Just came back from the gym, all sweaty, to find that someone had lit a fire earlier in the evening! Now it is a stifling 65º in the kitchen… might have to go take a cold shower. I guess it has begun.
Meanwhile, we are playing a bit of a game of chicken with the firewood situation. We have only about 1/3 cord left in the garage from past years. My plan for this winter was to buy a cord of “kiln dried” wood and put it in the cellar, which is much more convenient than the garage. Our first year here, it was no problem to buy kiln-dried in November. This year, though, I started calling around in July, and was shocked that the first two outfits I called said they couldn’t help.
Yep, hard to believe, considering we have way more trees than people, but evidently Maine has a firewood shortage. That, and the fact that we are basically lousy customers (we have bought two cords in five years, while the average household buys 3-5 cords PER year) led to a problem. By upping my order to two cords, I was finally able to find someone who promised me a delivery in mid-October. When we called to check in early October, though, the date got pushed back to early November. And I will not be terribly shocked if we just don’t get any at all… which will really be a problem…