Oh boy, how wonderful that we finally have sunshine again! And a pleasant temperature! Spring fever is really coming back, and I’m enjoying it immensely. This past winter, we’ve had an exceptional number of dreary, cloudy, gray, foggy, wet, drizzly days. And so very little sun. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to cope with this long, dark winter. As some of you may have seen on my Facebook, we regularly sought out the sun in Croatia, on the Adriatic coast, to recharge our batteries. But now things seem to be looking up. Of course, there will still be some winter weather before spring truly arrives, but we’ve seen the worst of it.

These days are especially ideal for making firewood, and so Bine was immediately back in the forest. In winter, trees’ growth stops and they contain very little sap, which also makes the wood lighter. And now that we have our quad bike, Bine absolutely loves chopping wood because he no longer has to walk and lug his chainsaw and can of gasoline.

He cuts the tree trunks and thick branches into pieces of about 40cm (because they fit nicely in the stove) and throws them on a pile. Our neighbor then comes with his tractor and trailer, loads up all the wood, and brings it to our house, where he dumps it in the garden. From there, we stack it in different places.

Bine then throws a sheet of plastic over the top of the piles to prevent the wood from getting completely wet from the rain and to allow the wind to dry it properly. When it’s dry enough (it must contain less than 20% moisture), he gradually moves sections to the boiler room.

We bought our wood stove about six years ago because heating with gas, which we used to do, was becoming increasingly expensive. The stove has a special system that ensures almost no emissions because the released carbon monoxide is almost completely burned. We also have a 1500-liter water reservoir, which means we only burn the stove once a day. In spring and autumn, it’s only once every two or even three days. The water in the reservoir stays warm long enough, so we can keep our radiators warm. We still use gas for hot water, though, because we don’t want to have to use the stove just to take a hot shower in the summer.

Yesterday, while Bine was working in the woods, I took a lovely walk there with Ivy. Amidst all the bare trees, dry leaves, and broken branches, I could already see the beginnings of spring peeking through, and that made me so happy. My daily walk is suddenly much more enjoyable 😊. I love looking around and spotting little flowers, plants, and creatures. We live in a beautiful area with plenty of nature around us, and it never gets old. Even though I sometimes walk the same route almost every day for weeks on end, there’s always something new to see. I can’t wait for everything to turn green again and start growing and blooming.

But what I’m really looking forward to now is our granddaughter, who’s being born within a day or two :D. In two weeks, we will fly to San Francisco for 3 weeks, so we can hold and cuddle her. Of course, you’ll hear all about it then 😉. For now, warm regards from this happy grandmother-to-be!