Getting closer to figuring out the firewood thing, and I hope to have a cord slated for delivery on Friday.
I noticed that after burning the fire very hot for a short period of time, the masonry in the back of the hearth turned white for a while. I’m curious about this, but Googling yields singularly crappy results. Surely the fire is not heating the bricks to the point of glowing.
Overall, I remain in the gloomiest frame of mind, despite reconnecting with my firebug preadolescence. All I can do is wait it out, really; I hate life changes and I also hate the holidays, and I’m reliably unhappy at this time of year. Finding myself entering into a rerun of my adolescent living circumstances, with fewer financial options, would naturally tend to accentuate this frame of mind, I think.
But what the hell! I only stayed that angry for ten or eleven years, right?
I always loudly declare that I am canceling all the holidays. Stupid holidays!! Also, I try to avoid anything that might be even vaguely unnecessary. Just cancel it. Have the holidays on your own terms. This works OK for me.
And . . . let me be the first (perhaps the only . .) to wish you a happy merry kwanzaamas anyway!