Sick of the woodstove!!

[No reply IS necessary]

I am sooooo tired of 'worshipping' on my knees, several hours every day, 5-6 months a year, just to create a tolerable temperature in which to live and work! To be quite honest... This is somewhere between 70-95% of my reason for choosing Hawaii as my next destination.
Been here a while? What are your memories of this sort of thing? With what did you fill those 'empty' hours? Do you ( gasp) miss it at all? etc.?
About to come to Hawaii or strongly considering it? How strong would you consider the 'woodstove' factor in your decision?
Endemic to Hawaii and don't really understand the questions or issue? Ask.... It's OK... ;-}

NrIn

I feel a lot more like I do now, than I did a while ago...

[terracore]

Alaskan transplant here. Don't miss the cold, the heating fuel and electricity bills, or shoveling snow. Don't like little fire ants, rooster "farms", or vog. But no, I don't miss it.

[Andrew]

Some here on the East side of Hawaii still use wood stoves for those chilly nights and to dry out the house when it rains a lot.

[Rattlestaff]

Haha is does get a bit chilly at night and especially in the mornings here in the winter. The dampness and days of rain also make everything in the house damp which will include important papers and photos. Many part people here have wood stoves for chilly mornings and drying out the house,only thing is with all the the rain it takes even longer to get said fire started. I for one miss the changing of the seasons and yes I miss the snow especially around the holidays.most don't bother with cheery Christmas lights on houses here, prob due to the incredible electric costs.so just seems like another day. Just doesn't feel the same here. I find myself looking at the pass cams where I used to live to see the snow and warm lights from nearby homes.

[birdmove]

Don't miss the Seattle snow, or the cold, foggy, drizzly winters. We have no source of heat in our house on 23rd in HPP, as it isn't needed. And, though I was able to pretty much ride my motorcycles year round in the Seattle/Tacoma area, I love the riding season here, as it's all the time. I rode to work down to 26 degrees sometimes in Seattle. And here, once in a while I decide not to ride due to heavy rain, it actually doesn't happen that much. I don't miss driving in the snow at all.We like it here just fine. We made the move 3 years and about 3 months ago. I don't take vacations and leave the island, as there is no place I'd rather be. I do sometimes fly some where to play in a chess tournament, as there aren't any sanctioned ones on the big island.

If you play chess and want to meet other players, I can save you a lot of time, as I went through this when we moved here, and I know whats going on here, and I meet with other players twice a week.

Buy your gas at the Safeway in Hilo, as they are maybe .25 cents a gallon cheaper than anyone else on the east side.

Jon in Keaau/HPP

[Rattlestaff]

Seattle snow! Hahaha your an I-5 corridorer!! You guys never had any real snow.. Maybe a quarter of an inch once in awhile that would totally shut Seattle down due to the roads and nobody there can drive in it!! Dont get me wrong on any given day Seattle drivers drive like nobodies business never seen better checker boarding. But snow, Christ people abandon their cars on the freeway with a little sprinkle of snow... I love and miss Seattle though. The Hurricanes closing for good on new years day and I wish I could go have breakfast there one more time! Maybe I will..

[malolo]

"Empty"-hours? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9rUuodpg_48

Being a bit of a klutz, I personally prefer to watch and dole out snacks, but somewhat-more-daring folks have tons of fun in the wintertime.

[Carey]

I have always had a house with a fireplace or woodstove, until we moved here, but never as a main heat source (coming from the upper midwest, always had an automatic heat source, without which pipes could burst)

Although I do love a good fire, I can fill up my hours that were spent in wood procurement (always had a wood source on property, so never had to buy, but did have to cut, split, stack, dry, keep dry, haul, stack, and feed into the fire.

How? we are coming to the end of a whole house remodel, but love to spend our extra time in the water (swim, dive, kayak), hiking trails, cycling, plus I do cut tile for friends & such, then there is also the endless gardening (oh, when you used to need to tend a fire, your garden was most likely taking a rest...here, the plants do not take a rest, the seasons are grow & hyper grow...and the weeds are usually into hyper grow!)

BUT as many have mentioned there are many areas here that need/benefit from a fireplace/woodstove, so you can have both the need for a fire & plants growing all of the time! or have an outside fire pan, or you can go up to Volcano, esp the Volcano House and enjoy a fire up there, when you have a hankering for a nice warm fire....or download a fireplace scene for your computer...

[Guest]

To me it is all about the ocean and being close to it. The coast here is spectacular; not some boring sandy beach but gnarly and if you fall in most places you are dead. I visit my kids on the mainland regularly and every time I leave it gets harder. At some point, I guess I'll just settle in and they can come visit me. Or not.

Everything has an up side and a down side. Hawaii is no different. I miss 4 seasons, but I do not miss being a prisoner of the interior of buildings for 5-6 months a year. You cannot have it all, but here you are not battling the climate. Of course if you enjoy the challenge of battling the climate, you will need to find something else to fill the time. I might be singing a different tune if I lived in the 'rain belt', but I see a few hours of sun most days. That's enough.

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You can't fix Samsara.