Thinking ahead
I have had such a quiet week and I've really appreciated it. I have got through most of the mountain of laundry. There are quite a few things left unwashed still but there is not enough for a full load of anything. It has been so lovely to peg the washing out and bring it in dry but this in turn has generated a mountain of ironing - and it is far too hot to be ironing. So I'll be wearing non-iron clothes this week until I get my act together : )
Today my husband is away at a meeting in Cambridge for examiners. That will mean about five hours of driving. It will have been alright this morning because he left home before 6.30 and before it warmed up but I'm sure he won't enjoy the drive back this evening. I'm celebrating my peaceful day by having porridge for my lunch. I love porridge but my husband doesn't so I'm having it while I can. Since it is for lunch, I've put a handful of sultanas in it and they have all plumped up nicely. Yum!
I'm still collecting anything wooden that I find - pallets, branches, a wooden dining chair (broken) that was left out for the bin men. I popped back into school one day this week to collect some wood that was going spare. Some of it has already been used to mend the sides of one of the rabbit hutches. Some will be stored for future use in repairing things and some scrappy bits will end up in the pile for the woodburner for the autumn. We had the Health and Safety bloke come to do an inspection at school recently. Can you believe that we were told that the Design department was storing too much wood and that they had to get rid of lots of it. This wood is stored in a purpose built concrete store which has been made as fireproof as possible! It is our gain but I still think that it is further evidence that H&S have gone mad.
The maths department were also having a major clear out at the end of term and I have been given two boxes of absolutely ancient books which are donkeys years out of date - but perfectly fine for burning. Some of the books which had a bit of life left were passed on elsewhere. And one of the members of staff who was retiring has given me all his notes and paperwork from the last ten years of teaching and this will end up as paper "bricks" to burn next winter. Just think - one paper "brick" burnt each day over the winter means at least 200 logs that we don't have to source or cut up (or pay for). Every little helps. The ash from this winter has been added to the compost heap and helps to aereate our really heavy clay soil.
H&S would have forty fits at the amount of extra paper that is in my house at the moment but come back halfway through the winter and there won't be nearly so much. Like everything else in life, it is a case of "carpe diem" and I may never have the opportunity of having so much free woodburner fodder again.
Today my husband is away at a meeting in Cambridge for examiners. That will mean about five hours of driving. It will have been alright this morning because he left home before 6.30 and before it warmed up but I'm sure he won't enjoy the drive back this evening. I'm celebrating my peaceful day by having porridge for my lunch. I love porridge but my husband doesn't so I'm having it while I can. Since it is for lunch, I've put a handful of sultanas in it and they have all plumped up nicely. Yum!
I'm still collecting anything wooden that I find - pallets, branches, a wooden dining chair (broken) that was left out for the bin men. I popped back into school one day this week to collect some wood that was going spare. Some of it has already been used to mend the sides of one of the rabbit hutches. Some will be stored for future use in repairing things and some scrappy bits will end up in the pile for the woodburner for the autumn. We had the Health and Safety bloke come to do an inspection at school recently. Can you believe that we were told that the Design department was storing too much wood and that they had to get rid of lots of it. This wood is stored in a purpose built concrete store which has been made as fireproof as possible! It is our gain but I still think that it is further evidence that H&S have gone mad.
The maths department were also having a major clear out at the end of term and I have been given two boxes of absolutely ancient books which are donkeys years out of date - but perfectly fine for burning. Some of the books which had a bit of life left were passed on elsewhere. And one of the members of staff who was retiring has given me all his notes and paperwork from the last ten years of teaching and this will end up as paper "bricks" to burn next winter. Just think - one paper "brick" burnt each day over the winter means at least 200 logs that we don't have to source or cut up (or pay for). Every little helps. The ash from this winter has been added to the compost heap and helps to aereate our really heavy clay soil.
H&S would have forty fits at the amount of extra paper that is in my house at the moment but come back halfway through the winter and there won't be nearly so much. Like everything else in life, it is a case of "carpe diem" and I may never have the opportunity of having so much free woodburner fodder again.
Labels: woodburner
posted by Jo @ 5:03 AM
2 Comments:
At 7:59 AM,
Unknown said…
Our cottage came with a leaky coal stove, my DB is working hard to fix up the fire place. Even though I haven't had a stove, I have gathered wood. I collected shelves to cut up. You are doing really well. Our wood shed will be full of garnered wood by the time winter comes.
At 11:16 PM,
Jo said…
Our wood shed is already full but some of it is freshly cut wood that won't be ready to burn until the winter after next. So I'm carrying on gathering whatever comes my way.
You'll appreciate having a woodburner back again when it happens : ) Or even a mended coal stove : )
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