Another sunrise

You have to take 'em when you can get 'em. This time of year we have fog and clouds that conspire to hide the sunrise. So when the sky is clear, like it was on Tuesday, it's a treat. And when there are airline contrails streaking across the eastern sky, the effect can be interesting.

Sunrise with contrails.

Tuesday morning was also quite cold at a few degrees below freezing. I know there are colder places and I'm glad I'm not in them. This is just the right amount of cold for me. Enough to know that it's winter, but not enough to seriously mess with our daily life. Except for one thing: the daily fire.

Since we supplement our central heating plant with a wood burning stove, I have the daily chore of cleaning out the stove and building the new fire. I've told you before: it's fun in the fall and early winter. Pretty, nice and cozy, very holiday-like. But by the end of January it starts to get old. Cold ashes to sweep, gather, and dump (and ash dust that covers everything), going out in the cold for kindling and to split a few logs to get the fire going.

I really don't mind it at all. The fire is warm and saves us from burning more fuel oil. Our stove is a newer one that burns very efficiently (you can't see any smoke coming from our chimney) and firewood is a renewable energy source (it's a big business with all the big managed forests around here). But I still look forward to March when it can be warm enough to skip the fire, and not long after when I don't have to think about it again for six months.