Saturday morning ice

Isn't Memorial Day weekend supposed to be the unofficial start to summer? Saturday morning there was a thin skim of ice on a water bucket of water I left outside. At the same time Alaska is experiencing some unusually warm weather -temperatures in the 80s. Weather or climate change? No matter, either way it's flipping cold here.

So it's back to keeping the woodstove fired up. That's a bit interesting as last year's woodpile is long gone. With all the cold weather we've had lately I've been cleaning up all the storm killed trees around the house. One of the cool tools I've picked up this year is a cordless electric chainsaw. It's got no difficulty cutting up a couple days wood on a single charge. Sure beats messing around with gasoline. Now I wouldn't want to cut a dozen cord of wood with it, but it's the perfect little trim saw.

Even days when it gets up to short and t-shirt weather, mornings have been cool. A fire in the stove first thing in the morning takes the chill out of the house. At the same time I cook breakfast on the woodstove and the water coils on the back help warm up a 40 gallon tank of water. That helps keep my cooking and water heating expenses down.

Warmer weather is predicted so I might get a break from my fire tending for a bit.

-Sixbears