Our little horse farm had a home that was built in the 1930’s out of tie mill oak. Hard as nails it was. Despite neglect by five different owners since we sold the place, it has withstood two different tornados.
However, Downsville, did not have natural gas. The home had no easy way to heat, the windows leaked heat lik they weren’t even there and the price of the electrical coop’s electricity would make you think Joe Biden was President in 1979. Well there was this fellow, who was in office who while being an honest Christian, was apparently in it a bit over his head. It was Damned cold in the winter. And our bill to heat that home with two heat cool units was $300 per month. So, we decided to add a wood stove to act as an emergency source of heat since we had a baby in the home and the coop’s electricity was not always reliable.
Got the wood stove, got it installed, got enough wood to last the winter and the durn thing paid for itself before the Easter Cold Snap came. And it kept the house a little warmer. A few years later, we had new windows installed all the way around, tons of insulation added and that little wood stove kept the entire house warm. In winter, it would go weeks, maybe even months without the fire ever going completely out.
What brought this picture to mind. On the coldest weekend days, I would put together a big pot of chili put on that wood stove and let it cook slowly for hours. All the while we gathered together in that little den, Brenda, our then young son, and myself and just have a family day, watching movies on our little VCR, or maybe a college football game we were interested in. Family together around a cheery little wood burning stove, Chili almost ready to eat. The finest memory of our little farmhouse.
We sold the farm in 1992.