Physical contrasts

In our first house we had 3 acres of forrest and a wood stove: It was a no-brainer to heat with wood. Turning a tree into firewood involves heavy and hard instruments: Chainsaw, axe, sledge hammer and chisel. In the 4 years we lived in that place, we had two children, so we had small kids around--they were infants and toddlers.

The pleasure of wood heat was in the contrasts: The house was very warm because it was small and easy to heat and the fuel was effectively unlimited. Yet, I made and hauled firewood when it was cold out. I would spend my time at hard labor in bitter cold or relaxing in a warm house. After handing the loud, hard and heavy tools of firewood making, I would come inside and play with my small, delicate, soft and cute little girls. They seemed even more delicate and soft after smashing apart great wheels of oak and maple with my axe.

My wife was out walking Meenah and met some folks along the way. They live in a cape, much like the one we had in Vermont and they even had wood stoves in it. They had the stoves removed because they have small children! Ack! Our kids never showed any impulse to touch the hot stove, probably because it got pretty uncomfortable to get close enough to touch it when it was running. But had it been a problem we could have used a really sophisticated technique to assure safety: Not use it! I just can't believe sane people would rip out two perfectly good wood stoves!