[Blog] A few things I miss about winter. By Sean ‘Kerouac’ [/blog]

[Sean Malone]

Meth mentioned how he enjoys winter running in another thread which made me think if there were things I missed about winters now that I’m in the land of sunshine and oranges.

The first thing right off the bat is that I really miss splitting wood. I put a fireplace insert in a few years back and from Oct through Feb I was a lumberjack.
I found that splitting wood was one of the best ‘free your mind’ activities that I’ve ever found. It’s right there with riding my motorcycle through a twisty road on a crisp spring day or fishing from a canoe on a lazily flowing river in the middle of summer.
Even if it was 10 below, 20knot winds and falling snow… the familiar feel of the axe in my hands, the setup, the swing…, knowing exactly where the blade would strike and the feel of hitting the sweet spot that splits through effortlessly and the wonderful smell of freshly split seasoned red oak, it never seemed like a chore.
After the splitting you need to stack, which I won’t go as far as to say that properly stacked wood is an art form, but it’s not far from it. I made ‘log cabin’ book ends which I always found fun in a ‘Lincoln logs’ sort of way. There was a strange satisfaction about nicely stacked tall rows of split wood.
Then, of course, the fire. Fire and man. Going back thousands of years to the first time ancient man discovered its uses. The great separator from the lesser creatures. From the properly placed kindling, to the nurturing stoking throughout the evening the ‘fire’ made me feel ‘human’.

Plus it was something I liked to do that my wife looked at as ‘work’, something I can’t seem to get away with for motorcycle drives or fishing. :)
Pulling ‘stink weed’ here in FL just doesn’t provide the same satisfaction. :)

[Indy]

Since it is about 87 degrees below zero right now, I can only assume you are trying to provoke us. :p

[Sean Malone]

Since it is about 87 degrees below zero right now, I can only assume you are trying to provoke us. :p

Moi? Never!:D

Just trying to give a little zen to the mundane.

[extramundane]

Moi? Never!:D

Just trying to give a little zen to the mundane.

Leave me out of this, please. :flame:


:D

[dando]

Wanna trade places for a week? :gomer:

2 mos. to spring, 2 mos. to spring..... :(

New fallen snow is about the best thing about winter post-holidays :thumbup: (as long as I'm driving in it with the local idiots). :irked:

-Kevin

[cameraman]

Meh. I just came in from shoveling the foot+ of snow from my driveway and those of several elderly neighbors. Shoveling mind you, none of that snowblower stuff. My elbows are aching and the "romance" of winter is lost on me at the moment...

[Gnam]

Meh. I just came in from shoveling the foot+ of snow from my driveway and those of several elderly neighbors. Shoveling mind you, none of that snowblower stuff. My elbows are aching and the "romance" of winter is lost on me at the moment...
Work smarter, not harder. http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/565/flamethrowerak9.gif :D

[Methanolandbrats]

Meh. I just came in from shoveling the foot+ of snow from my driveway and those of several elderly neighbors. Shoveling mind you, none of that snowblower stuff. My elbows are aching and the "romance" of winter is lost on me at the moment... Get a snowblower, it is somewhat similar to the chainsaw in the amount of time and ass-breaking labor it saves. This is especially true when wet snow that weighs about 100 lb per shovel full falls.

[Andrew Longman]

Except for a few days a Winter, it sucks in Jersey. Endless days of grey skys and too many 28 degree/freezing rainstorms. When it does snow it is usually wet slop that turns to mud in a day.

When I lived in the UP I enjoyed winters. It might snow everyday, but it would be bright and sunny most days too. And it was cold enough to keep everything frozen and dry. You could go out a do stuff without getting soaked.

Sean, I know what you mean about wood. I would add the satisfaction of tending to a fire all day and the warmth it brings when it is freakin wicked cold outside.

As for the Zen thing, one thing I loved to do in the UP on the coldest nights is bundle up an go for a walk. There is a strange satisfaction that comes from being properly dressed (often including goggles and snowshoes) to be perfectly comfortable a 2 am and -37 degrees (plus windchill) knowing that if you took off an article of clothing you could quickly injure or even kill yourself. It's not like walking on the moon, but its as close as I have come.

[Methanolandbrats]

Except for a few days a Winter, it sucks in Jersey. Endless days of grey skys and too many 28 degree/freezing rainstorms. When it does snow it is usually wet slop that turns to mud in a day.

When I lived in the UP I enjoyed winters. It might snow everyday, but it would be bright and sunny most days too. And it was cold enough to keep everything frozen and dry. You could go out a do stuff without getting soaked.

Sean, I know what you mean about wood. I would add the satisfaction of tending to a fire all day and the warmth it brings when it is freakin wicked cold outside.

As for the Zen thing, one thing I loved to do in the UP on the coldest nights is bundle up an go for a walk. There is a strange satisfaction that comes from being properly dressed (often including goggles and snowshoes) to be perfectly comfortable a 2 am and -37 degrees (plus windchill) knowing that if you took off an article of clothing you could quickly injure or even kill yourself. It's not like walking on the moon, but its as close as I have come.:thumbup: I've gone winter backpacking in the Porcupine Mountains. -25 F and miles from anything along the shore of Lake Superior No sounds but the wind and your breathing. Screw up and you're dead. I'll bet you've been there.

[Andrew Longman]

:thumbup: I've gone winter backpacking in the Porcupine Mountains. -25 F and miles from anything along the shore of Lake Superior No sounds but the wind and your breathing. Screw up and you're dead. I'll bet you've been there.

Done the Porkies plenty of times (awesome), though much much more in the Marquette range (not as awesome but that's where I lived). I was out about two weekend a month all winter.

I had a rule that I wouldn't do wintercamping if it was WARMER than 20 because it was too easy to get wet.

First time I was out in winter I did almost kill myself. My buddies and I got lost, became determined to reach our destination, and got too tired, cold and stupid. Only once we were warm in our bags did it dawn on us that we had become early hypothermic, despite endless research and planning in how to wintercamp and live.

Then in the morning I discovered I had left my boots outside and they were frozen solid. Only way to warm them up was to wedge my foot in them and start walking.

Whenever I came back from these trips I was always amazed at how it cleaned my brain and exhausted my body. It is a huge job for the body to keep you warm in such conditions.

[nrc]

We lived in Florida for five years back in the olden days. We really missed the change of seasons. Fall and Spring mostly, but snowy weather as well.

This was the first year we've actually gotten a load of firewood to burn through the winter. Just stacking the pre-split would is plenty of outdoor time for me so I'll pass on splitting it myself for now. :)

I know what you mean, though. I spent quite a bit of time on leaf patrol this fall and it's nice to get out in the bracing weather instead of holing up in the basement leaving messages on forums like some kind of.... D'oh!

What kind of insert did you have? Right now we have a good old fashioned '60s fireplace pumping heat up the chimney and an gas stove in the TV room the burns up gas like an open line. The TV room gets really chilly since it's an add-on. I'd love to replace the gas burner with a wood stove, but I don't know if there's a practical place for the chimney given the proximity of trees. The other option would be an insert for the fireplace and something to improve circulation to the TV room.

[STD]

For the ones in for some serious wood conversion.

http://www.logsplitter.com/

Not talking about snowblowing a few inches of powder. LOL here every time the neighbors roll their's out for the dusting.

[Sean Malone]

We lived in Florida for five years back in the olden days. We really missed the change of seasons. Fall and Spring mostly, but snowy weather as well.

This was the first year we've actually gotten a load of firewood to burn through the winter. Just stacking the pre-split would is plenty of outdoor time for me so I'll pass on splitting it myself for now. :)

I know what you mean, though. I spent quite a bit of time on leaf patrol this fall and it's nice to get out in the bracing weather instead of holing up in the basement leaving messages on forums like some kind of.... D'oh!

What kind of insert did you have? Right now we have a good old fashioned '60s fireplace pumping heat up the chimney and an gas stove in the TV room the burns up gas like an open line. The TV room gets really chilly since it's an add-on. I'd love to replace the gas burner with a wood stove, but I don't know if there's a practical place for the chimney given the proximity of trees. The other option would be an insert for the fireplace and something to improve circulation to the TV room.

This is the exact model; the Hearth Stone - Clydesdale. Link (http://www.hearthstonestoves.com/wood_stoves/clydesdale/)

The dealer claimed HearthStone is a high quality manufacturer (he carried about five different manufactures so he wasn't too jaded). There were fancier designed inserts that actually cost a lot more, but we wanted simple design and good quality and he pointed us to the HearthStone. Hand made in Vermont, no assembly line (per their webpage).
We popped for the optional surround caps and blower.
My wife wanted one that you could really see the fire and this one has one of the largest glass doors on the market. The glass is made so that the heat cleans the glass the hotter you get it (instead of turning black like most others).

We were very pleased with it. It wouldn't quite get all the way back to the back rooms (it was a rambler) but the rest of the house was toasty warm (and my wife likes it HOT!). It also comes in two sizes and we got the smaller one...should have gotten the bigger one and it might have gotten the back rooms and stayed hot longer throughout the night.
Ours would stay hot enough that the blower would keep running all night even though there were only ashy coals. The blower has a thermostat.
HearthStone also use soapstone where others use limestone. Supposedly soapstone retains heat longer. Supposed to be one of those "upgrade" things.
Only down side is that iron on iron and fluctuating temps create rattles in the blower housing. I wish they had used heat resistant rubber gaskets or something. I was frequently shimming the darn thing to get rid of a rattle that the blower would cause. I would fix one rattle...the temp would rise and another rattle would appear.

My sis-in-law has a pellet insert and I don't like the atmosphere it gives (not much zen in a bucket of pellets :). I believe they are cleaner burning however (than a wood burning) but modern inserts are designed to be more efficient than those of years past. They go over all that when you buy it.

But, yes, if you get an insert with a blower it will definitely heat multiple rooms. The dealer explained that inserts are radiant so the heat just keeps spreading throughout.

I know what you mean about the fireplace pumping heat up the chimney. Open fireplaces actually cool the other rooms by sucking the heat out of them. That was one reason we started looking at options.

[nrc]

I was looking at that exact model specifically because of the large glass area. I hate the ones that look like a stove sticking out of the hearth. Glad to hear it worked for you. Did they run an insert all the way up your chimney or just out of the firebox?

Hopefully we can take this on next fall. Unfortunately there's a gas starter in the current fireplace that will have to be removed and capped to allow for an insert.

[Sean Malone]

I was looking at that exact model specifically because of the large glass area. I hate the ones that look like a stove sticking out of the hearth. Glad to hear it worked for you. Did they run an insert all the way up your chimney or just out of the firebox?

Hopefully we can take this on next fall. Unfortunately there's a gas starter in the current fireplace that will have to be removed and capped to allow for an insert.

They ran it just out of the firebox. There is some criteria for that that I can't recall. in some situations you have to have a full run.
The place I bought it from threw in a free install. The guys had it completely done in under 20 minutes. I could have done it myself but it probably would have taken me 31 or 32 minutes.

[eiregosod]

I'm happy with my open hearth fireplace.

[ChampcarShark]

here in the southwest, we do not have that much snow, if any an inch or two, then is gone the next day.

So winter is just a cold breeze from the north. then again we have to come to work most the year.