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the love of fire

updated wed 20 jan 99

 

David Hendley on sun 17 jan 99

I have a wood-fired kiln, wood-fired water heater,
and heat my home and shop with wood.
On firing days, I cook dinner on my wood-fired
grill or smoker.
Since we have no garbage service out here, I also end up
buring my trash that can't be recycled.
By this time next month, we hope to have our
wood-fired brick oven built.
Hardly a day goes by that I don't flick my Bic!

I love fire because it is the great purifier.
Think about it; that coffee mug will never be as clean
as the the first moment it was removed from your kiln.
Also, not to be morbid, but I really like the idea of cremation
because it is a definite and complete ending.
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

If you've ever been on a campout with Cub Scouts, you know
that ALL 10 year old boys like to play with fire.
When I was 10, I stared a big grass fire in my front yard with
a magnifying glass. My favorite holiday was Independence
Day. Fireworks were better than anything Santa could bring.


David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@tyler.net
http://www.farmpots.com

Rick Sherman on tue 19 jan 99

Greetings David:

I respond to your last paragraph first since I too had my experience
with fire in my callow youth. A friend and I decided to build a fire
to cook bacon and potatoes out the the woods and made a great fire,
cooked the bacon impaled on twigs which then burned so the bacon fell
into the fire. The potatoes were cooked in the coals and were burned on
the outside and raw on inside. We left, forgetting to put out the
coals. On returning home, mother asks if we had created a fire in the
woods. The Forest Service was on the job putting it out. We caught
hell! No Boy Scouts we.

Good fortune that you are in a rural area with your wood-firing heater
and grill, wood kiln, and soon-to-be wood oven. In the San Francisco
Bay area and other metropolitan areas, the laws are becoming much more
strict concerning fireplaces. Wood smoke is the greatest source of
pollution after vehicle diesel and gas exhaust. Certain days are
declared "No Burn" days. The particulates from wood smoke do not
readily disperse and hang in the air a long time - especially when
there is a heavy atmosphere. This is worrisome to the EPA and Air
Quality Control. And we all worried about salt fire.

Best to you in the piney woods of east Texas.

Rick Sherman
San Jose, CA USofA
sherman@ricochet.net