The last few days we’ve had lots of cold . . for us! Don’t all you northern folks start telling me how cold it is there . . this is central Texas and it’s just not supposed to be this cold here. It never got much above 20º here today but tomorrow it’s supposed to be 38º and Saturday it’s supposed to be 72º.
Fireplace
There’s never a day when we have a fire that I don’t think about our ancestors whose only means of keeping warm was an open fireplace. You don’t venture far from the fireplace and it’s cold. The thermostat, which is just across the room from the fireplace is set on 58º and I’ve heard the heater come on a few times but I’m sitting near the fireplace with short sleeves on and I’m comfortable. We keep the bedroom doors closed and at night, we jump in bed and snuggle and don’t move out of our warm spots. Actually, right before I go to bed, I take a really hot shower and then I’m warm when I get in bed and I fall asleep before I get cold.
We’ve talked about putting a wood burning stove insert type thing in the fireplace, which would burn less wood and put out more heat but we kinda like the look of the fireplace and are hoping this winter is just a weird winter. Last winter it never really got cold enough to have a fire all winter.
I’ve had a fire going pretty much non-stop for several days. In the morning, even though there’s still live coals in the fireplace, I careful scrape them all out, into a metal bucket and put it way away from the house with a lid on it to keep embers from blowing out and starting a fire. We’re under a burn ban, which means conditions are ripe for a wild fire so I’m being cautious. Then I come in and build a fire and keep it going til bedtime.
Where I apparently threw caution to the wind . . I’m so careless sometimes . . we use these blue Ikea bags that are made from heavy duty tarp like material, to bring our wood in.
Wood Bag
Yesterday I was out on the porch getting more firewood. I set the empty bag down on my foot. I was simply wearing slippers but maybe I should start wearing steel toe boots! I picked up a big piece of wood, bigger than I normally would choose, and dropped it in the bag . . forgetting that my foot was under the bag. Ouch! How could I do something like that? For a minute I thought it was broken or something but then I was able to walk on it and today it isn’t even bruised. You would think as bad as it hurt, I would have something to show for it . . you know . . show Vince and maybe get out of cleaning the kitchen or something. Nope, not a bruise to be found.
At the beginning of the winter, we were bringing the wood in piece by piece and making a big mess. Vince looked at all kinds of bags and decided on the ugly blue one. I figured since it was plastic, it wouldn’t make it through the winter but that bag is amazingly strong! We have used it and abused it and one day, it was empty on the front porch, the wind picked it up and blew it into the barbed wire fence and it was hung up on the barbs. I figured it was torn and ruined but it made a tiny little hole in it and we’re still using it to haul wood in.
My laundry room is so small and there’s not much room for extra laundry baskets so I ordered a couple more of these bags and one is used for hauling clothes out to the clothes line. I keep one by the door to carry things back and forth to the sewing room. They fold up to nothing and they have a long and a short handle. I keep the one for the laundry room hanging on a peg in there, take it down when I need to use it, hang it back up when I’m done.
At least if I drop laundry on my foot, it doesn’t hurt! 🙂
Helene says
Those are crazy cold temperatures for Texas. I hope it warms up soon for you.
Claudia W says
Sometime, somewhere, I saw an article on the internet on various things people had made with those tough IKEA blue bags. One of the most common ones was snow pants for toddlers. If I can find the article I will come back here and post the link.
Claudia W says
Here is one idea of a kids rain jacket made with an IKEA blue bag. There are many other IKEA hacks at this site showing all the crazy and useful things people have done with IKEA furniture and other products:
http://www.ikeahackers.net/2013/04/kids-raincoat-from-ikea-bag.html
Diana in RR,TX says
We put the heatilator insert in our fireplace in MN. It was in the family room-split level . Our neighbor had the same thing, so the guys bought several bundles of slab wood, cut it into the right lengths, stored it on our extra driveway and pretty much heated both homes for the winter,Still got to see the pretty fire burning, but got some benefit. Here it is a gas fireplace, used it once. I’ts of no use.
Marcia Elliott says
“We’ve talked about putting a wood burning stove insert type thing in the fireplace, which would burn less wood and put out more heat.”
Have you considered a gas log insert? That’s what we did, and we LOVE it!
JudyL says
No way! Wood is free. Propane is darned expensive. I think wood puts out a lot more heat than a gas log insert.
Joyce says
The ikea bags are useful. I am not an Ikea fan but my daughters are and one of them gave me one of those tough bags. We keep it in the rig when we are traveling. I doubles for laundry and all sorts of odd ball things. If I get the oppourtunity I will get a couple of more. I also found at Craftwarehuse, in the outdoor sales racks, a couple of insulated large, and I do mean large zip up bags that I keep in the car to store meat of perishables in when I find bargains out of this small area to bring home. They keep well for hours. Just clean them out when you get home and put them back in the car where they are useful.I got them on clearance sale but they have really been worth every penny.
danielle says
I made the mistake of buying a package of the bags at Costco…..they are so huge they are just not useable…..so they are used to store things….and those suckers don’t wear out! The bags I like – that are pretty – or the right size – whatever – wear out way too quickly! The ones I don’t like will live on forever (like cockroaches!!)
Donna F says
I’ve got those bags too. Hubby & I use them for wood when we go camping and I pack blankets and pillows for the tent. They are so strong!
We got an inch of snow in Dallas today. It is slick out there.
Carolyn S says
I’m glad you didn’t injure your foot. Please know that I so enjoy reading about your everyday life. I’ve been thinking about blogging myself, but haven’t taken the plunge – yet.
Patty says
I remember going to my grandma’s who heated her farm house with a giant kitchen wood stove, and how we used to jump into bed with our socks on and stay in one spot to avoid being cold. Good memories, funny, I remember that it was cold but I don’t remember ever really being uncomfortable in her house because of the cold. I guess time has a way of shading one’s memories.
Susan says
That’s an interesting looking bag. It would be great for shopping at Aldi’s, too! I had a fireplace without an insert, but with a special thing that monitored the airflow and pushed the heated air out into the room. The fireplace glass doors hung from it, too, so it just looked like the fireplace – ’cause it was. I was really surprised at how much heat that put out. A friend had a wood burning stove and he had to shut his heat pipe about half way, it put out so much heat. I hope Texas isn’t that cold again. I have to have some place warm to go in about three years!
Sherrill says
I’m tryin’ to figure out how you guys’re gonna get 72 on Sat. and up here we’re only getting 56?!! Bah! But at least it’s better than 27 or 28.
Diana says
I love the warmth that comes from a woodstove. We have a Lopi stove, they make those in pellet stoves. That will be our next buy (as this one is a wood burning stove). It heats our 1600 square foot one level house very nicely and comfortably.
It just makes the muscles and the bones feel better. I put a kettle on it; heat it up for tea.
Viki says
We heat mostly with wood with our wood burning stove and can even get too warm, even on -8 days like today. You should check around if it continues to be below normal in your area because there are some beautiful woodstoves that can fit into your fireplace so you can see the fire. Ours has a lovely screen we can use should we choose an open fire over the closed stove. There is nothing quite so warm and cozy as a wood fire.
SarahB says
We added a Buck Stove insert to our fireplace in November (just in time!) and have kept a fire going non-stop since then… when it’s clean out time we move the coals to one side and shovel ash, move coals back and add logs… it heats the Lower Level, almost too hot most times, and the thermostat is set at 65 degrees for the upstairs. We do a lot of cooking as well so that keeps the kitchen and dining room comfortable upstairs. Next we’re going to try turning off the heat and just use the fan on the furnace to move the stove heat around… We love being able to control the heat output and burn speed of the wood! Damper on for full burn, damper in for slow steady burn.. works so much better than the open hearth. 🙂
JudyL says
If we had more winter, we would do something like that too but last year, it never got cold enough for us to have a single fire. This has been an exceptionally cold winter for us.
Denise ~ justquiltin says
You mean you don’t want to know that it was minus 6 degrees (minuts 16 windchill) as I was standing at the bus stop this morning and my bus broke down one street before it got to my house so I had to stand out there an extra 20 minutes waiting for it’s replacement and I may never get warm again even if my forehead does get some feeling restored to it??? And here I was hoping for some sympathy. LOL
Freda Henderson says
We have an Ashley insert and heat with wood exclusively. Glad you dif’t hurt your foot too bad.