It's wood burning season again. 

I'm living with my parents now, and there's so much that I don't need to do. I get up in the morning, have a seat in the kitchen, and my mother makes me breakfast. 

Last year at this time, and for each of the last five years, I would open the wood stove, rake the coals, and add wood and/or kindling, and begin to turn smoke into flames. I would tend the fire all day, cycling through new loads of wood, and filling the stove before bed. 

Rarely did I let the fire go out. Only if I left for the night, or we got a warm stretch and I decided to give it a break and burn some propane. Had I severe OCD I would've kept daily burning stats: weather information, amount of wood burned, temperature in the house, etc. It'd be nice to know those types of things, but I would not be the one to keep track. 

I know that lots of people burn wood as their main source of heat, and of course I wasn't the one cutting, splitting, stacking, and hauling the wood indoors, but looking back, it was a big deal for me. It's different than clicking on a thermostat, it’s a metal box with a chimney. You light a fire in the box, shut the door, and adjust the airflow. It doesn't need electricity, doesn't need internet, it only needs wood to burn. And as people have for thousands of years, you get to sit and stare into the fire. I'm glad I had that experience.