Has living off-grid in the bush already driven me crazy?
For those who knew me from Southern Ontario,
no the cold has not frozen my brain. And for those who didn’t know me back then, the cold was
something I simply dreaded. Now, I really do prefer the colder temps over
the almost freezing ones. I’ll try to explain how this happened.
Earlier this week we knew we were getting to the point of needing
to have the inside wood rack filled and as luck would have it, the outside,
already split, rack was empty. That meant we had to do the full wood dance. That's our term for getting the wood that we purchased and stacked behind
the trailer, moving it, splitting it, moving it again, filling the outdoor rack
and finally filling the indoor rack.
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| Starting on the second rack meant this path had to be made |
Since we have emptied the first wood storage rack, there would
be shovelling to do to get to the next wood storage rack. We had three racks when the season started and
are now just beginning to work on splitting the second one. The day we thought we
would do the job, started out snowing and it just kept at it, while the
temperature climbed. Since we had other chores for the morning, it was almost lunch by the time we were ready to start. The snow was still coming down, the temperature had
climbed to -3 Celsius and we were expecting company that afternoon. In the
interest of not rushing and knowing we still had wood inside, we postponed the wood dance.
Fast forward to the next day. It’s sunny, which is always a good thing when
you’re off grid using solar power for electricity. But, as usual, in the winter, when it’s sunny it’s cold. It was -35 with the wind-chill when we woke and over
breakfast the temp went up to a slightly more reasonable -22 and the wind died
down.
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| This path to the splitting spot had to be shovelled too |
Ed headed out to start the shovelling while I finished up
the inside work. By the time I was done he was finished shovelling. As I
began to tell him what an amazing job he had done clearing all that snow (by hand I may
add, no snow blower or plow was used) he told me there was some swearing
involved. I can only hope, you can tell from the pictures, the amount of snow he
had cleared.
Inside he went to take a break, and to have a bite to eat, as I
started on my portion of the wood dance. I take the logs we have in the storage
rack and bring them to the spot where Ed splits them. Up until this time I
would just grab a couple of logs and walk them over. Doing that multiple times
as the first rack was only
about 10 feet from the splitting spot and I like to add the walking part to my workout. This time I began that way, but the walk
on the newly shovelled portion of the path was more like being in sand and much
further. Because of that, I thought that pulling the wood over via the sled
would help pack the snow down. After a number of trips, I felt I had enough
wood to fill the front rack and returned inside to check when Ed would be ready
to start the splitting. I was not going to rush him as I knew that the
shovelling had taken a toll.
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Some of the wood ready to be split. I had to shovel the path on the
left to get at the tamarack which still has the snow piled on it. |
When I came in, I saw his shirt and coat hanging by the fire
to dry. He worked so hard, he had soaked his clothing even in the -20
temperature. Ed put on some lighter clothing and I removed my scarf as even I
was over heating and we began the next step.
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| The front rack is empty |
Ed splits the wood and I pull it around the front via the
sled and stack it. While I’m gone with the sled he continues splitting and once
I have finished stacking in the front, I return and fill the sled again and
continue the dance. It usually takes about 10 trips around the trailer to fill
the front rack. Each time I am bending to fill the sled, bending and twisting to empty the
sled and stack the split wood. You get the idea, this is a workout.
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| Now it's full again |
Once done stacking, we had to fill the
inside rack. Usually I am inside but this time I told Ed to go in and I
would toss the wood in the door. He fired up the woodstove to high before the door was opened . A necessary step when outdoor air will be rushing in the whole time.
Stacking the indoor rack takes at least 10 minutes. By the time we scrape the ice off the
door, sweep up the mess that creates, toss the wood in, stack it, clean up that mess and close the door.Thankfully everything is positioned
perfectly with both the front wood rack and the indoor wood rack
close to the door.
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| We also have to keep a path to the shed and outhouse |
Once done, I actually stayed out and played with Tono
since it really is a great feeling to breathe in that cool fresh air while you’re
bundled up in your snow gear. You see, this whole time, I have on boots that are
rated to -100, waterproof, well insulated, gloves, a hat, snow pants and long
underwear but I found a scarf was just too much while working. You have to
dress that way here to stay dry while you work and enjoy the winter.
I hope I
have explained how I can enjoy the cold. Now you can see that when the temperature is -3
it’s just too warm to work. Plus if you’re not just a little chilly when you
come in, there is no need for Carolans in the coffee to warm you up.
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| We are happy to report Tono is finally using his doghouse |
