Started as stove talk now thread about marriage, etc...

[MRD1985]

Yeah..😮‍💨

Now I’m very torn on what to do tomorrow when I get home. I know what my head says i should do, but my heart is telling me different. Especially with a forecast high of 28 and low of 14. Cold temps all weekend too for sure!

I have a few errands to run tomorrow too, so maybe will have to skip it but we’ll see

 

[all night moe]

Maybe one day some expense will come up and you'll be looking for ways to save $ and eureka. Wood heat.

Matt, you ALMOST need a financial setback, forcing some penny pinching. I'd rather not burn than have to ''get by'' financially.
Maybe your ride is wearing down, Need a new truck? LOL

 

[Caw]

I can't wait for the cold. Now that the kids got their skates on its all they want to do. Big pond should be ready so I'll bring out all the sticks and pucks. I'm no good at skating but enjoy it.

Maybe she'll see the cold temps and want a family fire. That would something at least.

 

[GrumpyDad]

I can't wait for the cold. Now that the kids got their skates on its all they want to do. Big pond should be ready so I'll bring out all the sticks and pucks. I'm no good at skating but enjoy it.

Maybe she'll see the cold temps and want a family fire. That would something at least.

We get cold then warm up, then it repeats. I think we need a few more days and our pond will be ready for some skating and shots on net.
The best I figure is that this weekend we were at around 2" of ice. So this week, each day we probably accumulated a little over 1" of ice each day. So by Friday, it will be about 7". I believe the minimum should be 5-6" with a group of people if not 8 to be honest. I know the rule is generally like 3-4 but that is an individual skater in optimal conditions. We have off gassing and spring flow through ours so we have to consider that as well.
Then it's going to snow 12" between Fri-Sat, so, I'll have to get the snowblow on there ASAP to get that off or it's going to ruin the ice!
Last year was a total bust for skating, but the year before I spent way way too much time keeping our ice in top shape.

 

[MRD1985]

Matt, you ALMOST need a financial setback, forcing some penny pinching. I'd rather not burn than have to ''get by'' financially.
Maybe your ride is wearing down, Need a new truck? LOL

Just bought one a few years ago LOL. 17 F350 4x4 crew cab diesel. Going to be holding onto that one for a while. Love that thing.

Right now day care is the biggest bank account drain. 2000 per month for 2 kids.

 

[MRD1985]

I can't wait for the cold. Now that the kids got their skates on its all they want to do. Big pond should be ready so I'll bring out all the sticks and pucks. I'm no good at skating but enjoy it.

Maybe she'll see the cold temps and want a family fire. That would something at least.

I’m probably going to shoot her a text in the morning putting it in her lap, and only say I’m asking because it’s so cold out, otherwise I’d just leave it be.

 

[stoveliker]

I can't wait for the cold. Now that the kids got their skates on its all they want to do. Big pond should be ready so I'll bring out all the sticks and pucks. I'm no good at skating but enjoy it.

Maybe she'll see the cold temps and want a family fire. That would something at least.

Interesting. Pond here has been salted on for two days already.
Maybe a smaller one (village duck pond)?

 

[Caw]

Interesting. Pond here has been salted on for two days already.
Maybe a smaller one (village duck pond)?

We have multiple ponds within walking distance of my house which is nice. I love living in the woods. Right across the street from my house is a spring fed pond about the size of 2 hockey rinks and only 3 ft deep. Perfect size for a bunch of neighborhood kids, freezes fast, and it's nice that it's shallow. Normally we'd skate there but it got ruined by the recent freezing snow/rain. It crusted on top overnight and I couldn't shovel it so we could only use the edges hence all the trees in my pic. So we're waiting for the big town reservoir to finish freezing. It's 0.1 sq km so it takes a lot longer to freeze but it's wide open and smooth when it does. It's a lot of fun when it's ready!

 

[Caw]

Just bought one a few years ago LOL. 17 F350 4x4 crew cab diesel. Going to be holding onto that one for a while. Love that thing.

Right now day care is the biggest bank account drain. 2000 per month for 2 kids.

Amen to daycare. This is our first year with both kids in public school and let me tell you it's a beautiful thing. We've taken all that $ saved and done a lot of big projects around the house. Deck repair, new side steps, house got painted etc.

Nice truck! Id love a pickup but my commute is way too far to justify that fuel cost.

 

[Caw]

I’m probably going to shoot her a text in the morning putting it in her lap, and only say I’m asking because it’s so cold out, otherwise I’d just leave it be.

I will be thinking of you man. Godspeed. 🫡

 

[Ashful]

You've explained to your wife it doubles as the best kids stuff dryer in the world, right? My wife LOVES that. She complains in the summer how long it takes laundry to dry lol. She has a pop up rack to dry stuff we moved in front of the stove. Skates, boots, gloves. You name it. Dry in an hour or two!

We actually installed wrought-iron hooks across the face of the lintel, on the fireplace shown in my avatar, which are used for hanging wet coats and hats. Gloves and boots go on the stone hearth extension.

 

[Caw]

That is one gigantic fireplace holy moly. Imagine how much wood would that thing have required in a winter back in the day.

 

[bigealta]

Love the wood doors for the fireplace opening.

 

[weee123]

Womp Womp. I worked Sat-Wed so the next few days it's full throttle burning. Just threw in 4 splits of box elder for a quick burst of heat and to burn down coals. It's so cold out I've barely been able to budge the thermostat. It's stuck at 65. Pretty normal for 15 or below cloudy days though. Ill have it up to 67-68 in a few hours.

That’s basically what I’ve been dealing with this cold weather. Stove rooms toasty but upstairs it’s just sitting at the thermostat setting. At least the furnace doesn’t have to turn on though.

 

[MRD1985]

We actually installed wrought-iron hooks across the face of the lintel, on the fireplace shown in my avatar, which are used for hanging wet coats and hats. Gloves and boots go on the stone hearth extension.

View attachment 323232

Love that setup. You could fit a monster stove in there for sure!

 

[MRD1985]

Amen to daycare. This is our first year with both kids in public school and let me tell you it's a beautiful thing. We've taken all that $ saved and done a lot of big projects around the house. Deck repair, new side steps, house got painted etc.

Nice truck! Id love a pickup but my commute is way too far to justify that fuel cost.

After they are both out of daycare definitely going to put more into retirement and pay off some debt. There are things that need to be done with the house too (of course). There’s a big oak tree that needs to be removed east side of the house( only has couple small limbs left living I that, all big ones are broken off or dead), the west side of the house needs to be resided (no big deal just cedar shingles), pool retaining wall is in desperate need of repair, shed needs to be redone (siding totally rotted out and roof is caving/leaking). The latter 2 especially the retaining wall is going to be a huge expense even me doing it myself. Wife has the blinders on for all those issues!! I make her aware of these things and she says spot looking for things wrong with our house 🤣. Can’t help but notice as it’s all blatantly obvious 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[Caw]

After they are both out of daycare definitely going to put more into retirement and pay off some debt. There are things that need to be done with the house too (of course). There’s a big oak tree that needs to be removed east side of the house( only has couple small limbs left living I that, all big ones are broken off or dead), the west side of the house needs to be resided (no big deal just cedar shingles), pool retaining wall is in desperate need of repair, shed needs to be redone (siding totally rotted out and roof is caving/leaking). The latter 2 especially the retaining wall is going to be a huge expense even me doing it myself. Wife has the blinders on for all those issues!! I make her aware of these things and she says spot looking for things wrong with our house 🤣. Can’t help but notice as it’s all blatantly obvious 🤷🏻‍♂️

Oh yeah, home repairs need to be done. You don't need me to tell you waiting just makes it worse. Why pretend like they dont exist? I'll never understand.

Do your back a favor and pay somebody else to do the retaining wall. Having just built one this summer it's truly back breaking labor. I couldn't walk right for like 2 weeks. It was 60' long, 3' tall in most areas, and the truly frustrating part was the 12 tons of gravel I had to move from the driveway 100 ft back. I can't get heavy equipment in my yard to dump things in place, it'll damage the septic system.

Our next homeowner project is fixing the siding on both sides of the house. Well touching up more like. We had it all redone and painted like I said and a woodpecker has absolutely destroyed the upper parts. It's so annoying. I even put up woodpecker tape. He left the trim alone since I replaced it with PVC and now just goes for the brand new wood siding. 🤬

We took out a HELOC to pay for it all right away and are just paying it off over 2 years rather than waiting. Very happy with that choice.

 

[MRD1985]

Just a quick little fire today then have to dispose of the evidence 😅

 

[Caw]

Good, gooooood.

 

[EbS-P]

Well my wife asked for a fire the other morning it was 55 out hi was 70. She didn’t take me saying no and turning the thermostat up two degrees;

But.. cold was here for two days. Two days over 55 and cold tonight through Sunday so both stoves will be running. I can burn almost a 7 cu ft wheelbarrow piles pretty high in 24-36 hours when the daytime temps stay cold (less than 40) and no sun.

Better be a small load! Loaded mine up and 18 hours later the top was still over 150F.

 

[MRD1985]

Well my wife asked for a fire the other morning it was 55 out hi was 70. She didn’t take me saying no and turning the thermostat up two degrees;

But.. cold was here for two days. Two days over 55 and cold tonight through Sunday so both stoves will be running. I can burn almost a 7 cu ft wheelbarrow piles pretty high in 24-36 hours when the daytime temps stay cold (less than 40) and no sun.

Better be a small load! Loaded mine up and 18 hours later the top was still over 150F.

View attachment 323237

It’ll be all coals in a couple of hours or less then I’ll burn them down quick and clean the stove

She just looks at the stove she never touches it.

I plan on loading mine up similar to yours tomorrow!!

 

[all night moe]

Just bought one a few years ago LOL. 17 F350 4x4 crew cab diesel. Going to be holding onto that one for a while. Love that thing.

Right now day care is the biggest bank account drain. 2000 per month for 2 kids.

Ahhh so.... you need another little one.
🤣

 

[EbS-P]

It’ll be all coals in a couple of hours or less then I’ll burn them down quick and clean the stove

She just looks at the stove she never touches it.

I plan on loading mine up similar to yours tomorrow!!
View attachment 323241

Need to stop cleaning the ashes out and bypass the thermal switch on the blower!

 

[MRD1985]

Need to stop cleaning the ashes out and bypass the thermal switch on the blower!

I mentioned that in a previous post. I think I’m going to do that this weekend. I don’t like the fact it shuts off at 350-400 degrees stove top temp. Still plenty of heat to be distributed at that point. I’m only cleaning the ashes out this time to remove any remaining heat source for the stove otherwise I don’t clean it unless it’s really hindering loading the stove.

Actually if the stove is cool enough in a few hours I might do it today we’ll see. Have to take my kid to the doctors later too so time might be limited

 

[Caw]

I'm surprised yours shuts off that early. Mine doesn't shut off until STT is around 150 which I think is ideal. I want every BTU.

When I'm starting a fire I usually override the thermal disc and then then blower on manually once it gets going, it takes way too long to come on in it's own. Then after the fire is going I'll flip the switch back to thermal disc mode and I won't need to touch it again until the stove goes cold. Occasionally my wife will shut it off before going to work (she gets up before me) if there are barely coals left to help preserve them for me but there will be weeks at a time mid winter where the blower is on 24/7.

I may actually get a new blower sometime soon. Mine works fine but has developed an annoying little rattle I can't seem to fix. It's probably a bearing. It works totally fine but it's just a matter of time though before it annoys me enough I replace it. Then I'll just keep it as back up.

Current situation...just got in from cutting ok a fallen tree for the in-laws. Have my heated mastiff blanket and a fire: