First Fire of Fall 2020

 On Sunday 31 Oct we lit our first fire of fall 2020, and  didn’t let it go out until 5 Nov, when we had an unusually warm stretch of Nov. weather.

I am not sure of why warming by the fire gives such comfort, but I truly savor it, as I am guessing I have relayed here before. Last year we burned a fire in our fireplace insert all winter long. We were gifted with a good supply of very dry firewood which burned well.

This year we are burning wood that I cut the spring and summer of 2019. It typically takes wood over a year to season totally to make a good-burning, hot fire. Wood containing moisture uses heat to evaporate the moisture which leaves as steam. And, green wood causes a fast build-up of creosote in the chimney.

The chief thing I have noticed already is the increased weight of this newer wood. More weight in dry wood means more heat available and slower burning rates. The other night, I put one heavy chunk of wood in the fire and went to sleep. Six hours later it showed hot coals still which started the following day's fire. I was impressed.

I think part of the joy of a wood fire, besides the smell, is the work required to have one. First you have to find wood to cut. Then you cut it, then you haul it, then you split it, then you stack it to dry, then you move it from the stack to the wood box, and finally you move it from the box to the fire.  Whew! That’s the first time I think I have ever written this all down in one spot.

I have never considered this, but fire, in some form, is essential to life as we know it. Perhaps there are a few, very few, tropical places that never need warmth from fire, but even those folks want/need to cook food and sometimes to boil drinking water. For those of us a bit farther from the equator, we make fire to warm, to cook, to boil, to drive our internal-combustion engines, and to do a great many things in industry to give us useful metals, liquids, and other products.

So the next time you see a fire, unless it is raging out of control, thank the L^rd G^d for fire.

Thank you L^rd!