Who are you, where are you from..and what do you do?

[WoodMann]

Name: Mark
Location: Santa Fe New Mexico, technically in the county
Occupation: Grocer
Age: 40 next month
Burning History: Just over a year, learned a bargeload hanging out here.
Hobbies; ATVing, tinkering on the truck and a little bit of this and a little bit of that.............

 

[mikeathens]

Normally am anti-social, but what the hell...

Age: 37

Occupation : Civil/Environmental/Ecological Engineer (BSCE from OSU, MSCE from OSU)

Location: Way the hell out in the middle of Athens County, Ohio

Years Burning: 9...first four in my little house in the middle of nowhere with a small DW Cat. Then, got married, knocked up wife (not necessarily in that order), and moved to bigger house in the woods. Started in that house with a too-small DW Cat, upgraded to DW large non-cat, then to Hearthstone Heritage, and now, I'm the proud fatehr of a Hearthstone Mansfield and Heartland Sweetheart. Oh, I also have two daughters.

Hobbies and such: Renovating my old log cabin, managing my forest land, mountain biking (when I have time), home brewing, gardening and canning, muzzleloader hunting, and of course sepnding time with my daughters. Most down time involves the consumption of some type of beer. I can't seem to produce enough homebrew for myself, so it has to be supplemented.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Hello. my name is Jeremiah
I live in Shelton, WA
I am a Prison Guard
I'm 33
I've been burning firewood for 33 years
I read a lot, work out a lot, cut lots of firewood, ride dirtbikes, drink beer. . .

 

[shweebies]

Age: 32

Occupation : Husband and I have a horse drawn carriage company - we do horse drawn funerals. We also sell grass fed longhorn beef. Longhorn beef is 1/3 less calories, fat and colesterol to white chicken.

Location: About 45 miles south of Dallas

Years Burning: We have been burning off and on for 10 years

Hobbies and such: horse back riding, road trips, sleeping anc chopping wood, of course.

 

[MrJitters]

Age: 59
Occupation: Electrician
Hobby: Guns, lots of them
First year burning pellets.
US Navy & Army Vet
Location: People's Republic of Vermont

 

[73blazer]

Name: Ken
Occupation: IT guy (no windows!)
Age: 38
Not so much experience with modern stoves/fireplaces, just some from what some of my friends have, used to help my dad burn in an open masonry fireplace when I was young..I thought the object was to get as big as fire as possible then!

Location: Birch Run, MI

In the middle of installing a North Star unit. Recently moved here on 10 acres of tall hardwoods that was previously unmaintained (growing into the house!), lots of standing deadwood and downed trees, at least 3-5 years of supplemental heat without cutting a live tree, there are large trees that are few leaners towards the open area of the house that'll have to come down too. I have a Stihl MS441 I bought last year. (great saw!). I travel to central ohio alot where they seem to get lots of storms, at least once a year, if I have my chainsaw in my truck and am passing thru at the right time, I can fill my 3/4ton with as much as it can hold from the litter of towns I pass thru with newly downed trees.

 

[jpl1nh]

I'm on page 3 of all the bios here and as usual you guys have me laughin my butt off. I have all these questions flashing through as I read like "Fossil, how come your living in your last house instead of the one you live in now? and "EllieR, just what do you mean by "getting dirty"? The big story here is just how diverse and interesting a group of people this is. Stanleyjohn's a bodybuilding weatherman? Hey, wait! that's me too! And Badger1968, exactly what is a "Buyer"? Whatever it is, probably a good market for you these days. Great to read all your stories, thank you all and especially thanks to you D/F for starting this thread.

 

[jpl1nh]

Age: 31
Occupation : Estimator for steel fabrication & tube bending company
Location: Washington IL
Years Burning: Been starting fires and blowing things up since I was a kid, burning 24/7 for 4 years
Hobbies: Fishing, home improvement, fishing, turbo cars (including tdi’s), pumpkin chunkin, oh, and did I mention fishing?
Other: getting married in less than a month, wish me luck!

Bout the getting married thing; wishing you good judgement in your choice of partner and skill in the lifelong process.

 

[jpl1nh]

Name: Charles, Charlo,Chas,Chuck,Charlie the list goes on...
Age: Physically 43... Don't ask my wife how old I act.
Occupation: IT for Harry and David mail order / internet Gift Company. (Doesn't look real promising this year... Visit our website and keep me employed :-O)
Married 17 years with two teenage boyz at home one out one his own (previous marriage)
Years burning... This is my first! I had a grant from the BLM to thin the pine/fir on my property to reduce the chance of bark beetles infestation. Well anyway we removed over 35K lbs of firewood which we gave away! It was difficult for us to rid our property of that much wood. We fell the trees, removed the branches and bucked and stacked the wood. The people only had to drive up to the pile and we (Myself, wife, and two or three teenage boyz) help load their truck and or trailer... So after thoroughly discussed with trying to be friendly to others. I took the grant money and "incentive check" and put in a Blaze King Princess.
Had our first good freeze last night and still 75 in the house this morning! I'm going to love this stove!

And all that pine!

 

[CT-Mike]

Name: Mike
Age: 46
Married: 26 years, two boys 24 & 20
Occupation: Retired Navy Nuke Bubblehead, Currently Senior Reactor Operator at the local nuke plant.
Hobbies: GSD's, photography, racquetball, shooting, a bunch of other stuff
Years burning: 10 as a kid, 3 weeks (just installed Lopi Freedom)

 

[jpl1nh]

Name: Dave Nickname and License plate: Big Oak

Age: 51 although after 31 years of cutting and splitting and stacking wood, my knees,ankles and back feel slightly older that!

Where: Clare Michigan....right in the middle of the state

Occupation: work for that big chemical company... have done almost every job there... 32 years, hope to semi-retire soon

Music : Bob Seger...who else??? Turn the Page, old time rock and roll, Beautiful Loser, Night Moves, etc. also other classic rock

Hobbies: Hunting, fishing, antiques, grill master, cold beer,

Family: wife of 31 years, 3 sons, 2 thru college, one a senior, ( yes i am broke!) a daughter-in-law and a wonderful grandaughter who is 2 months old! also 2 dogs a golden and a yellow lab that follow mw into the woods.

How long burning wood: Started in 1977 and have never quit, when wife was pregnant and kids where young, burnt 60% with LP back up, other than that have burnt 100% wood for about 25 years! I would argue that it might be the 32 years working for the chemical company rather than the 31 years of burning wood that has made you feel older...

Learning: Thanks to this site, still learning every week!

 

[fossil]

Name: Mike
Age: 46
Married: 26 years, two boys 24 & 20
Occupation: Retired Navy Nuke Bubblehead, Currently Senior Reactor Operator at the local nuke plant.
Hobbies: GSD's, photography, racquetball, shooting, a bunch of other stuff
Years burning: 10 as a kid, 3 weeks (just installed Lopi Freedom)

I'll be damned. I was an ELT (talkin' early 1970's here...S5G, SSBN 610), until I went NESEP & never looked back. We'll have to swap stories sometime on PM. Rick

 

[bbc557ci]

Bill
Age 57... 58 in February, at least that's the plan
Occupation - Property Claims Adjuster (fires and such). Gave up small Const. biz after back surgery a few years ago.
Hate working for someone else .....
Hobbies - Fast boats (23 foot Wellcraft with a 557 CI engine, hence the screen name), furniture building/wood working,
fixing/welding and fabricating parts for my tractor and other toys, small gun collection mainly target oriented hand guns,
plus a couple of classic 12 ga. SXS, cutting 3 acres of grass, plowing 900 ft. of driveway, a little
gardening, trying to act my age (kind of), glass of JD now and then, I like George Thorogood & the Delware Destroyers,
Stray Cats, Willie, BB, Bo, some classical. Wife decided the grass was greener about a year an a half ago so general
house work has become some what of a hobby too, I guess LOL. Did I mention an occasional glass of JD.... )
Burning since mid January of this year and love it.

 

[jpl1nh]

Name: Pierre, age 54
Occupation: Self Employed : www.floraventures.com full service FTD florist and interiorplantscape for 30 years (yikes!!)
Hobbies: Reading, Lifting and bodybuilding, ex-oarsman at UNH, weather, birds, golf, plants, mushrooms
Burning: 5 years since we bought this house with a Jotul Combifire dead center in it's open concept self. How could you not burn? Said to my wife the other day, "we live in a cottage in the woods surrounded with a picket fence " 4 kids ages 19 -23 between us. I mean how good is that? We're all healthy, basically happy. Got wood, lots and lots of wood. 3 dogs strewn around the floor tonight.
Music: Almond Bros, G Dead, Kenny G., Pink Floyd, Dave Matthews,
Like to try other peoples home brews. Scotch, Manhattens, good red wine
Love all aspects of burning wood (except stacking), love my Keystone, and love you all gosh darn it.

 

[leaf4952]

LEAF4952: because autumn leaves are so beautiful & I've used that handle on the internet since 1994. If it's not broke - don't fix it !
AGE: 49
OCCUPATION: Weekend manager of a busy Convenient Store/Gas Station (40 min commute)
LOCATION: the Pocono Mountains Upper Plateau area, Northwest of Sroudsburg, south of Scranton. Very small general store 10 min away, Large grocery 20 min, Hardware 25 min, Walmart 30 min,
YEARS BURNING: 3yrs, Atlanta Stove Works Huntsman 241, mnfctr 1970's. Works great ! Horray for pre-1990's stoves ! Started knowing nothing, this site has helped me a lot.
HOBBIES: Geo Metro (cars), my border collie, home-fix-it & reno, growing plants indoors & out, plus a bit of landscaping, eating healthy stuff but lean meat too.
Raising 2 teenagers on my own. I am not here to pick up guys. I am a interested in burnable wood.

 

[twoblackdogz]

Name: Tammy
Age: 49
Location: Near Raleigh, NC
Occupation: Agricultural research technician at a university
Background burning wood: as a kid, (in Ohio), first - a fireplace, then a Better'n Ben's woodstove insert (Loved it! It could put out the heat) then changed to an Appalachian insert (not sure why, maybe for looks...) Now, in my own house - been burning for 14 years - first a dumb old wasteful pre-fab fireplace, now this year I have a Regency R90 fireplace and am livin' the dream! Would love to not have to turn on the heat pump all winter.
Pets: 2 black labrador retrievers, 2 cats (one diabetic)
Hobbies: Obedience training and showing my dogs, micromanaging my diabetic cat (I'm a control freak), pottery, and puttering around the house.

 

[njkev]

Name: Kevin
Age: 42
Location: Stockholm, Sussex County, New Jersey
Occupation: Sr. Electronic Engineer, communications & protection relay equipment for the utility industry.
Wood Burning History: 10 years with a inefficient Superior-brand fireplace. I recently did a complete demolition of that unit and replaced it with an EPA Phase II compliant Heatilator Constitution.
Family: I am married for 11 years, and have three young children, one of which has Leukemia.
Hobbies: Cutting & splitting wood, coins, electronics, computers, (innocent) "hacking", and tv/microwave & other consumer product repairs.

 

[rphurley]

Name is Rich
Live in central Ct.
First year burning and have learned so much from this website.
Occupation, Registered Nurse at Big Urban teaching hospital in Hartford.
After a stressful day at work I like to come home, work in the yard and obcess about my woodpile!
Hobbies would be motorcycling, golf and travel. AND of course I have to mention avid college football fan, Go BC!

 

[lampare]

Joe
Occupation Telco Linesman
From West Warwick Rhode Island
Hobbies Old cadillac restoration,Pyrotechnics.

 

[fullbore]

Age: 37

Occupation: Work Release Director at a County Prison

Location: Northeast PA

Years Burning: 2 yrs

Hobbies: Hunting, Guns, Guitars, Harley Davidson motorcycles, ATVs, Chainsaws, Lionel Trains

 

[karri0n]

Name: Rob

Age: 22 Edit: 23! I will never know my age once I get past 30.

Location: Ledyard, CT

Years burning: all my life for camping, etc, 2 years with my stove

Occupation: IT, freelance when I have time, 9-5 for a company called Client Associated Businesses(most vague company name ever)

Hobbies: Gardening/farming, Cars(old American as well as import tuning), home improvement, world religion study

I have one autistic son, with another child on the way. Engaged to be married to a beautiful girl hopefully sometime next year, and trying to stay warm in our 250 year old colonial over this winter. Last winter was tough, this year I'm working on really sealing up the house and keeping the warmth in. All old windows, no insulation in the walls, and the heat escapes through the floors in our non carpeted rooms. Really enjoying this thread, nice to get to know everyone a bit.

 

[fishrprice]

Name: Gene

Age: 47

Location: Land of Pleasant Living, Eastern Shore of Maryland

Occupation: Lieutenant, Baltimore City Fire Department

Burning: Had a house a few years ago that had an insert in it, I loved it.
so now I am in the process of installing a Waterford Lepprecaun. Already
have wood drying from 3 trees I cut down out back on my property.

Family: Have a 6 y.o. daughter that is the apple of my eye.

Hobbies: Love to hunt and fish.

Think Hearth.com is the best forum around.

Nice to meet ya all.

 

[ikessky]

Age: 27

Occupation: Product structure for a forestry equipment manufacturer. I also run my own auto detailing business on a part time basis.

Education: I have my bachelor's degree in operations and material management. I'm contemplating going for my MBA though.

Status: Married for 8 years and have 3 wonderful children and a hyper golden retreiver.

Years burning: Just started this year. This website has been an unbelievablly helpful resource for me! We burned wood when I was growing up, but I never put any thought into it. I just helped haul and load firewood with dad and grandpa.

Hobbies: Automotive anything (cleaning, repair, performance), bass guitar, guns, hunting, fishing, woodworking, and enjoying my family.

Music: Metal. The heavier and harder the better!

 

[Colin_Farquhar]

Age: 25
Occupation: Music Education Centre manager for Long & McQuade Langley (I run the music school) & Educational Services Rep (I deal with music teachers in school), freelance audio engineer.
Status: married 4 months-eek!
Years Burning: Well, I've been working on antique steam engines since I was 9 (started out as fireman/wood getter) does that count? burning in the home since September.
Hobbies: learning Hammond organ, restoring vintage machinery, collecting music/records, chopping wood?
Music: Everything. primarily traditional jazz/rock & roll, but a bit of all.

Thanks for all the help-I haven't burnt the house down!

 

[Jake Weaver]

Name: Jason
Age: 35
Status: Married 9 years, 2 kids 4yr old daughter 1yr old son
3 dogs (my wife is a sucker for dogs in need of a good home) Old Golden Retriever, Jack Russell Terrier - there is no doubt why previous owners didn't want him ;-P ) and yellow lab who is the second lovely lady in my life!
Cut wood as a boy with my dad and had to always help- swore I would never have a wood stove in my own house!! When I bought my house LP was $.79/gal now that I just paid the highest for it I am doing what I swore I wouldn't do- burning wood. This time though I am really enjoying it! Can't wait to enlist my kids when they are older! I am sure they will feel the same way about it as I did as a kid.

Hobbies: Golfing, reading, tinkering around the house with projects, my yard (I own 3 1/2 acres and oh how I strive for a dandelion, crabgrass, and weed free yard!). I am a do it yourself kinda guy so I like the things that come up with owning a 35 year old home.

Occupation: System Engineer for communications company

Really enjoy this forum and have learned a lot from all you that contribute! Thanks!