Where has my knitting time gone?

Back in a not-too-distant past, if we ever felt cold in our house, we would walk up to the thermostat and press the “up arrow” button to bump up the temperature.  It was that simple.

Things are a bit different now.  While we have a central furnace as a backup, our primary heat source is now a woodstove.

In order to run the woodstove until spring, you have to split wood.  Thus, you need to take advantage of the good weather to run the splitter (DH is practically an expert now).

(And no, it’s not a pug guillotine.  Piccolo happened to walk through the shot while he was focused on finding new poo to eat.  Seriously.  He’s a poo-eater.  And let’s just say that he’s LOVED his time here discovering new delectables thanks to the deer and wild turkeys.  Mmm, mmm.)

While DH slaves away at the splitter, someone has to move the wood into the barn and stack it.  Thus, I now know how to drive one of these…

You fill the Kubota’s front bucket and drive into the barn, and stack, and stack, and stack the wood.

That 20-foot long section in the photo is three rows deep and 5.5 feet high, and there is another section at the other end of the barn that is at least seven feet high.  The goal is 6-7 cords to get two houses through the winter.  We’ve got to beat the rain, so no knitting during the day and I’ve been too tired to accomplish a lot of knitting at night.  My poor sister–her birthday gift is now a month late.  I know I’ll appreciate her patience when we’re staying warm in the depths of January.  Thanks, sis!