BS: First winter fire-what do you do

23 Nov 06 - 01:47 PM (#1891897)
Subject: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: GUEST

We have been very lucky here in Atlantic Canada in that we have had very mild weather (for us) until a day or so ago. However, last night I lit my first fire in the fire place. I got out a nice bottle of wine, a book of Yeats poetry and , I am ashamed to sat, sat and read til the wine was gone. There is not much to love about winter in this country, but the first fire of the year is a pure delight and a reminder why we do like the four seasons.

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23 Nov 06 - 01:56 PM (#1891901)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Emma B

Now's the time for fire and wine
Fire for body and wine for mind.........

Perhaps a poet who also shared your seasons would be a good choice too
"An Olive Fire"

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23 Nov 06 - 01:58 PM (#1891902)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Clinton Hammond

They are not long, these days of wine and....

Oh crap, the carpet's on fire!!!!

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23 Nov 06 - 02:11 PM (#1891915)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: GUEST

Oh, and I forgot to metion that I listened to Loreena McKennitts' wonderful CD, to Drive The Cold Winter away.

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23 Nov 06 - 02:11 PM (#1891916)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Emma B

LOL CH - that ended my reverie :)

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23 Nov 06 - 02:14 PM (#1891922)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Clinton Hammond

Get a copy of Loreena McKennitts'newest CD!

"An Ancient Muse"

It's VERY good!!!

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23 Nov 06 - 02:20 PM (#1891931)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: GUEST

wow, i didn't know it was out yet. any outstanding tracks.

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23 Nov 06 - 02:53 PM (#1891954)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Alice

heavy snow falling outside and me without any firewood

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23 Nov 06 - 02:53 PM (#1891955)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Clinton Hammond

Enjoying the thing as a whole.... It's pretty mellow so far, even for her. Very Mid-east influence.... Very cool!

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23 Nov 06 - 04:15 PM (#1892004)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Bee

We depend on the woodstove for primary heat, so it's been going all week. It's a great little stove, burns well, has a glass door, easy to get lit (except on those occasional still damp days when the air seems too heavy to draft up the chimney) and keeps four rooms good and warm and the upstairs reasonable.

But, da-yum, wood is messy!

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23 Nov 06 - 06:19 PM (#1892089)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: The Fooles Troupe

If you think wood is messy, try using coal!

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23 Nov 06 - 06:41 PM (#1892105)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Grab

If it's anything like my folks, you get some paper and wood and coal, and you ceremonially light the first fire of the season. You make sure the paper's lit in a half-dozen places, so that it catches properly. Then you sit back and wait for the lovely warm glow.

Then you dash back over to the fireplace and stuff your hands up the chimney whilst going "ouchouchouch" with the sparks, eyes blinking and watering in the smoke, to remove all the newspaper that you stuffed up the chimney in Spring to stop the draughts...

Graham.

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23 Nov 06 - 07:16 PM (#1892122)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Bee-dubya-ell

1) Open wood stove and discover it's full of junk mail that has been accumulating since the last fire was lit in the spring.

2) Burn junk mail.

3) Discover after burning junk mail that the stove needs cleaning before lighting real fire.

4) Find metal bucket to shovel ashes into, only to discover that it has hole in it.

5) Let ashes of junk mail fire cool enough that they may be shoveled into plastic bucket.

6) Clean stove.

7) Place kindling and small firewood lengths in stove and start fire.

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23 Nov 06 - 07:37 PM (#1892134)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Blowzabella

That sounds very familiar bee-dubya!

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23 Nov 06 - 07:38 PM (#1892136)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Bobert

Well, we had our first one a couple weeks ago and all was well.... kinda...

...the next day we kept smellin' somethin burnin' and then the night after that fire we say smoke in the house, called the fire department which sent about 15 people up here and after checking the climney, which I had just cleaned, determined with an infa-red device that there was smolderin' behind the fire box...

So yesterday, I spent the afternoon cleaning the heck outta the firebox and hopefully found the the culprit: a small hole in the metal fire box that allowed enough spark to get back there and ignite the creosote that I obviously had brushed behind the box during the cleaning and with no "clean out" door cleaned itself out by burnin'...

No fun but hopefully I have it fixed now??? I'll test it the next time it looks as if it will be warm enough to leave the windows and oors open if I still have a problem...

Sorry, now back to those romantic stories whwere the fire does what it is told and nuthin' else...

Bobert

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23 Nov 06 - 08:03 PM (#1892150)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Bee

"If you think wood is messy, try using coal! " - Foolestroupe

I grew up with coal stoves and fireplaces. Wish I had our old kitchen cook stove - was pale yellow with lotsa chrome, a hot water reservoir, warming oven...

We ran on bootleg coal, cheap but often slaggy - lotsa clinkers.

Howsomeover, I grew up, moved away and married a mainlander; their heatin' system is just primitive!

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23 Nov 06 - 08:41 PM (#1892166)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Bunnahabhain

Before lighting a fire, get some wood in.

Before that, split a semi-infinite amount of wood.

Before that, restack the new, wet wood, properly, so you can get to the dry stuff behind it.

Before that, find the ax, or hammer and wedges.

At some point in this process, be glad you're the one outside working, and so staying warm, rather than the one inside who looked at you lovingly, and meaningfully said 'I'm cold'...

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23 Nov 06 - 10:23 PM (#1892192)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: GUEST,Scoville at Dad's

Well, make sure the flue is open and the chimney doesn't have any tenants. My aunt had a very unpleasant experience with a chimney full of baby raccoons one year. I don't like to share a house with raccoons but I don't think the little ones deserve that sort of bad end.

Once that's done--marshmallows on sticks. You can't go wrong with marshmallows on sticks. We don't have much use for fires here but we always liked hanging out in front of them at my aunt's in Iowa.

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23 Nov 06 - 10:38 PM (#1892196)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Metchosin

Hmmm....coal. Did anyone besides me, when small, grow stuff that looked like coral on the old clinkers from the coal fire? I think I put a clinker in a dish and poured a mixture of amonia and washing bluing and something else over it. The formations were quite beautiful and a bit fragile....It had a peculiar odour, but definitely did not smell of amonia.

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23 Nov 06 - 10:44 PM (#1892201)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: JennyO

I love an open fire. When I moved into this house, I found a fireplace hidden behind a stupid ugly set of doors that someone had built. We removed them, excited that behind them we might have a working fireplace, and the hole was there, but when we looked up the chimney, we could see that it was very solidly bricked up - and since we are only renting, there's nothing we can do about that.

However we did find a lovely old-fashioned fireplace surround to put around it, and we could put a heater in there. I'd like to get one that simulates a fire if we can find one that doesn't need a flue. Then it might sorta look the part, although of course there is nothing like a real fire. It's incomprehensible to me, what some people do to their houses. Very sad.

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24 Nov 06 - 12:19 AM (#1892228)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Joe Offer

I did that, too, Metchosin. We didn't have coal heat, but we got clinkers from somewhere. I guess that's actually growing crystals. We just did it because it looked cool.
We've had the woodstove going about half the time these last two weeks, here in the Sierra Foothills of California.
-Joe Offer, Colfax, CA-

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24 Nov 06 - 12:37 AM (#1892233)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: bflat

The first fire is beautiful. The smell! It is like spring, laughter; a good bottle of wine and Beethovan or maybe, Folk music.

Ellen

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24 Nov 06 - 02:30 AM (#1892250)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Rowan

I'm told that a wood-burning fire warms you up at least five times;
gathering the wood,
chopping it,
stacking it,
carting it to the fireplace, and then
burning it.

My house is passively solar heated and I use the roof to collect water, which I don't want tainted with creosote. Because the roof is upside down, this means I can't have a flue anywhere in the roof and thus don't have a fire.

But I do occasionally cook roasts in the camp oven in the garden, so I can gaze at coals if I need to. Even in winter.

Enjoy your fires.

Cheers, Rowan

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24 Nov 06 - 03:07 AM (#1892264)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: MBSLynne

It's one of the few things I look forward to about winter. We've been having fires for a couple of weeks now. We burn wood, partly because it smells lovely and partly because we prefer to avoid fossil fuels when possible. Also we have a certain amount of our own wood, which gives you a lovely feeling of close-to-natureness and self-sufficiency. The trouble is, once the fire is lit I don't get anything done because I can't tear myself away from it.

My daughter bought me a pair of old bellows for my birthday...something I've wanted for years.

Love Lynne

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24 Nov 06 - 03:31 AM (#1892278)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Liz the Squeak

Ah yes... the romance of an open fire..... coals glowing, logs crackling, the fragrance of woodsmoke on the evening air.....






So why is it all I remember is the burn spots on the hearth rug (and once, the cat); the stench of smoke when the wind was in the wrong direction; the lugging of mammoth amounts of coal from the coalshed to the front room; and the inevitable sweeping up of the gritty bits that fell off; the splinters got from carrying logs in from the wood box at the bottom of the garden (as geographically far from the house door as possible and still be in the same road); the scraping out of the ashes the following morning followed by the sweeping up of the floor where they fell out of the bucket; the hunt for a newspaper that wasn't still being perused to make twists to light; the disgruntled firemen that turned up at 7.00am one morning after someone left the doors open and the chimney caught fire.....

Yes... aren't real fires lovely - WHEN SOMEONE ELSE IS DEALING WITH THEM!

LTS

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24 Nov 06 - 03:43 AM (#1892287)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Liz the Squeak

So I for one am happy to warm my fundamentals at someone else's fire, but give me a good solid radiator to wrap myself around for convenience!!

LTS

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24 Nov 06 - 05:51 AM (#1892325)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: The Fooles Troupe

Metchosin

As a kid, we used to be able to grow the 'coral' from kits of 'rocks'. I also remember having a very special 'chemistry for kids' book, one item in which was how to do that from scratch, including crystals such as copper sulphate.

Don't remember the ammonia, but I do remember sodium silicate - water glass.

Most of the chemicals were readily available from a hardware store, or occasionally a chemist, but these days you'd probably find yourself in Gitmo if you even asked for them...

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24 Nov 06 - 06:20 AM (#1892339)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Dave the Gnome

Get on knees on the hearth rug

Slide cast iron cover to one side

Turn the dial

Wait a few seconds for the pilot light to set fire to the gas

Wait a few seconds more

and a few seconds more

Get eyebrow pencil to mark the place where they used to be before the accumulation of gas eventualy caught...

:D (tG)

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24 Nov 06 - 09:22 AM (#1892445)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: MBSLynne

Actually, I even love all the things to do with making fires. I enjoy collecting the kindling in our mini-wood and putting it in the shed to dry. Admitedly I don't saw and chop the logs. I love cleaning out the fire and making it all tidy then setting another one ready for when we need it. I love putting a match to it and watching it all catch and start to burn. I love putting the wood ash around our apple trees or in the chickens' dust-bath. And one of the things that really says "Home" to me is going for a walk on a cold and frosty or snowy day and as I walk towards home again, seeing a plume of smoke coming from our chimney.

Love Lynne

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24 Nov 06 - 12:18 PM (#1892550)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Metchosin

Foolestroupe, the stuff I grew was made from household stuff, but waterglass wasn't one of them. While it was crystaline in structure, it didn't look like it. This stuff was opaque and white and grew in fluffy finger-like formations. You could put food colouring on the clinker and they would form in pastel colours. We rarely burned coal in the fireplace when I was a kid, so clinkers were treasured.

We've had our fireplace going off and on for about 2 weeks here because of power outages. I don't have a lot of wood stored this year, so I while I can use it as a primary heat source, I've been using it just for emergency purposes and special occasions to try to make my supply last until spring.

Right now part of my woodshed is being used to store plywood and drywall sheets for a renovation on our house that we're in the middle of, which has expanded and dragged on way past our original idea.

I prefer the heat from our airtight fireplace over the electric, from a comfort standpoint, particularly at night, even though its more work. But at least, after 30 years, I am finally getting a "finished" house out of the deal, so I'm not complaining.

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24 Nov 06 - 06:12 PM (#1892766)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Metchosin

Wow! I found it! Its called a Salt Flower. Sorry for the thread drift, but thinking about coal in a fireplace took me back to a time when I was 10 years old.

Think I'll try growing them again. I didn't realize you could use a brick.

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24 Nov 06 - 06:34 PM (#1892780)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: The Fooles Troupe

Ok Metchosin - let's wander over here

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25 Nov 06 - 12:36 AM (#1892959)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Liz the Squeak

Hmmmm... I found a tea cup under the sideboard that looked a lot like that once...

Wasn't me. I don't drink tea.

LTS

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26 Nov 06 - 09:11 AM (#1893920)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: LilyFestre

We've been using our woodstove for a few weeks now when the temperatures are cool enough to warrant it. I love the smell of the woodstove, the logs on the porch, the self-satisfied smile on my husband's face after he comes in on a cool fall afternoon after splitting wood and I love knowing that we will have heat even if we lose electricity or if our propane tank is empty. I also love knowing that I am responsible for the toasty, cozy house my husband comes home to at night. I like to think of the woodstove as a challenge....how long can I maintain a decent temperature (350-400)?

Michelle

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26 Nov 06 - 09:12 AM (#1893921)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: LilyFestre

Decent temperature (350-400) in the woodstove...NOT the house!!!!

:) Michelle

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26 Nov 06 - 10:41 AM (#1893933)
Subject: RE: BS: First winter fire-what do you do
From: Alice

One of the wood stove companies in my area has abosolutely goregeous soapstone fireplaces and stoves. Many have carved elements like trout, an image popular here. Here's a beautiful one with a carved trout on the front Click here

Here is their web site with photos of wonderful soapstone fireplaces and stoves. warmstone.com

When I was in their store this week, I heard one guy in the showroom say, "I think my wife has stayed with me because of our warm stove".

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