How We Keep Ourselves Warm Around Here

For those of you from So. Cal, you may be unfamiliar with some of the contraptions we use up here in the Great White North for keeping ourselves warm during the cold winter months (I know I was!!)  Our best defense against the cold is our handy, dandy pellet stove.  What is a pellet stove, you ask?  Well, let me show you.  Here is a picture of our pellet stove:

The pellet stove burns compressed wood pellets which we buy at Walmart by the ton:

Last winter we only burned about half a ton of pellets, but I was working full-time at the college, so I was staying warm at work & Noah was toughing it out here without any heat.  But this year, with my new job, I'm at home most of the time, and I'm not as tough as Noah--I like to be warm.  So, Noah went out and bought me 2 tons of pellets.  The only downside is that we've now got pellet bags stacked up all around the house:

AND:

We've also got a few left in the garage from last year.  This picture represents some of Noah's more creative pellet stacking.  The coldest wind blows out of the northwest--and straight through the doggie door and into the house.  Noah thought if he stacked the pellets around the dog door, it might keep some of the cold wind out.  It was a good idea in theory--but it's not really working as well as we might have hoped...  So there you have it...how to survive a Wyoming winter with your buns still intact!