As with all things we do, our project to install our woodstove at the executive deer stand has gone slowly.  About a year ago, some friends helped me cut a hole in our perfectly good roof and feed a stovepipe through it.  Emily thinks we stalled like that for a year, but I prefer to think of that year as all-season, extreme weather testing.  Finally, in the last few weeks, we found a little room to breathe in our schedule and finished actually attaching the stove to the well-tested stovepipe!

The funny thing is that we actually bought the stove about 4 years ago.  Four years ago we were optimistic on how long it would take us to build the cabin…”oh, about 6 months, right?”  Yeah…right…

Anyhow, we fired up the stove with the first fire and it was glorious!  Although it was an unseasonable 70 degrees, it will still absolutely wonderful to enjoy its heat.  I was a little ridiculous, but I bet I ran back and forth outside ten times watching for smoke in the chimney…I just wanted to see it work!  Of course, it was a good fire so didn’t produce much smoke which was good and bad I guess.

And what will we burn in this stove you ask?  We just happened to have to cut down a few trees at our house.  The lumberjacks left the tree cut up in sections, but unsplit on the ground where it dropped.  All together, I think we had wood from 4 or 5 trees.  We burned a bunch in the firepit but still have a really good pile of wood….or actually, several really good piles.

At first, I wanted to buy a woodsplitter but decided to rent one instead…right decision.  We knocked out splitting a lot of wood in a weekend and hauled it to our woodshed at the deer stand over the course of a few weeks…

So, now we can let it snow and blow.  Assuming we can get near the cabin, we can be plenty warm!