Pellet heads!! What's up today?

First take-the-chill-out fire of the season. Set the thermostat for the P43 at 66 last night and she fired up about 20 minutes ago. Last year it was 9/9 for the first one.

 

49° here this am....burnin some doug fir

 

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While changeing the furniture in the living room around, I decided to scrub the floor and oil it up. this year I'm getting that done before the pellet stove starts, instead of half way thru the season.

Forgot to take a pic of the living room floor before, but this is the hallway which doesn't get as much heat or traffic.
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Floor is oiled with grapeseed oil with a bit of orange essential oil mixed in. Looks and smells good.
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I really gotta put a piece of sheet rock up in that spot one of these days. Only been open since 2014 . Maybe now that the couch is on the other side, I'll get to it. Course that means I have to drive 30 miles to get 1 piece of sheet rock - and cut it so it will fit in the truck; bed is not quite as wide as the old truck and 48" is too wide to fit thru even kitty corner .[/QUOTE]

Hey B....time for a bigger truck ????

We have the Avalanche for comfort (And the cool factor) but the tiny bed is nothing to write home to mom about.
Yea, the rear center hatch can be opened up and the rear seat folded forward, but....phffffft.

We keep the old 95 Suburban around for the Mule work.

I can haul 12 foot long lumber if I sit the ends on the dash board..

Picked up the Red Astro a couple years ago for dirt cheap and its easy to get into the parking garages where idiots can't park right.

The Burb Cost us $2000 back in 2014 and the Astro was $1500 in Fed 2018

Always have a rig that can gitterdone.

Love the Avy, but it's not really a truck.... JUST LOOKS COOOOOOOOOOOOOL THOUGH.

 

How big a vehicle does 1 person need? I figure the Explorer, which can hold 1 ton of pellets is big enough - just the interior is just slightly smaller than my previous '04 Explorer because of creature comforts built in. SUV's have turned into a modern mini-vans instead of the workhorse / multi-platform the older ones were. Plus, my 100 mile per day commute to work is not conducive to a super huge vehicle. Sure, the car will get about 13k of the miles this year, but so will the truck.

 

B
I hear ya.

We don't commute anymore....at least not to work.

Out here in the NW rigs can be over 20 years old and since we don't use the huge amounts of salt on the roads the cars last forever, and in great shape.....

So I try to keep a few around so that there is a goods chance one of them will run

 

IMO, you have plenty of "vehicle". The occasional piece of sheetrock (or whatever) doesn't justify another (pick-up truck) vehicle. Again, IMO.

I think the same thing when faced with a situation like yours....the TrailBlazer can handle most things (put a full sized new electric stove in the back some years ago, ton of pellets, etc, etc), but there was always that one occasional item that just didn't fit. I could usually find a friend that had a PU I could borrow.

 

Well I got the window A/C unit out of the window the boss is making room in a closet for it.

 

First FIRE of the 2019/2020 season

Weather is cool and damp this morning and it was 66F in the shack this morning at 0:dark thirty....

We had not had any fires since June 28th or so.

Fired up wee stove to gitterdone......


Looks like we may see several days of cool wet weather.......


I am ready for stove season.....Hot weather is just not my cup of tea.

The other day it was 55 F out in the early morning and I was outside in a T shirt and Jeans feeding the horsies.

Absolutely marvelous weather.

Just breaking daylight and clear skies.....


Each year my tolerance for hot weather gets less and less.


Can always build a fire to get warm... but once you're butt naked and still too hot..... not much else you can do..... Drink smoothies maybe..

 

So I went to Concord yesterday to do some running around and stopped at HD for a piece of sheet rock. I put it up and although I knew it would make the living room seem smaller, it really does make it look thin and long visually (yes it is anyway, just not as thin as it seems).



I hate it. The stairway is dark, dark, dark even with the bay window just across from it. Sure, there is a small light above the header toward the bottom, but I prefer light that comes from the living room.


I also don't like the restricted view to the living room either, nor that 1/25 the kitchen is dark despite the light being on.


My original thought (as in years ago), was to make that a half wall, which is looking like what I want to do. Will have to hire someone to put it in since that is a load bearing wall (besides, my skills are not really in framing). Meanwhile, I'll take down the upper part of the sheetrock and leave the lower portion there.

 

It's happening...

 

Don't rush it...



Dan

 

That time already? Guess I better clean the flues!

 

Is this the one that you have the "real" thermostat installed on?

Do you find that the "real" stats work much better?
I'm not all that impressed with the Harman setup..
I'd like something that reacts quicker, and more accurately.
(anyone... go ahead... chime in)

Dan

 

I now have both of them on real thermostats. Liked the one for the P43 so much that middle of last winter got one for the P61a too. The main floor's thermostat is in a side room off the hall, about 1/2 way down the length of the house. Just simple Lux digital thermostats - not wifi.

 

I'd rather a half wall so when I have the A/C going it doesn't just run down thru that opening. I usually have foam mats about 2' tall in that spot which has held the cold air upstairs well. Since I can aim the cold air down the length of the living room and into the hallway, that coolness actually has to go all the way around the house before it gets to the stairs, so it never reaches the basement.

I hated it so bad, I took off the top piece. Much better lighting now - looks like chit though







Quite a dramatic difference with the same lighting from the living room and kitchen as before.

 

I'd rather a half wall so when I have the A/C going it doesn't just run down thru that opening. I usually have foam mats about 2' tall in that spot which has held the cold air upstairs well. Since I can aim the cold air down the length of the living room and into the hallway, that coolness actually has to go all the way around the house before it gets to the stairs, so it never reaches the basement.

I hated it so bad, I took off the top piece. Much better lighting now - looks like chit though

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Quite a dramatic difference with the same lighting from the living room and kitchen as before.

 

Crazy weather yesterday afternoon...

Had the radio on and we got a TORNADO WARNING

We can see little tornadoes (F1/F2) but they are rare.
A couple funnel clouds were spotted about 20 miles from here..... no biggy.

Another fire this morning.....not absolutely needed, but it is cozy...

Likely shut it off in a couple hours or so

 

Sleeping with the windows open here.