Raise your hand...

...if you've ever heated your home with wood or coal. I don't mean if you've had a fireplace as a secondary heating source, or for aesthetics. I mean if your only source of heat for your home was fire.

It's annoying, if you've never done it. It's a great thing in the winter if the power gets knocked out by snow, but it's such a hassle all the other times. Your home constantly smells of smoke (worse than with cigarettes), burning wood or coal means it has to be replaced,and it has to be done before the fire goes out or else you'll have a difficult time getting it started again, you have to chop firewood and keep a steady supply by the stove, etc.

I ask because that's how my parents do it. We've got a coal/wood stove, and that's it (aside from a very small electric heater for the bathroom). The home I lived in with my ex-husband for 2 years also only had this source of heat. I burned myself on the stove yesterday while I was emptying the ashes it hurteded.

It's definitely a humbling experience, though. Teaches you how much we take for granted our thermostats.

 

Yes, I grew up with a wood stove, I used to love it, but I do remember the mess, the smoke and a few burns. Lucky for me I never had the chore of doing the fire wood, I had 3 brothers to take care of that.

 

Damn, that's gotta suck. I take my space heater for granted. I love that thing.

 

Nope, never have. Don't know what you're talking about, heh. I would probably go nuts. I love my "thermamostat" that's a funny inside joke. OMG, the hottest white dude you will ever see in your life, (I would have nabbed him if he wasn't younger than me), we were chillin' at work, during a break, and he was talking to me about how cold it was there and meant to say thermostat. I LoL. You just had to be there, I guess.

 

My brothers are so lazy! I've got two, though only one lives here (the other is married and has a baby). It's basically up to me and dad to keep this place warm while I'm here. And dad is too busy getting drunk and high with his friends most times, so that leaves just me!

My ex husband used to leave me alone with no firewood in the house (if I was lucky enough to have any firewood at all ) so I'd have to go gather it all up myself. It sucked hardcore.

 

Wow DH, you're a tough mutha...

 

DH, I must commend you for being such an amazing person with all the crud you've been through, I know how it feels, I never had to do that sort of thing growing up, but with my ex, I had to do a lot of stuff that we women weren't really built for (physically) so I understand.

 

Sometimes! I'm a wimp sometimes, too.

 

Heh. yeah, I've been through a lot of crap. Seems the more people learn about me the more it makes them scratch their heads and go "...how the hell is she sane?" The wood stuff...eh, that was nothing. I'm a big girl, 5'7, built pretty solid (I'm big boned! *L* F'reals). Carrying firewood is nothing compared to getting smacked around, really. It wasn't really so bad because of all the physical work I had to do to keep my home warm, it just sucked because of the way my ex-husband treated me over it all. He was a major loser.

The real tough part was the fact that the home wasn't really that livable. The stove didn't provide much warmth because there was no insulation in the walls, and the place was quite literally falling apart (I fell through the floor a couple times), so all the heat I managed to generate in there just went outside. I'd toss in a bunch of coal and wood and get that stove burning so hot the pipe would glow red and it'd -still- be cold unless you were standing 2 feet from it. Now -that- sucked.

At least my mom's house isn't falling apart! *L* It just sucks when I burn myself putting wood in the stove. I'm waaaay too clumsy.

 

Sounds like your trip home is bringing back a lot of memories, I hope some good ones. How much longer to you stay before heading back to Texas?

 

Darlin, I ain't got many good memories of home, period.

I'm here til Wednesday morning. My flight leaves out at 6:50am. Mom was disappointed when I told her I wouldn't be here for my birthday, but my birthday is one holiday I seriously do -not- enjoy spending at home. Way too many bad memories associated with it, so I'd much rather be with my friends, and they're all in Houston. *L*