The annual winterization process has begun. Summer — real summer, with hot weather and sunny skies — ended a month or so ago. Summer was early this year. Late July and this first half of August have been autumn-like. We're still hoping for a warm and sunny September, but we have to be prepared.
So yesterday we got our annual delivery of firewood. This is the third or fourth time we've ordered wood from a man in the village of Vallières-les-Grandes, which is about 30 minutes from here, near Amboise and Chaumont-sur-Loire. We are so glad to have found him, because he's professional, prompt, and reliable. The prices are reasonable. Bertie happened to be out from when the wood was dumped on the driveway and, being a cat, he was curious about it.
The delivery was four stères of oak logs cut to fit our small wood-burning stove. That's four cubic meters, which is how wood is measured here. It's the equivalent of just more than a cord, and cut and delivered it cost us 264 euros, or about $300 U.S. It will get us through the winter as a supplement to our oil-fired central heating system. We recently had 1,500 liters (400 U.S. gallons) of fuel oil delivered too, so we are ready for winter. Fuel oil is much more expensive than firewood, but our wood-burner won't heat the whole house.
The truck carrying the wood, a flat-bed dump truck, just barely fit through our front gate, and the driver had to be careful not to run into the edge of our second-floor terrace, which overhangs the driveway. The driver yesterday made it look easy. Now all we have to do is stack the wood on the north side of the house, under the terrace overhang where it will be protected from rain. We'll start working on it this morning.
Wow, it's great that it's already cut into the lengths you need!
ReplyDeleteJudy
Remember before, when Walt had to cut all those one-meter logs into three pieces? Now it's done for us — for a price, but it's worth it.
DeleteDo you need to split the 'round' logs, or do they fit in the wood burner?
ReplyDeleteWalt says he splits a lot of the round logs because they burn better that way. But they will fit unsplit into the wood-burner too.
DeleteHot baths and wine tonight after all that hard (on the back) work ! It is so warm here, hate to think of a cold wet winter on the way , a fireplace would make it much nicer ... actually I am considering going back North .. where cold and wet includes freezing and snowy :)
ReplyDeleteI did my bit on the wood sorting and stacking this morning. It was warm and humid outside, so I didn't last long. Then Walt did a lot more than I did while I went shopping at the supermarket.
DeleteI see Bertie in your pics, curious about the new delivery.
ReplyDeleteIt won't cool down in these parts, LA that is, until November or December. October can often be the hottest month. Wishing you an extended warm fall.
October can be nice here but not like summertime. Thanks for the good wishes.
DeleteGlad to see that Monsieur Bertie is supervising so that everything is under control.
ReplyDeleteI love the cozy warmth of wood heat, but even more than the cutting and stacking, the clean up is a chore.
Yes, having a daily wood fire is a major chore, especially the cleanup. But it is so pleasant, and so economical, the use the wood-burner for a significant portion of our heating. Turning on the central heat in the morning means we don't have to build a fire immediately when we get up in the morning. Because of the wood fire, the boiler doesn't kick in in the afternoon or evening. Once somebody asked me how much oil we use to heat the house over a typical winter, the reaction to my answer was: it would be impossible to heat a house like yours using that small amount of oil. I know, I said, we also build a wood fire nearly every day.
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