The heat from the "cold" ashes keep the snow away the whole day.
Good thing I didn't. Those ashes weren't cold. Not even a bit. This was the bucket the next day.
See how there is a ring around bucket in the snow? That wasn't there when I set this ash bucket down the day before on the gravel away from the house. There was not one flake of snow on the ashes from that all day storm. The ashes weren't cold. You can even see the gravel underneath it.
I'm always amazed by fire and it's ability to stay alive. It's kind of shocking and horrible and amazing. It makes me think about that terrible, tragic fire on Christmas several years ago. If I remember right one of the kids was afraid that Santa wouldn't make it down the chimney. So the adults cleaned out the fireplace and put the ashes in a bag by the door. If only they had taken a few more steps and put them in the driveway or on a walk or something.
Around here there is almost always a house fire on the news. I keep thinking who burns their house down and how? But I guess it's pretty easy to do. Space heaters, bad judgement, and poor electrical work seem to be the culprits. We don't usually have space heaters and our electrical got a passing grade when we had this house inspected - so I think I'm going to work on my judgement and keep erring on the side of caution.
Seeing this ash bucket - with its heat keeping the snow away - I can say I've learned this lesson. Before I just thought I knew it ...but now I really know. From now on I'm taking those two or three steps - boldly.
Happy Thursday everyone! Today should be above freezing - we might just make it out of this Ice Age!
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3 comments:
My husband told me that polar explorers used the dark color of the ashes to strategically melt snow, as dark colors absorb sunlight and heat up faster. We've been playing around with that concept and it definitely works - we've cooled ashes overnight in the bucket (ten feet away from the house) and then spread in a line on the snow over the garden. After a sunny day, the dark line 'melts' into the snow.
Glad you didn't burn the house down!
I poured my "cold" ashed on the garden once only to see the mulch catch alight! Now I always leave them in the metal bucket for a few days first. Also Pete has destroyed several plastic dustpans cleaning out the ashes. You'd think a boilermaker would make me a metal dust pan!
I poured my "cold" ashed on the garden once only to see the mulch catch alight! Now I always leave them in the metal bucket for a few days first. Also Pete has destroyed several plastic dustpans cleaning out the ashes. You'd think a boilermaker would make me a metal dust pan!
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