A Full Shed

Dear Diary,

Here in Maine, and probably in other northern rural places, a full wood shed in November is a very desirable thing.  This is the wood shed at my friend Dotty's farmhouse.  I've added a photo of a news clipping from 1909 showing a pile of wood outside the same door.  Wood has been stacked in this shed since 1800.

My wood shed is in the cellar of the barn and is, unfortunately not full yet.  David has had trouble getting my wood but I have enough to last me awhile.  I don't use it for my primary heating as Dotty does.  She told me that growing up in the old farmhouse the only warm place was next to the kitchen wood stove.  The rest of the house was chilly to say the least.

We take for granted the modern conveniences we enjoy now like indoor plumbing and central heat.  While I was visiting her the other day I read a small journal, dated around the same time as the photograph, from one of her ancestors which recorded the man's efforts to care for the road that ran by his house.  He hired men at 12 cents an hour and many people in town worked off the taxes they owed with labor.  Such a different world we live in today.