Distance gives perspective

From warm Florida, I can give some thought to the plan for next winter. Easier to think about it when I'm not exhausted from shoveling snow and feeding the woodstove.

Last year, my plan involved having a big pile of wood and a couple of woodstoves. That worked well enough. Got me to February when we closed the house down and headed south.

What will we do next year?

I don't really know. All depends if we travel south again. If we do, how will we get down and how long will we stay?

On one extreme, we leave at the first hint of a chill. No need to really heat the house at all. We could drive south again -if that's still a viable option. Then again, we could sail all the way down. (an intriguing option.)

We could do some variant on this year's trip: leave sometime after Christmas and haul the boat south on a trailer.

Then again, we should prepare for spending the whole winter up north again. It could happen. Circumstances may keep us close to home. Should that happen, how would we get through the winter?

A key consideration, as always, is our limited budget. The best return is to chalk everything that could leak air. It's a simple thing that I haven't done recently. The basement could use a bit more insulation too. That saves some energy right off the bat.

One thing that's caught my attention is a rocket stove mass heater:

http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

Saving 5 - 10 times less wood is a real attraction. I should be able to heat my house with wood sustainable harvested within walking distance from my house. Should be able to build the heater myself fairly cheaply. Cheap enough, that if we barely use it, it'll still be worth it.

That's the thing about growing up in the Frostlands. You never forget about winter, even while soaking in the Florida sun.

-Sixbears