~Kinda Chilly~

We are having another day of rain...and it is chilly, so much so

my furnace came on.. I felt that air blowing out of the register

and all I could see was the gas bill going up..When I lived with

my 2nd husband we had a wood stove and I remember my

first thought was no gas bill... well I will tell you..I would rather

have the gas bill for what I went thru with that wood stove,

the mess, the work, the smell, was tedious..

It was located right in the middle of the livingroom..had like a

special floor under it..and there was a big square box in the

smoke stack or pipe..that big tube that comes out of them..

It had a fan in it and when that stove reached a certain temp

that thing would turn on and blow all that heat that was going

out that stack into the house..Kept it really warm and was a 3

bedroom house...it was worth every dime for what we paid

for that thing, a Denny, I think its called.

We had a tree service, so we got our wood for nothing and

we sold wood thru the winter months to make extra money.
We had a wood splitter and that made it easier to cut up

the tree limbs etc. When there was no wood left by the

stove..Willie, my ex, would get the wheelbarrow and fill it

with wood, roll it thru my kitchen and across the carpet and

dump it out by the stove. 9 times out of 10 there was snow

on the porch where it was kept and that meant there was

a wet track all thru the house when it was time to restock

the supply...Then to clean out that stove, the ashes if you

dropped anything in it it was like a dust storm and white

dust was everywhere, and this had to be done alot. Was

NOT fun... cuz I HAD to do it..

I had never been around a wood stove even though my dad

used that to heat his garage. I never paid attention all I knew

was warm in there and we had wood piles in the yard.. I had

NO idea how to build a fire or keep it going. I learned REAL
fast..If you don't have the right kind of kindling and paper etc

you will NOT start a good fire- enough to get chunks of wood

to burn...There is a technique to it..trust me..It took me quite

awhile to learn this, after many burnt fingers and a few

choice words when those logs didnt catch...I learned..it has

a trick to it..no kindling, no logs on fire.

I would stay up late and keep the fire going then in the wee

hours of the morning it had burnt down to nothing but coals..

Willie wasn't that familiar with wood stoves either.. So guess

who I called and asked " DADDY, I cant keep my wood stove

going all night, what do I do?" He laughed at me and told me

to lay the logs on the ends..not the sides..cut them in slices..

and they will burn longer.. I tried it and it really WORKED! I

was so glad to find out..Meant I got more sleep..Willie would

wake me up and say "Its cold in here, go fix the fire". AND

like a dummy I would get up and do just that ! Well I was cold

too and I wanted to go back to sleep and if he went,, well he

would make a big scene and my doing it saved alot of ear

trauma.. :-)

Donnie and I talked about the wood stove one day, remembering

the trials we had with that thing.. When Willie would be gone, I

would NOT allow anyone in the house unless they carried in some

wood for me. Willie would go to Florida for weeks at a time, leaving

me alone and with a wood stove..he made sure there was plenty

OUTSIDE, all cut up, I had to bring it in...That was a pain... We

laughed when we remembered that I called Donnie to come by

every day and he got stuck most of the time bringing in wood!
He asked if I remembered the times when Willie would crank up

that wood stove so high loading it with wood that it glowed RED,

and was almost transparent where you could see in side it.. He

was very cold blooded..In more ways than one too ..

I should explain who Donnie is maybe, hes a good friend I met in

83, in Wisconsin when I was visiting my brother, he was a best

friend of my brothers, wife's, son. He wanted to get out of home,

and start his own life so to speak, he knew we had a tree service

and we offered him a job, and said he could stay with us till he

could afford his own place. When he moved to Indiana to work

and live with us, he brought his high school sweetheart, Kimmie,

she was a beauty, blonde, and tiny..They lived with us for a year,

and just before Kelli, their daughter was born they moved into

their own mobile home a few miles from us.. I babysat Kelli so

Kimmie could go back to work right away, she was a very

hyper girl..and needed to stay busy, which a new baby would

do that but she needed to be back to herself for a while and
Willie and I loved having Kelli everyday, the real time we did

argue was over who Kelli was going to spend the day with.

She loved to go on tree jobs with "PaPa". Next month she

will be 22. Kimmie died when Kelli was 4, and Donnie is

now married to Dawn. They are all like my own kids.. I

watched Donnie and then Kelli grow up... and they both are

great people..and Dawn is a sweetie..

Well so much for the woodstove and who Donald is, and its

time to eat my lunch that I didn't have time for at noon, my

Counselor, Theresa was here for a few hours.. She hasnt

been here in quite a while.. I was sick once, then so was

she.. Shes so nice..easy to talk to.. She gave me a nice

compliment today, said that she thought I looked really

good, she liked my hair, said I looked very nice. I was so

pleased! Made me feel good...So now, this really

GORGEOUS Weeble is gonna go have a late lunch, I
AM hungry.. "Nitey Nite" :-)

Y'all have a good one now Y'hear? love ya, and thanks!!

Always, Lois ****

God Bless you is my prayer today,

I'm so honored to call you "friend";

I pray the Lord will keep you safe

until I write again..