Or rather, the stove cometh...soon. It hasn't. Yet.
Instead, we have a lovely big hole in the front room chimney breast, with a couple of edging bricks looking a bit looser than we'd like them to be (apparently the backplate will shore them up...), but no actual stove yet.
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| Some dodgy plaster too, from someone else's DIY |
However, Mr Squidge has been taking the issue of keeping the stove fed - when it does arrive - most seriously. A farmer friend had taken down a rather large ash tree on his land; it needed clearing from the roadside verge. Mr Squidge and another friend (who had the foresight to get his stove fitted in the autumn) the opportunity to take all the wood, providing they chopped and cleared it themselves.
"Righto!" said Mr Squidge. "Thanks very much. We will."
It took two Fridays to cut the tree into rings and split the rings into chunks. At its base, the tree measured about four foot in diameter - the chainsaw wasn't long enough to reach the centre of the trunk at its widest point...
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| Dave - chainsawing the rounds off |
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| Mr Squidge splitting the rounds into manageable chunks |
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| I'm the king of the castle! |
On the Saturdays following chopping Fridays, the farmer's sheep trailer delivered half of what had been cut to us, and the other half to Mr Squidge's cutting buddy.
We now have half a flippin' tree - in bits of various sizes - on my patio. Don't believe me? Take a dekko at this:
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| And there's more you can't see in a wheelbarrow... |
The wood is in good company - it's joined the cast iron bath that got taken out last March when we started to organise refitting the bathroom. No-one wants cast iron baths these days...we can't sell it or give it away, so it'll be off to the scrappy's with it.
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| The start of our chopped wood pile |
Mr Squidge even taught our daughter how to wield an axe - partly to hone up her axe skills for Explorer Scouts, but mainly, I reckon, to give himself a rest! Even so, the pile doesn't look like it's gone down any.
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| Choppin' - it's in the genes! |
I reckon we're going to be rather toasty, but not until next winter, when the stove is eventually fitted!