Dennis Barrow

Phil Stevens wrote:Another advantage my fire has is that the flue can be cleaned from the bottom. Much safer than going up on the roof.

When I built my home 6 years ago I was limited on location for the woodstove because a various factors, the main one being the wife's desire to have certain room locations.
So the stove ended up in the center of the walkout basement.   I wanted it on the end of the house so I could have a cleanout outside.  Didn't happen but that's ok.

I did design the HVAC so there is an air intake above the stove and I can just run the fan and heat the house.

I let one of my son's build his home, off grid, on my property.  The one thing I had him do is run the chimney out the side of the cabin so he could have the cleanout outside.  I usually get him to clean my chimney and everytime he does he thanks me for having him run his out the side of the cabin.  He has a 12 x 12 pitch roof and it would have been the second story to get on for clean out.

Rico Loma wrote:I typically burn well cured hardwoods to minimize creosote.  About May 1 I disassemble all pipe, take it outside on a heavy dew morning , then clean thoroughly.  
A question here for the faithful:
How many folks using standard wood stoves add 'creosote remover' granules to a monthly fire during winter?  
This product claims to crystallize the deposits and negate the danger.  I haven't used it for fear of putting vile chemical fumes into the morning air...

I have no choice but to burn pine.  It creates a lot of creosote!  
I can't get on my roof to clean the chimney when it is wet or snowy. (metal roof and I am getting ready to celebrate my 29th birthday for the 44th time in February so don't go up there.  I do get the kids to clean it in the fall or spring.)
I have used the creosote burning logs a couple of times in the middle of winter and they seem to work well.  When I had one of my kids go up and clean the chimney in the spring there was not much creosote.
They are not cheap, but cheaper than a hospital visit.

Well...........  Just harvested the potato's grown in pine needles.
Not really large ones.  About 15 lbs of mostly 2  inch to 1 inch size.   I did plant 2 varieties, one was a yellow and the other was a red potato.  The red variety did not do well in the pine needles but the few I got were much bigger than the yellow. 4 or 5 that were 3 plus inches.
The yellow ones were starting to get a scab on them, but not bad yet.

I did plant some of these same potato's in the ground next to the pine needle medium.  They did produce larger potato's and no scab starting on them.

There were a lot of small potato's, 1 inch and a bit under.  We like those small ones.  The wife cans them and they are great in the winter in stews and stuff.

Overall I liked the results.   I will do it again next year.

I "refresh" my garden by usually chopping up my harvested plants using my lawn mower with the bag to catch it all, then spread over my beds. (a lot of the plants do not chop up very good when wet.  Just gunk up the mower.  lol)
I say usually, but this year a forecast was for some rain, Maybe some snow.  I got over a foot of snow.  That was 4 days ago. Still have 6 inches or so of the white stuff.
Took 3 of the grandkids out today and raked the snow off the carrot beds and pulled carrots.  Canning them in the next few days, after the tomatoes, Canning tomatoes every other day as they get ripe.  Had to pull them 10 days ago because of a frost that was coming.  (and it came)
Tomorrow is raking more snow off my beds where the garlic is going and then raking more snow off the potato beds.
Everything is messed up for me this year, but I am hopeful of a thawing out this next week so I can get back to work in the garden.

I finally did it!!!
I bought a new pair of shoes withe memory foam insoles.
No more forgetting why I walked into the Kitchen!!

About a month ago I noticed a couple of my green bean plants had "sunk".  Just the tops of them on the soil.  Moles had had a feast.
I took my garden hose and shoved it down the hole and let it run.   I have a well that is 35 gallons a minute.  Forgot about the hose for 45 minutes or so.  Water was still disappearing into the ground.  Did not see any activity for over 2 weeks after that.

Did you hear about the big winter storm in New York?
It got so cold that bankers were walking around with their hands in their own pockets.

When I was learning to drive in the winter, my Dad told me, "If you're ever lost in the snow, wait for a plow truck, then follow it."

One cold, snowy Minnesota night, I got lost on the way home. The snow was blowing so fast and piling up so high, I couldn't see any street signs. With no map in my car and a dead cell phone, I thought I might be stranded so I pulled over to the side of the road.

Then breaking through the flurries, I saw the headlights of a plow truck in my rearview mirror. Thanking my lucky stars, I turned in and followed the truck, hopeful that it would lead me back somewhere I recognized.

I followed that truck for what felt like hours. He turned left, I'd turn left. He'd swing to the right, and I was right on his tail. After a while, I saw brake lights from the plow, followed by four-way flashers. The plow had stopped, and I saw the driver get out and approach my car. I rolled down the window to talk to him.

"Why are you following me, kid?" the plow driver asked.

"Well sir, my dad told me if I was ever lost in a snowstorm, I should wait for a plow truck and then follow it."

"Well," said the plow driver. "I just finished clearing the Target parking lot. Want to follow me over to Best Buy?"

I started to "lime" eggs about 4 years ago.  I looked for the lime on-line and put it in the checkout on Amazon and left it for a couple of days.  Got a notice that it was on sale then.
Went to buy it and it came up with a case of the stuff for $5.00 more.  Thought, "Why not?".  lol  I am on the second bag of 12 and have given away 2 bags.

I use 1/2 gallon canning jars for the eggs.  In 4 years we have not had any bad eggs but 1/2 dz cracked ones, and yes, they were on the top.

I only put fresh clean eggs in that I collect that day.

I just went to cut off the plastic wrap from an all weather electrical cover I was going to install outside my garage.  My knife poked a hole in it but would not cut the plastic wrap on the first 2 inches of blade.
Time to sharpen.
I have an old whetstone that was my grandpa's sitting by my utility sink in the garage.  I gets plenty of use from me.  I am never without a pocket knife on me.  (When we fly somewhere on vacation I feel naked without one on me, but one always goes into checked luggage).
One minute or so and my knife is now very sharp again.
Several years ago a guy I worked with had gone to a garage sale and picked up a bucket full of whetstones for a couple of dollars.  He asked if I wanted any, of course my answer was "YES".  I now have whet stones in all my various tool boxes, vehicles, hunting packs, etc.
Favorite pasttime for me is sitting around the fire at hunting camp sharpening all the knives.