do you get the time for your artwork?
Your changing views are always a treat and bluebirds at supper, I can only wish for. Christian airbrushed mine for me and apologized for not doing a Latvian bird.I had no complaints though as I have only seen bluebirs in books.
Happy autumn to you but please take
care of yourself with all those pre-winter chores.
Beautiful picture from your front porch. I am exhausted just looking at that woodpile. Nothing like a long hot bath after carrying all of that. I bet you and the dogs slept well.
Oh, you have a double stacked woodpile! I bought in a big load but out little outhouse is struggling to cope with it, and my stack is not as neat as yours. There is nothing like having enough wood, is there?
What a great feeling...preparing for winter. I get into a sweat and a snit just thinking of S.African summers. Not looking forward to it at all!
Nice pictures. I love September days, when autumn is sunny but starts being chilly.
Thanks Chris.. The woodshed is almost full now... it has about 6 cords in there ... Yea!!!
Hopefully the snow won't come till December.. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!! we mostly have mild winters but last year was a doozy!!
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Melanie, the dogs love this job.. every piece of wood that is lifted from the pile they all pounce closer to see if there is a new smell or some kind of critter to chase... Lots of empty old mouse nests that just drive them crazy... fun to watch their intense activity...
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Gretal, Oh yes the beautiful Luna moth is real.. when we found her she was in her last dying moments.. such a shame that such a beautiful creature only lives a week in that transformation...
We love "Nightmares in the Sky".. we found it years ago and love the stone gargoyles.. our nearby city of Saint John, NB is one of the oldest cities in Canada and has many stone carvings and gargoyles at the corners and tops of buildings.. Sure wish we built architecture like that now...
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Robyn, You are so right...it does give a feeling of "I think we'll be ok for a while" ... I wonder if the intensity of the heat in a S. African summer is similar to that experienced by my daughter when she lived in a south central isolated mining area of Australia..straight up from Adelaide I believe... she said the temp. went up to 45C.
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Oh I totally agree with you Guillaume, The days have a freshness to them that is so invigorating.
I think it is the contrast that makes us appreciate the other...
Oh Arija, we have only become wiser about the length of our firewood from trying to put pieces into a blazing fire box, thinking they would fit but finding after we have them squeezed in there that they are 1/2" to 2 " too long.. and that is not a good thing... Much smoke and embers and mess getting that burning hunk of heat back out of the stove and out the door!!! Good thing we learn from our mistakes... now we cut them at least 2" shorter than the stove will hold...
You are so observant to notice the wood stacked off the ground.. another thing learned along the way...
yes I have noticed the "Eastern Bluebird" population growing as the years go by... which is a delight to see... only 45 min. inland they do not stay.. My mother who lives there in Sussex craves to see Bluebirds..
They are really rooftop and treetop perchers.. only flying off for a bug and right back again to their lookout... a fellow known as the Bluebird man has been putting up nesting boxes for them, encouraging them to make this area their home... and it is working!!!
Your grandson is a wonderful painter... Hope he continues in this line of art!! I would love to see more! Take care.
Very neatly stacked. I don't remember, do you heat the house completely with wood?
Hi Ruth!! yes we use 2 Jotul cast iron woodstoves, high efficiency and low polluting... They have secondary burn chambers that capture the gases and burn them too to retain more heat from the wood...instead of it going up the chimney...
It is amazing to be able to heat the whole place with them.. and rather toasty too.. we wired in electric baseboard heaters for secondary back up but never use them..
We do heat almost exclusively with wood but we tried to pay close attention to site orientation when we designed the house and positioned it to have much south facing glass... so we really absorb a ton of passive solar... the concrete floor acts as a heatsink and radiates it back.. many times during the winter we don't start the stove till late in the afternoon as the sun does its job for free... even with the snow piled outside!!
..we are beginning to get the rain and some wind from Hurricane Kyle.. hope your son is buckled down on the ship... tomorrow is expected to be worse... here is a site that a friend (thanks Shelley!!) just passed along to me that she monitors storms by...
http://www.stormpulse.com/
The anticipation of winter brings with it such a cozy feeling. I know you must cherish your life in your beautiful space with wonderful views. Thanks for sharing and allowing me to dream...
Ahh nothing like the secure feeling of the wood put up for the coming winter...this ol barn we live in eats 10 cords, we're thankful its all under cover. Especially since we just found out that our drowned oil furnace is a write off from the last hurricane flood a couple weeks ago. And the insurance didnt cover it. How smart you two were to build high and dry on a slab! Battening down the hatches today for the next wind & rain tomorrow! Tie everything down Gwen !
Shicat, Ahhh, the slowing down season.. when we feel prepared we can accept that winter comes and stays a while... no sense me hoping for summer all year long.. don't think it's gonna happen up in this latitude... thank you for sharing your positive comments!
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Kathi, Good for you guys for having all your wood put away... What a shame that the flood ruined your furnace.. I was hoping for a better report on that one.. your place is always cozy with your 2 stoves...
I have to bring in a couple of plastic lawnchairs... hope the wind isn't as bad as they keep saying it will be.. I'll always worried about high winds!!
Hi Gwen, we have arrived to 'batten down the hatches' and bring things in from the deck. Sad to see the summer end and the Hurricane season - 5 years since Huan. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of last Christmas Eve! Take care my friend.
Woodpiles, gothic windows, raspberries, fabulous jewellery. what a delicious blog from a clearly talented and energetic person!
Thanks for visiting mine, I'll certainly be back here!
Hi Shelley, let's hope Hurricane Kyle passes over us with little damage but we are directly in his path... Take care...
Hi Lucy, thank you so much..So kind of you...
Your writings are wonderful!!!
Just seeing that woodpile makes me feel cozy. But then, I didn't have to do any of the haulin'!
Hope Kyle isn't too harsh on you.
Thanks Sanna, We are getting rather nervous... it's the calm before... right now... John is putting our lawn chairs under cover as I write this...
and then lashing ourselves to something big and heavy.. just kidding...
the weather folks are putting out lots of warnings though...
Please don't you (or anyone you love) blow away. Promise~
With that tide...
It will be a great night to imagine the ghosts of a life in an old lighhouse. :)
ps don't forget duct tape. :) if it gets weally wheely windy.
Oh don't worry, well all hang onto each other...
... it will be super high tide when the storm hits so there will be road wash outs for sure...
You know that's a really good idea to have some duct tape nearby... I'll put it with the flashlight, matches and candles and our wind-up radio...
I'll be sure to keep the lighthouse keepers from a few years back in mind tonight, when the rain is splashing and the winds are lashing and the surf is pounding..
Mansuetude, Thanks for thinking of us!!!
Every time that I see photos of your home, I want to jump in the car and come visit!!LOL Don't worry...I won't show up at your door unexpectedly! Lovely photographs and a lovely home. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment.
Thanks Heather... It would be wonderful to meet you in the flesh... Do you like tea and homemade biscuits??
Lovely to see your face on your profile pic on your home page...
Thinking of you today as the storms pass.
I love reading about your plans in building when considering heating with wood. We would love to eventually live somewhere completely off-grid, and many of those thoughts are very interesting to us.
I love a wood pile. I don't know what it is, but it is so satisfying to work and chop and stack and have a mountain of lovely wood waiting.
gwen, as a self proclaimed firewood expert i feel qualified to say that this is a *fabulous* woodshed! the open slats on the sides, and the wood up off the floor -- perfect! and six cords!! wow, that's a lot! we have three and half stacked up, ready to go. such a warm, reassuring feeling...
Denise, the storm passed us unscathed.. what a relief!!!
We never received as much sun in our last location, so we revel in it here.. and well insulated ceilings, walls and windows sure make a big difference... and I sure do love heating with wood!!!
I think you could live off grid no problem.. you are so versatile in all the activities you do.. Your boys are getting such a good education...
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Thanks Lynne, I like that you are firewood pro!!! It makes such a difference to know we will be warm during the long winter... and we can adjust how warm we want to be by the nearness we are to the stove.. pretty simple thermostat!! I wouldn't mind only needing 3 1/2 cord though... Lucky you!!
I would love to trade places with you! I live in Toronto but I've always wanted to live in either P.E.I OR New Brunwick. It looks like you are living my dream =)
I discovered your blog quite by accident but I'm so glad I did.
Love,
Prissy
Hi Prissy, I'm sure you would fall in love with it just as I did but you'll have to be careful of Culture shock!
Wow, are people in the Maritimes really different from people in Toronto or do you mean the way of life? Well, as long as New Brunswick is picturesque and idyllic, I really do think I can overcome anything haha. Thanks for paying a visit to my blog. I really haven't updated it for quite a long time.
Oh I just mean, the pace is much slower, the population much lower and many things are not always available locally... .. I can't really say if people are different though...
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