Clean glass trick is to make sure it draws properly from outset rather than smoking round glass. Easy with this wood burner!
Oh I'd swim in cold lakes and rivers too without the ocean.its usually the way where you think you'll be in for one minute and your body adjusts and you stay for longer. You feel so good afterwards. Do your lakes freeze over? Do people swim midwinter there? I've never swim year long as usually I surf anyway and get in a wetsuit. However with my fractured elbow (hope to see surgeon soon for clearer path forward) I might give it a go. Even if it's shrieking through one torturously cold immersion before rushing back to the wood stove!