The Cast of Characters:
Dante: Furnace #1. The Big Boy. Located in its own specially designed quarters behind Chalet 2. Designed to heat 6 non-energy-efficient chalets. Eats wood like a chipmunk eats cookie crumbs at coffee break. Mediocre performance at heat retention.
Mordor: Dante's smaller sibling. Located in the underbelly of Chalet 6. A more moderate eater of firewood and a real pro at retaining heat after the wood has been consumed, thus proving itself to be understanding of the elderly female stokers who find their names on the stoking schedule.
Fluffy: The snowplow. Runs the pre-dawn road through the village clearing the road for the work of the village during the coming day. Gives merry greetings to stokers on their way from Dante to Mordor or from Mordor to Dante when they are on the 6 am to 3 pm stoking shift. A big boy for big work in overcoming a sissy name.
Wanda: One half of the Dynamic Duo Stoking Team of "Woolsey and Young". Ascribes wholeheartedly to Two-Are-Better-Than-One theory of work distribution. Does many things (other than chopping kindling) with aplomb. Her excuse is that she is from the South where it is unnecessary to build fires for purposes of heating buildings. Gets the job done however long it takes and however awkward her performance appears to be.
Carole: The other half. Hails from California but has fire-building experience, although admittedly on a much smaller scale...a wood stove in her house. Has learned to stoke while fully clad in snowshoes. Shares her experience with her team partner. Does not wish for the public to inquire what is under the pointy lavender hat with the unsightly smut marks on its peak. In a Supporting Role
Fire Extinguisher: Just in case the flames choose to leap from within the fiery furnace and to explore the possibilities of an even larger conflagration outside the fiery furnace.
Silent Knight: The Alarm. Should a conflagration get started, the alarm can be activated. The result is that the entire village is alerted by the cacophony of wailing alarms. The Knight will speak. Loudly.
The Thermometer: Measures the internal temperature of the furnace. 160 degrees-180 degrees, good. Above or below, bad. In their quest for perfection, The Dynamic Duo Stoking Team of "Woolsey and Young" exhibits its prowess by maintaining 170 degrees at all times...or as nearly as possible to all times...never-mind-and-we-won't mention the one-time Neslund Intervention in the stoking schedule when the fire went OUT!!! as in KAPUT. OUT!!!
The Woodpile: Piled high and piled deep...particularly when viewed by flashlight at midnight when it is your task to haul a significant amount of it into Dante's chamber for use the next morning by the morning stoking team. How high? About as tall as I am. How wide the stack? about 7-8 feet. Lotsa wood. At midnight. By flashlight. In the cold. 
The Plot
Act I: Build a fire.
Act II: Look for smoke. (This place is Lutheran which means that smoke coming out of this chimney has nothing to do with the Pope.)
Act III: Pay your respects to Fluffy. Always pay your respects to Fluffy.The End
3 comments:
what a wonderful story to wake up to this morning ...
You gals have it down great! While they are threatening 60 here today ... snow of Friday!
This takes me back (way back) to my "little house on the prarie" childhood days of crawling behind the kitchen woodstove into that space between the stove and the wall to get dressed on wintry mornings. I'd wait for daddy to get the fire going and then race downstairs before anyone could prempt that cozy spot.
Letting the fire go out was a big deal because we kids were not supposed to actually build a fire, just make sure to feed it some wood to keep it going...
oh that intervening Neslund
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