Likewise, ''to the T'' with 3 yrs on you.
Only difference is a rent a splitter when I have cut enough rounds. Sometimes swinging a splitting axe on smaller stuff after work.
Started as stove talk now thread about marriage, etc...
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Only difference is a rent a splitter when I have cut enough rounds. Sometimes swinging a splitting axe on smaller stuff after work.
Caw
Minister of Fire
Caw
Minister of Fire
My philosophy is that I gladly sacrifice some of my efficiency (admittedly orders of magnitude lower than ashful) by doing my wood stuff with the kids.
I.e. I don't have to choose. It's slower because of safety that I have to keep in mind versus when I'm alone.
But I remember my time doing wood work with my dad. He's doing his thing, and either gave me a chore that would contribute to his thing (at least in my mind....) or I "worked" alongside him on"my own project". And I remember those times as the best of all. Not him playing with me, having a catch, not other times. The "working together" to times were by far the best.
Maybe that was my personality (and not all kids are the same), but still.
I try to do the same with my kids.
They seem to feel (or I'm projecting) to feel valued, be a team with their dad, do fun stuff, contribute to the family (in a better way than cleaning out the dishwasher), etc.
And more importantly, this interaction between me and my dad was still present when I was a (difficult) teenager - a time when most kids don't want to spend time with their dad.
My daughter has firmly started that teenage mode of separation .But when we can work together, we are together, we are one unit.
This is my experience, my hope. Certainly not the only way, and personalities differ.
Yet, for me, I'm happy with spending time with my kids this way, and it seems to work similarly in their teenage years, so far.
And economically speaking, they learn some skills from working with me, I am a little slower, but the time counts for two as we got the to do list shorter AND we spent time together (I was not away from them doing the things I have to do).
Just a thought. Not practical in every situation or life, but worth considering the idea, imo.
47 years old, 13 y/o daughter, 11 y/o son
I.e. I don't have to choose. It's slower because of safety that I have to keep in mind versus when I'm alone.
But I remember my time doing wood work with my dad. He's doing his thing, and either gave me a chore that would contribute to his thing (at least in my mind....) or I "worked" alongside him on"my own project". And I remember those times as the best of all. Not him playing with me, having a catch, not other times. The "working together" to times were by far the best.
Maybe that was my personality (and not all kids are the same), but still.
I try to do the same with my kids.
They seem to feel (or I'm projecting) to feel valued, be a team with their dad, do fun stuff, contribute to the family (in a better way than cleaning out the dishwasher), etc.
And more importantly, this interaction between me and my dad was still present when I was a (difficult) teenager - a time when most kids don't want to spend time with their dad.
My daughter has firmly started that teenage mode of separation .But when we can work together, we are together, we are one unit.
This is my experience, my hope. Certainly not the only way, and personalities differ.
Yet, for me, I'm happy with spending time with my kids this way, and it seems to work similarly in their teenage years, so far.
And economically speaking, they learn some skills from working with me, I am a little slower, but the time counts for two as we got the to do list shorter AND we spent time together (I was not away from them doing the things I have to do).
Just a thought. Not practical in every situation or life, but worth considering the idea, imo.
47 years old, 13 y/o daughter, 11 y/o son
You changing your tune on wood heat?? LOL
Coldest day of the year when we woke up this morning and I loaded the stove around 830-9. She didn’t ask and neither did I. I just did it anyway. No issues all day, was toasty warm
In the house all day. I was perfectly comfortable. Some time mid afternoon my wife moaned it was too warm (kitchen said 71-72 so maybe 75 in stove room?). Other than that no complaints. Temps in bedrooms stayed 66-70
Kids were fine with coughing and whatnot until my oldest went into his bed to go to sleep. Youngest had no issues. Of course my wife blames having the fire all day. And how she says there was no real coughing this week with “no fires”. Now he currently
Has strep throat. Not sure if it was that, or something else. But did not cough once all day up until that point. I would think if they were going to react to it, it would be fairly quick.
Another side note. As most of you may know, my boiler flue is Swiss cheese. I was looking at peak history readings on the CO meter and got a hit of 16 PPM. I haven’t checked it since last weekend, and had minimal fire time this week. Also had goose egg readings since I reset it this am, and had the stove on all day (currently still hot). So I’ll have to keep an eye on that to see if CO is making it in the house with boiler use. If it was the stove it would have surely showed up today with the use.
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I’m going to do it manually as long as I can. Then I’ll move to the things that make my life easier. Probably another 10 years.
My son started coughing when he went to bed too.
We did an allergy test and it turned out he had dust (mite) allergies. Allergy covers of the pillow and mattress helped a lot.
If the "bed cough" is consistent, and you have decent insurance, it may be worth looking into.
We did an allergy test and it turned out he had dust (mite) allergies. Allergy covers of the pillow and mattress helped a lot.
If the "bed cough" is consistent, and you have decent insurance, it may be worth looking into.
I miss my father. Left home at 15-16yrs of age. He passed almost 10 years ago at 67.
We reconciled just before hand.
I learned family values, the hard way, at an older age.
We reconciled just before hand.
I learned family values, the hard way, at an older age.
Oh he has a dust allergy. Both my kids do. As well as cats, dogs etc. we have 2 dogs. But it was just perfect timing when he laid down to go to bed and began coughing. My wife had an easy scapegoat.
I’ll add to this it was easily remedied by some water and cough medicine. Sleeping now without coughing so 🤷🏻♂️
Maybe not fairly quickly .... I have asthma. Wood smoke isn't one of my triggers though. Mostly dust is. Smoke will agitate it more when active. It is an allergy and when triggered, doesn't go away easily. I personally don't think it was the stove. Especially if hanging out in the stove room was an all day afair. You did say they have asthma? Cough medicine does not make asthma go away. The capillaries in the lungs get irritated, making the lungs produce excess mucus.
Yes both have asthma. Have steroid inhalers they use daily, and albuterol as needed. Another reason why I don’t think it was asthma related is that the water and cough meds worked.
Again he also has strep throat right now so I don’t know if that has anything to do with this.
He spent a cumulative of at least 9-10 hours in that room today with the stove on, including reloads.
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Get an air purifier for the stove room too. Let's her know you're on top of things.
Definitely get that boiler flue replaced.
Definitely get that boiler flue replaced.
Or instead of buying a liner for almost 2500 use the wood stove….🤔 and buy a small
Liner for the water heater 1/5 the price
Wife didn’t want to spend any more money said we’re not fixing it right now 🤦🏻♂️
But, she doesn't want wood heat, and the furnace emissions are dangerous .....
SMH
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
The biggest source of indoor air pollution is cooking not the two wood stoves in my house. Finally taught the wife that the stove burners are not binary switches.
I did just finish a game of flaming log Tetris. I won! But now AFTER reading this I really want to clear my throat.
I had 3 home sick yesterday. At least they kept each other company.
Get data. An air quality monitor. There are threads about that on here. Out friend Poindexter is one of them.
It'll show particulates concentration. (Not gases, afaik, but your CO monitor should show you if gases escape.)
It'll show particulates concentration. (Not gases, afaik, but your CO monitor should show you if gases escape.)
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Both of the big cooking fireplaces in this house have doors, the one shown there being bi-fold and the doors on the big fireplace in my office being solid wide plank more formal things. Theories vary on their purpose, but I suspect the ones in the summer kitchen were there to close off the fireplace for smoking meats. We have three fireplaces that size, all intended more for cooking than heating. In fact, I think this house was heated from at least the 1770’s by iron stoves, not open fireplaces.
The original stoves are gone from the original locations, but now there’s a stove in each of the three old fireplaces. There’s some truly bizarre chimney work in one of these fireplaces, which I should get around to documenting somewhere, in another thread.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
That was my plan, as well. I liked splitting by hand, the peace and quiet, the pace, everything about it. I didn’t want to listen to a noisy splitter, or feel rushed to keep up with it. But I started developing some pretty debilitating shoulder problems, trying to produce at a rate that kept up with what we were burning… let alone trying to work ahead those first few years.
My present operation is way less peaceful and enjoyable, but it is productive.
She, and her father, were in the room when I was informing her about the condition of the boiler flue. He said you have a CO detector right and haven’t had an issue with CO in the house right? I said no not really to this point no. He continues to say that well I wouldn’t worry about that flue unless you have any problems. My wife of course agrees with him and says no we aren’t fixing that right now. 🤷🏻♂️. Little do they probably know those meters do not do much for relatively low levels of CO but of course is still dangerous. Cant defend anything with views like that. It’s just different frames of thinking. And I see where she got it.
Checked CO meter this am and was 0 so maybe it was a fluke or the wind has to be just right. No idea. But I’ll certainly keep a close eye on it.
I was mistaken. My wife also gave him albuterol. He was fine all night and when he woke up was coughing again. Albuterol did the trick by itself this time.
Again so many other variables so can’t pinpoint exactly what the driver is at this point.
I will absolutely suggest that. I have a feeling she’s going to come back at me with. “Or just not use the stove”.
Caw
Minister of Fire
Oh no absolutely not. Just commenting how it's not always dreamy and can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Especially super cold nights after drinking lol. I fell asleep on the couch and missed my reload so it was an expensive electric heat night oh well. Lighting it now!
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