Testimony

“Did you hear what Chip said when he got up this morning?” Linda asked, referring to our friend who had stayed the night.

“No!”  I said excitedly.  I could tell this was going to be good news.

“He had this dazed and amazed look on his drowsy face,” Linda smiled.  “And without asking, he told me why.  He couldn’t believe how warm it felt.  And the only heat was from the one fire we’d lit at 6:30 the night before.”

I sighed, almost not wanting to take it in.  I mean, the night before Chip had joined us in our nightly ritual:  wine before the masonry heater fire.  He could obviously see this was no ordinary wood burner, since the chimney is four feet over, rather than directly above, the fire box.  He’d nodded as I’d explained the advantages of its contraflow design, how potential pollutants get trapped in the vortex above the fire box and---like the catalytic converter in your car---reignite, pulsing 1700F heat into the surrounding 8 inches of concrete, which then stores that heat for a long, long time.  He gawked at the inferno which reduced the well-stacked cabin of wood to coals in less than an hour. 

But apparently my masonry heater explanation was no substitute for experiencing the morning warmth all throughout Home the Land Built.  And as he pressed the palm of his hand against the exterior, feeling the soothing heat of a fire lit 14 hours earlier, he believed. 

So there it is dear readers, you’ll just have to do like Chip and come on down to Home the Land Built.  Yes, reading is intriguing.  But seeing---or tasting or touching or smelling or hearing---truly is believing.  Our door is always open and, after all, our home is designed upon the “Right to Look” principle.

P.S.  If Chip’s testimony couldn't inspire me to finish splitting next winter’s wood, what could?