The outdated wood burning oil furnace
I grew up not knowing what arctic weather was like, however sure I had seen it on cable and knew what it looked like, although I literally could not conceive of that level of cold. I lived in a place where the two of us wore shorts and flip flops from January through January, but now I live in a place where shorts and flip flops don’t exist. This is the far north, rough and rugged tundra that separates the men from the boys! I really don’t miss the outdated days, even though the severe arctic weather conditions is strenuous to deal with sometimes. Air conditioners do not exist up here, because there are only a few weeks a year that rise into the 60s or sometimes even the 69s on a recognizably warm summer. On the other hand, heating is severe business, and you not only need to have it, you also need to guess how to repair it when it breaks! Your nearest neighbor may only be a half mile away, but in the snow depths brought on by Wintertide it might as well be various miles, so you need to be able to keep your oil furnace running by yourself. I have a mighty wrought iron stove and oil furnace in the middle of our main room. It is a wood burning oil furnace, and for generations it was the only source of heat for the site, I have been told. It still works as well as ever, but it is a hassle to keep feeding it wood, so I use our space furnaces most of the time.