Rain

It stopped snowing and started raining yesterday lunchtime and has barely stopped since, apart from the hour when I took Jasper out this morning, luckily.

But this blip is a rant about wood-burners, and the photo is the pool of rain that has come down the chimney even though we do have a cowl thingy at the top.

Here we have no choice but to light the wood-burner if we need heat because we haven't, as yet, got central heating installed. But I hate the things. They are hard work, filthy, dust creating, smoky and smelly. In the winter I do a lot of the cooking in the small oven there is above the fire so as to save on the electricity bill, but oven temperature and therefore length of cooking time are all down to guesswork and trial and error. Putting a bit more wood on, opening or shutting the air vents, leaving the oven door open a little, you name it I've done it. I think wood-burners are rather like rose bushes, lovely if they're not yours.

Ok, rant over :-)