I LOVE my Wood Cookstove!!!

   
A couple of years ago, after we got home from the trapline, and I had been cooking on the wood cookstove at the cabin, I realized we could make it work at home too.  Our kitchen had been moved from one side of our main living area to the other, and the wood heater stove was now in the kitchen area. (Part of the renos).
I started looking on Craigslist for  a wood cookstove and eventually found what I was looking for.  I had been on wood stove websites advertising this particular stove and had been impressed, but was not in any shape to be spending the $2600+ for one!
I lucked out and found one for sale 2nd hand at a great price...here is what I bought!  Only I got it for $800!!  It had only been used for one winter as the people selling it had found it too much for their little house.
Hubby and a friend went off to pick it up, which was a 12 hour round trip, so I was very grateful they were willing to get it for me.  It arrived safe and sound, but needed a good cleaning as it had been stored in a shed outside, without the ash box even having been emptied.

Our first hurdle was getting it into the house.  We had double front doors at the time, so it was easy to fit through the door, but getting it to the door was a biggy!  Hubby devised a way though!  Using an atv winch and several 2x4s, he anchored the winch in our bedroom doorway, directly across from the front doors.  He backed the truck up to the front stairs, placed several 2x10s as a ramp from the box to the porch (8 steps up), and then we carefully, slowly, holding our breath-ly winched it out of the truck box and up to the porch.  It worked!!! Yay!!!  After that it was easy to lift it up the last step into the house and onto a rug.  We then used the rug to drag it into the kitchen area.

Since installing it I have enjoyed listening to the kettle bubbling away on it all winter, baked cinnamon buns on Christmas morning, kept dinner warm when hubby worked late,  and even tried to keep 3 baby pack rats alive in the warming oven after we had trapped their mom.  But, most of all I love the warmth!!!  Right now, I am listening to the fire snapping and crackling behind me and being very satisfied with life in general!  It is such a good feeling knowing that no matter what the weather outside, I can cook for and keep my family warm, even when the power fails...which it does...often.  The kids love it when that happens!  But, that's another blog!