Fire is warm...

Just going to throw in a couple pictures of what I see at least a couple times every day.  We burn wood at our house to stay warm.  It is pretty old fashioned technology, but we haven't had to fill our propane tank in over a year.  The wood pile in the basement used to be about twice that size.  Hopefully we are more than halfway through the winter.  The gauge tells me if the fire is burning hot enough.  The little metal thing with the slinkyish handle sticking out of the stove pipe is the dampener.  It keeps air from getting to the fire and lessens the amount of wood we go through.

It is quite an undertaking to burn wood in your home.  I am very fortunate to have a fine brotherhood of woodsmen to help me collect and split firewood.  It really is a comradeship when you burn wood.  I would compare it to the marines.  The attitude seems to be no man left behind.  Once people that burn wood know that you burn wood they usually want to help you.  Sometimes they help split, sometimes they help cut, sometimes they loan you equipment like trailers and splitters.  It is a very interesting brotherhood.

On to the rest of life.  Basketball practice was a little rough today.  We wanted to goof around just a little bit too much for my taste.  I think we used up that extra energy and hopefully they are ready to work again tomorrow.

Herds are tomorrow night.  I sat in a dark room and waited on the Spirit for a topic for Early Herd,  and He may have come, but I think I dozed off... grrrr.  Weak flesh.  Herd will be studying John 10.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the Gate.  Very interesting passage.  I pray that I can relate some truth to them through it.

The weather here is beautiful which it great except that it is supposed to be freezing and keeping my ice rink nice.  The ice is only a couple days from being non-existent in these temperatures.  I hope that hockey season isn't over, but I am afraid it may be close.  I tried to fight the end of the season last year with all sorts of time spent "fixing" the ice, but I don't think I will do that this year.