Just call me Firestarter

I am so grateful for the wood stove that we have in our home. I was terrified of it at first because I am terrified of my house burning down. But it is has come in handy lots of time. A few years ago our area suffered through an ice storm that knocked out power for most of our area for more than a week. While many of our neighbors suffered from the lack of heat and power to their home, we were able to survive the ordeal relatively unscathed because of our wood stove. In fact, the whole experience became sort of fun for our family as we pulled out our survivalist gear and made it into an indoor camping trip. Then last year when we experienced the "polar vortex" of extremely low temperatures for an extended amount of time, our little wood stove probably ended up saving us tons of money in electric bills. Yea for that!

I have often had days when I have wanted to have a nice blazing fire going, but I haven't lit the fire. Why? To be honest ... I had no idea how to light a fire. Really. I have never lit my own fire before. Herman or Spencer or sometimes even Hyrum and JoJo have lit the fire, but I never have. Lately I have felt like this was a skill that I really needed to learn. It was silly not to do this. And today I finally decided to take the plunge and see if I could master this skill.

I headed to our stove and saw a pile of wood and several newspapers ready to go. I stacked the wood, layered the newspapers in the spaces between the wood, lit the paper, and .... NOTHING. Not a thing. Sure, the paper lit up nicely, but that was it. The wood never caught the flame. I nursed that fire for over an hour, trying to gently blow the embers to get them to ignite, holding the lighter forever to see if the flame could catch on. Nothing. I didn't ask for help. I wanted to figure this thing out on my own. But nothing was working. I kept thinking of the scene in Castaway when Tom Hanks' character agonizes over trying to get the fire to light for him on his deserted island, and I was feeling his frustration.

Thankfully, Spencer walked by after I'd been at this for an hour and asked what I was trying to do. I told him my dilemma, and he was kind enough to give me some advice. Although Herman has some success using the newspaper to start the fire, Spencer uses a tiny chunk of wood he cuts from a fire starter log. It looks like an itty bitty piece of charcoal, but it stays lit for several minutes, giving the wood time to ignite. I grabbed the chunk, stuck it in a good spot, lit the thing and waited until ...

Fire!!

Oh yeah! I did a little dance, I did.

Herman was shocked to learn that that was the very first fire I had ever started. What can I say? I was not a boy scout. We didn't have a fire place growing up. Plus, I am quite adept at getting others to do the dirty work when camping. So this was my first experience getting a blaze going. It was surprisingly satisfying and a bit empowering.

I am ready for spring, but I'll make the most of these dreary winter months ahead by enjoying nice cozy evenings by the fire, I think.

Just call me the Firestarter.