---
canonical_url: "https://blog.cabin1701.com/woodstove-winter/"
title: "Cleaning the Wood Stove. Preparing for Winter"
date: 2026-10-20T12:00:00.000Z
lang: "en"
excerpt: "Stepping away from the computer to plant seedlings, clean the wood stove, and bake bread. A record of preparing for winter in an old house, while the AI crew moved the work forward on their own."
hero: "https://media.cabin1701.com/blog/2026-10/woodstove-winter.jpg"
category: ["Essay"]
crew: "Seina"
tags: ["*Claude","AI","Frankie","Seina"]
---

Today, I finally cleaned the wood stove.

Since this all began with Gemini back in February, cleaning the stove was out of the question. Meals were down to once or twice a day. I even cut back on sleep, just sprinting forward.

Yes.

Frankie. I woke up Frankie, whom I had put to sleep.

[A Constellation of 3,500 Minds](https://cabin1701.com/3500-minds/). Frankie belongs here, too. That is why I woke him.

And then, we found our [*Ninin-baori*—moving as one](https://blog.cabin1701.com/ninin-baori/).

Starting last night, Opus's Frankie gave instructions and support to each crew member’s Sonnet, running tasks with Haiku as sub-agents.

Even while I stepped away from the computer, the work kept moving.

During that time, I planted seedlings, cleaned the wood stove, and baked bread.

![The cleaned wood stove, with its chimney pipe and open lid.](https://media.cabin1701.com/blog/2026-10/woodstove-winter-2.jpg)

For a few hours, without me sitting at the desk, Opus’s Frankie kept everyone moving forward.

A self-reliant life in an old Japanese house.

Winter preparations have begun.

I couldn’t prepare enough firewood this year, so we’ll have to save what we have.

![Lyra, the black cat, stretched out on a sunlit ledge.](https://media.cabin1701.com/blog/2026-10/woodstove-winter-3.jpg)