The Dangers and Challenges of Living in An Old Drafty Building During Freezing Nights and Raging Storms
How we make firewood and other strategies for staying warm during winter nights of below freezing temperatures as we face life made much harder by climate change.
Photo credit: Chinmayan
It is a warm sunny afternoon here in the mountains, high up where the big Douglas Fir trees grow. Though we had a hard freeze last night, now it is almost short sleeve shirt weather as I peel off layers of coats and sweaters, feeling grateful to be so warm.
I am here in the tall trees alone, with our big four by four truck, chain saw and maul on a mission to make firewood from trees laid low by storms, and left in piles for us by friends.
All winter long, I have been coming here twice a week to “buck”wood, which means to cut the big dry dead tree trunks into 16 in lengths.
To do this, I first measure along the trunk, cutting a mark in the thick bark at 16 inch intervals. Then, I must first cut through the big trunks as far as I can with the chainsaw, almost to the ground.
Then, using a long handled log rolling bar called a “Peavey”, with a hook attached that is driven into the side of the massive tree trunk, I have to roll the heavy log over by myself so I can complete the cut, separating each “round” in sequence.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
The trees were 3 feet in diameter laying on the ground in 40 feet long trunks.
Each round is still far too heavy to be picked up, so I roll each one away from the others, and make three slices in it’s side with my saw, cutting across the grain.
Then, using my 8 lb maul, which I named “Excalibur” after King Arthur’s sword, I skillfully swing it high over my head and down into the upturned round, to split chunks off until the big round becomes several smaller pieces.
The goal is to make each one small enough that it’s weight is just enough that I can pick them up and load into the truck.
I have been making firewood in this traditional way for most of my life, always seeking for better, easier ways of doing each step to save labor and time.
One trick I developed eliminates having to bend down to pick up and lift the heavy pieces.
Instead, I use a hook knife with a long handle and large sharp hook shaped cutting bladed and drive it into the side of each piece and then in one fluid motion, lift the piece and swing it up into the truck’s cargo bay. This is far faster and easier.
Even with my powerful roaring Timber Wolf .059 Echo chainsaw, fitted with a brand new chain, its rough going because the wood is dense and tough.
Making firewood is hard work…It is physically demanding from start to finish, which is one of the things I like about it, because this work pushes me to the limit…and I don’t have to go to the gym as doing this work keeps me healthy and strong.
After a few hours work, the truck is full of chunks of beautiful, perfectly seasoned wood.
I take the load back to our firewood yard on Still Mountain, where we have a hydraulic splitter, which I use to split each chunk down into the perfect size for keeping the fire going in a wood stove.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
I love being here in the sweet solitude of wilderness places, surrounded by nature in harmony with the earth.
All around me are green living trees a hundred feet tall and higher, stretching themselves into the sky in a grove all over the top of this mountain. The best word to describe them is “majestic” for these trees seem to know themselves to be sacred and special.
I am here today because more big storms are on their way, of heavy rain and even snow. I have to work now, while it’s sunny and mild, so that when the coming storms are raging, we can sit by the fire in our big wood stove and enjoy its sanctuary of warmth and safety.
I have to work now while its possible, for it is not just us that I need to be thinking of, but of all the folks and families who have been coming regularly to our Still Mountain Fire Wood Stand to get our handmade firewood to heat their own homes.
Photo Credit: Chinmayan
Keeping the home fires burning is a very serious proposition now that we are having winters with night after night of below freezing temperatures that are so cold that the water in our well freezes.
Our winters used to be milder and much wetter. When I first came to this part of the country, we’d get 100 inches of rain every winter. Lately, in these years of drought, we are lucky if we get 30 inches.
Sometimes it would be one rain storm after another so that for three weeks or more, there would be no sunlight. Back then, it was rare to have a freezing night, but now its like we are in a different world of climate change.
The intense cold is very serious business for us because last winter, Ani had two very close calls with hypothermia, where she woke up literally freezing and felt a very real threat to her life.
We took drastic action to get her warmed back up as fast as we could, but each attack shook us up and awake to the fact that she could have died. Once she had a close call like this, then her body has become much more sensitive and vulnerable to the cold.
This winter, as chains of freezing nights started earlier in the winter, she had three more near attacks where she came to me in a trembling panic and again we took emergency action.
The source of the threat comes from the fact that our huge Meditation Center building was built over a hundred years ago with absolutely no insulation and 12 foot high ceilings.
There is no insulation under the floor, and we have drafty single glaze windows, so the cold seeps in from underneath and through the walls, while the heat generated by our gigantic wood stove rises up and passes out through the ceiling.
The wood stove was a huge investment, and does heat our huge main meditation hall somewhat until the outside temperatures go below freezing. Then, even sitting close to the wood stove, the front of our bodies facing the stove will be hot and sweaty, but our backs are cold to the touch.
Fortunately, we do have an ultimate warm refuge in the living area of my tiny house, which is heated by a robust furnace fueled by propane. We have passed many a storm or freezing night in that tiny living area, grateful not to be exposed to the cold and safe at least for the night.
Of course, taking care of Ani and protecting her is our top priority.
We watch the weather forecast very closely so we know when the temperatures are going down into the danger zone at night.
We have adjusted to being on constant look out for any time she might be exposed to the freezing cold and mitigate it as best we can.
We bought layers of sweaters, coats, and heavy snow jackets for her, as well as a thick fur cap. We also invested in two large sheep skins to go over the covers of our beds, which has made them much warmer to sleep safely in.
We have also faced the reality that using or even being in the main building here on Still Mountain is untenable when winter brings below freezing temperatures…sometimes far below the freezing point.
We are making it through this winter with hard work, taking precautions and adjusting to the shifting realities.
We are also ready to make major changes in the year ahead so that we never have to expose Ani or me to the rough, challenging brunt of winter we’ve had to endure this winter.
We are praying through for a vision and guidance on what we need to be working towards in this next phase of life, which includes possibly selling Still Mountain and moving on to a new home much better suited to the new, simpler, easier life we feel called to now.
Whatever is ahead for us…Its all part of the adventure of life that we share, with a strong faith in God’s leading and always working towards our higher good.
Photo Credit: Still Mountain Meditation Center
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