Fire Under Our Bellies

See this fire trap? We relied on this heap of rust to keep us warm in January through March. The wood stove is the main heat source for our new home, though we do have some propane heaters. But our pitiful stove was declared a fire hazard when we had it inspected in February. Sheets of metal are coming off the top, and at the base of the stove pipe? Oh yes, holes. And the double- or triple-wall stovepipe that's standard on installations? This one was installed using air-conditioning duct. That's kind of like building a papier-mache levee to hold back the Gulf of Mexico. Hello, Corps of Engineers?
But .. the old girl got us through the winter (with a lot of worrying by Nan).

But today we made the big investment in a new stove. It will be a bit smaller but probably twice as efficient. Mason gets the honor of installing it, which should be real fun on our super-steep metal roof. We'll let you know how that goes when it happens. We figure we've got until at least September or October to put it in. It'll be a big project, including replacing the exceptionally combustible wood mantle and the metal wall behind the stove pipe, which will soon become a beautiful wall of (cheap Home Depot) tile.

And yes, we're still working on that new front door. ... This week, it's gonna happen. We promise. Maybe. We'll see.