A small fire with small splits of maple. Woke up this am to find the baseboard heat running in the house. It warmed up but is now dropping in temp. again so..... cleaned the glass on the stove and spark'd her up. Brian
Well, it certainly is not intolerable in here, it is 62F outside but it was cool last night (mid- 40'sF) so the house was cool to begin with. And I guess I really did not have to light a fire but hey, why wait? Draft is surprisingly.... no, amazingly good though! Gave the combustor a quick check and it seems to be deader than a lobster in a 400 degree oven :-( Gave it a little while, put a few more splits of small maple on top and 'hit it' again and it <may> be showing signs of life. Actually, the second try lit it off fairly well.... not quite like Secretariat perhaps but better than Grandpa's plow horse so there might be a little life left in the old girl yet. ?? Just checked it again and the stove box temps. dropped from 800 to 580, but the combustor is at 1,040 and climbing pretty rapidly. Good 'n red and headed to orange so I think there IS some more life left in her. Brian
We fired up today too. It was absolutely dreary, cold and rainy here and we have some small and/or senior dogs that really appreciated it. Draft was fine, just like the middle of winter.
Was in the forties here in north central Mass a few days back. Brrrr.... time for the flannel jamies and Patriots sweatshirt. Not ready to give in to the season quite yet.
I suspect lots may have their first fires this coming week. It is beginning to cool down here right now.
Hey Dennis, being my typical self and slacking off all over New England riding my scooters. I always come back this time of year to share the fun and excitement of the new season, I was hoping I might see a whole bunch of posts about new stove installations, and I've seen a few, so that is fun. Next week I'll be finishing off my Ride New England Harley Dealer contest with a ride to Lewiston Maine, Augusta Maine, Bangor Maine, Caribou Maine and then back Down East to Portland Maine. Then back home to central Massachusetts. That will about 1000 miles, and my last overnight ride for this year. After that, I'll be around much more, if I'm not out back doing CSS chores or getting the property cleaned up before the snow flys. I hope all is well you, young fella! All my best, Steve
OFFTOPIC: Just curious but do you do any long distance (endurance) riding? There is a ride called the Minuteman 1000 that starts in Springfield, goes north and then in basically a 'box' shape (north almost to Canadian border, then east to the coast of ME, then south to RI, then west to about the middle of CT and finally a bit east and then north back to Springfield. Just over 1,000 miles, starts on a Saturday morning at 6:00 AM and ends Sunday morning at 6:00 AM. Usually about 80- 90 people show up and it is a LOT of fun, great rallymaster, a real piece- of- work (in the nice way), and a great group of core riders. The ride includes a fantastic banquet dinner and buffet breakfast. All sponsored by the IBA. Brian
Not on purpose. I have numerous Iron Butt buddies, but it's really not my thing. almost all my riding is full day riding, 200 miles on the short end 300 on average, 400 on the far side. Out, to wherever, lunch, and back before dinner, or not too long afterwards. New England is a wonderful place to ride, and I'm pretty laid back about it. I used to average about 18K a year, but now I'm usually down in the 12K range, across 2 bikes. I've got a life where I do other things and have numerous other hobbies.
It has been cold here to me but I have not had a fire. I need to see about getting a chimney cleaner. I stopped by TSC and they had a brush but I didn't see any of the wands to go with it.
