My upbringing wasn’t as old fashioned as it was rustic.
We lived on a ranch in an seriously rural section of the northern midwest.
At the age of 4 I was taught how to ride a horse and within a year was going on solo rides. Although my siblings and I all attended public school with a good mix of students from different backgrounds, our lake cabin lives consisted of constant manual work and difficult work. It was normal for me to spend most of my time outside of school and homework largely working on the family’s farm and doing whatever I could in my limited capacities. Once I was old enough I was helping my father with splitting wood for our 2 wood stoves inside the house. This wood was our source of heat throughout the cold Winter season. Chopping wood for heating purposes isn’t an straight-forward process. My dad would do all of the work with the chainsaw while I would swing the ax to split the blocks into smaller pieces of wood that could fit inside the wood stoves. I always wondered why all of us had carbon monoxide detectors despite lacking any gas appliances in our rural home. My dad told me that an improperly venting wood heating plan generates unsafe levels of carbon monoxide. This is particularally worrisome if there is a considerable build-up of soot in the chimney, making official chimney cleanings even more important. Since carbon monoxide is both colorless and stinkless, you won’t even think that it’s there poisoning you unless you’re using detectors. That small electronic component could be your line against accidental death.