Maybe she spoke too soon...

The woodstove worked perfectly, and heated the house pretty well too, for 2 nights in a row. Until I get the hang of this, I am afraid to leave the fire burning when I am not here, so I let it burn out overnight and start up again in the afternoon, when the house cools down. If I set off the smoke alarms again (FIRE, FIRE, FIRE! in a lovely and loud female voice) poor Sophie will never forgive me.

I tried again the third day, and it worked well until I turned down the air control so the fire would burn more slowly. I guess that was the wrong thing to do, because we smoked up all over again. Instead of shutting things down this time, though, I opened it all up and opened up some windows and the flames flared up and sent the smoke back up the chimney where it belongs.

I am starting to understand this drafting issue, but will probably scare my Sophie a few more times before I work out all the kinks.

Miss J read my comments about learning to cook on the woodstove, and sent me these 2 links:

Shortcut to: http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080123/LIFE/801230301

Shortcut to: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1216/is_n3_v180/ai_6402451/

Thanks J! Once the holiday visitors are gone, I might actually get creative and try this. I must say it is nice though, to have a real stove for back-up.

Photo borrowed from Cape Cod Times / Ron Schloerb. I'll replace with my own as soon as I try it!

Related articles

• Avoiding the hazards of wood burning (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• "Smoke Alarms: A Sound You Can Live With!" (homesecuritysource.com)