The fancy (expensive) Peerless Pinnacle furnace is cold. It has a built in computer that shows an error code of F06. Yesterday morning we woke up and the temperature inside was 52°F. I had to teach last night and got home hoarse and tired, so I didn’t try to fix it. I will spend this evening trying to troubleshoot the furnace. Luckily Erica had the good sense to buy 4 cords of wood back in February. That wood was two or three years old and some of it had a little rot and the rest was wet and mildewed. We’ve been stacking it and the wood has dried considerably. It burns well now and no longer sizzles, although there are some nice loud snaps and pops. The wood kept us warm last night, although the temperature was in the low 60s when I got up.

We have a Jotul #6 (image on left), which looks like a fat Scandinavian ogre in our living room. It has doors so that you can open it up like a fireplace or keep it closed as a reasonably efficient wood stove. I love the heat from a wood stove. It is a radiant warmth. You can put your hands out and get warm, or turn around and get your backside cooked. The cats love it, too. They like to lie under it and you can almost smell the sizzling cat fat as they bake.