Shoulder season in December?

[lukem]

My defintion of the shoulder season is when it is too warm to have a fire, and too cold not to have a fire. Weather here in the hoosier state is definately shoulder season weather this week. We've already reached our low of 45* tonight, and a high of 50* tomorrow. I have a small fire going but it is roasting me out. If I let the fire go out the boss will be on me about it being too chilly.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Its not often that i wish it would get 15* colder at night, but i do today.

 

[remkel]

Had a lot of that up here- many evenings of opening the slider door for a while to bring the temps down in the house- but I would rather do that than hear the oil dragon in the basement firing off!

 

[Pat53]

Yup, thats why storage is nice. Useable heat only when you need it and no wasted wood/heat. I've been burning only junk aspen and birch for 2 months now waiting for the cold to hit. hard to believe that up here in the UP of Michigan we have NO SNOW at all. Normally have almost a foot on the ground by now on average, sometimes a LOT more too. And there is no snow in sight for at least the rest of the week. We'll probably pay for this nice weather sooner or later. probably won't get above 40F till next May ! LOL

Went out and scrounged another cord+ in the slashing today in about 2 hours, and plan on getting at least another cord later in the week.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Been burning 24/7 since the end of September and haven't had to burn one decent stick of firewood. What a beautiful thing.

 

[lukem]

I ran out of junk wood a few weeks back. Burning ash and oak right now because that's all i have.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Hey, you do what you gotta do.

 

[lukem]

Hey, you do what you gotta do.

True dat. Not burning much...should throw some hedge in there tonight and load it again on Friday!

 

[Thistle]

Just a few days normal or below temps so far this month,but also at least 5 days 45 to 55 degrees.Only 5 inches snow in 2 separate storms since mid November here.Last year at this time there was at least a foot of snow covering a 5 county radius.Still burning odd chunks/uglies,remaining scrap/edgings from milling last Spring & from big pile of 2"-5" dead fallen branches.About 2 p/u loads total,long as weather stays decent that should last me another 3-4 weeks easily.Not even touched the 'good stuff' yet.Plan on going out & cutting more later in the week,I'm usually done working in the woods by now because of deep snow.

 

[bogydave]

:coolgrin: >:-( :shut:
Waa waa waa
You need to move to Fairbanks
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...44&lon=-147.89794921875&site=afg&unit=0&lg=en
Send some 50s this way

 

[firecracker_77]

My defintion of the shoulder season is when it is too warm to have a fire, and too cold not to have a fire. Weather here in the hoosier state is definately shoulder season weather this week. We've already reached our low of 45* tonight, and a high of 50* tomorrow. I have a small fire going but it is roasting me out. If I let the fire go out the boss will be on me about it being too chilly.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Its not often that i wish it would get 15* colder at night, but i do today.

My office with my woodstove is in NW Indiana. I feel your pain. Very warm out...and wet. I'm at 74.4 in here with a smoulder going. Kind of sucks to be in this in-between. I want 30 degree nights, so I can load the stove prior to coming back in the morning for work.

 

[firecracker_77]

:coolgrin: >:-( :shut:
Waa waa waa
You need to move to Fairbanks
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...44&lon=-147.89794921875&site=afg&unit=0&lg=en
Send some 50s this way

As Charlie Brown would say after looking at your weather, good grief! That's about as cold as it ever gets around here. Single digits is devastating.

 

[bogydave]

:coolgrin: >:-( :shut:
Waa waa waa
You need to move to Fairbanks
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...44&lon=-147.89794921875&site=afg&unit=0&lg=en
Send some 50s this way

As Charlie Brown would say after looking at your weather, good grief! That's about as cold as it ever gets around here. Single digits is devastating.

LOL
Was just listening to complaining about nice weather, be careful what you ask for.
More to be funny than anything,
Hope you all get snow for Christmas

 

[Thistle]

Story on local news tonight that this is the first Christmas since 2006 that there's no snow on the ground in metro area.4 years in a row,set a record apparantly.Not only a foot on the ground last year,but 2 more inches fell on Christmas Day itself.I wouldnt mind seeing 3-4 inches over the weekend,but its not in the forecast though.No snow with firm frozen ground does mean it'll be easier for me to cut some more on my day off however. :coolsmirk:

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Given the choice of walking around outside when it's in the 30s or 40s and -23 as it hit one morning last year I'll gladly take the warmer.

Matt

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah 48 outside at nine o'clock and I have just put three splits on the coals for tonight. Been cloudy and chilly all day. No other heat source so ya burn the wood. In this place over the years I have never noticed a heck of a lot of difference in how much wood I burn no matter how mild or cold the winter is. 50 outside is fine but I ain't gonna have it inside. The inside gets down to 69 or 70 and something is gonna burn.

 

[firecracker_77]

Yeah 48 outside at nine o'clock and I have just put three splits on the coals for tonight. Been cloudy and chilly all day. No other heat source so ya burn the wood. In this place over the years I have never noticed a heck of a lot of difference in how much wood I burn no matter how mild or cold the winter is. 50 outside is fine but I ain't gonna have it inside. The inside gets down to 69 or 70 and something is gonna burn.

Yep...no reason to be chilly when you have a stove and a stack of dry wood.

 

[firecracker_77]

:coolgrin: >:-( :shut:
Waa waa waa
You need to move to Fairbanks
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...44&lon=-147.89794921875&site=afg&unit=0&lg=en
Send some 50s this way

As Charlie Brown would say after looking at your weather, good grief! That's about as cold as it ever gets around here. Single digits is devastating.

LOL
Was just listening to complaining about nice weather, be careful what you ask for.
More to be funny than anything,
Hope you all get snow for Christmas

Point taken. Nothing like crying about mild temps.

 

[aussiedog3]

Kinda the same here in West Michigan.
Been burning since the first week in November.
Still burning up pine and very little hardwood.
Feels good to get some of the pine burned up and out of the way.

 

[Oregon Bigfoot]

Same here in Oregon. It's been drier here in December 2011 in the Pacific Northwest than any other month this year. Very odd. We have had 0.10 inches of rain ALL month. Weather man says we are at 3% of normal precipitation for December. It's been cool, but not too cold. If it keeps up, this will be the driest December on record, after 6 inches of rain in November.

It was nice to watch the Blazers finally play without Brandon Roy, last night. They put on an up tempo show.

Oregon Bigfoot.

 

[LLigetfa]

Turned real mild here... had to let the fire die. At least I get to clean the blackened glass from trying to burn it on low. Will need to have a fire this evening though as it will be turning cold.

 

[Cascade Failure]

Well, I'm starting more fires and using more kindling than last year but my stack isn't shrinking nearly as fast...yeah, I can live with that.

 

[Grannyknot]

My problem with shoulder season is that I only really need the house to be warm at night and in the mornings, but it takes so long to get my firebox up to temps, that I pretty much have a fire going all the time. During shoulder season I usually end up building a big fire but then shutting the damper and intakes all the way....really just to keep some coals in there for the night/morning stokes. I hate shoulder season because I feel like I am wasting good wood just to keep hot coals in the stove.

 

[Coach B]

:coolgrin: >:-( :shut:
Waa waa waa
You need to move to Fairbanks
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClic...44&lon=-147.89794921875&site=afg&unit=0&lg=en
Send some 50s this way

Interestingly, when its cold up your way its often mild in the eastern states.

What a difference a year makes. Last year we had single digits in mid Dec with some snow. Today I had 60 degrees this morning when I got up. Woodpiles are not shrinking, but may be rotting with the mild and wet weather we've been having.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

I ran out of junk wood a few weeks back. Burning ash and oak right now because that's all i have.

THAT is a CRIME! >:-( Punishable by having all your Ash and Oak taken away for the rest of the season!

 

[stejus]

First day of Winter coming up and it will be near 50 degrees. It will be 50 degree's today as well. Burning up some bark that I have been storing up as it falls off the wood. I've only run the stove hard on a few occasions so far this year.