It's a Real Hot Item

2003 Shenadoah

“Chop your own firewood and it will warm you twice.” 

- African Proverb

"I have no other task
than being at home, finally alone
with my woodburning stove
full of logs"

- Monica Ritterband

For some thirty years I’ve enjoyed cutting, hauling, and splitting wood every year to burn in one of numerous wood stoves we’ve owned. Our reward is to enjoy the warmth and comfort of a wood fire on freezing days and frosty nights.

As a country boy I grew up with wood stoves, and helped my father and brothers for hours on end each fall and winter harvesting and hauling firewood for our not-so-well insulated farm house. The Warm Morning stove in our living room contributed to a lot of family togetherness on cold winter evenings. 

But back then the work involved felt like a dreaded chore, and I often wished for an oil or coal furnace to provide a less work-intensive and more uniformly even heat source for our house. It wasn’t always fun to endure the chill of having to keep our woodbox filled and then to have to sleep in a cold upstairs bedroom far removed from it.

But as I grew older, I couldn’t resist the urge to once again invest in a toasty wood heater to be next to after being out in the stress and cold of a chilly day.

For the past number of years our Shenandoah has been warming not only our ground floor family room but the living area above it as well. The warm air naturally finds its way up the basement stairway and the cooler air descends to take its place, keeping the house comfortable except in the most extreme weather conditions. Then our furnace or heat pump provide extra backup as needed.

We bought this latest stove when Shenandoah Manufacturing was going out of business, and it has served us well. But just recently I got the kind permission of my good wife to have us invest in a newer, super efficient "Jotul" (Norwegian built and pronounced “Yodel”) sold at the local Acme Stove Company. In some ways I hate to part with a sturdy and faithful friend that has helped warm body and soul for so long, but I’ve always wanted to see how one of the newer models might consume even less wood and emit even less smoke up our chimney.

And since we’ve always been able find plenty of free sources of wood, we figure any wood stove will pay for itself in fuel savings in a winter or two.

So, with apologies to Garrison Keillor, we now have this real hot item available to the highest bidder.

Just make us an offer.