September 19, 2008 The pellet stove runs once more...

I woke this morning at a little after 6am, walked into the living room, and checked the temperature in the house. Brrr....66 degrees. When we used oil we kept the heat set at 68 degrees. So 66 was definitely below even Mikey's standard. (I know anonymous, if we got rid of the gas guzzler....) Anyway, between my running partner being up in New Hampshire and the new tattoo, I haven't gone out for a run in more then two weeks, and I was definitely itching to get back to it. I quickly suited up, and set out the door. It was an easy 46 minute run, and I made it home just in time to take Em to work. Mike had a dentist appt in Mashpee this morning. We all have been going to Dr. Durudogan in Middletown (his father was the obstetrician that delivered me) but since Mike has transferred to Taunton it didn't make any sense for him to continue in Middletown. Dan and I went to Green Briar to feed the animals. We hadn't been to Critter capers in a few weeks and Dan was so happy to see everybody they all got hugs!

With the ammunition of waking to up 66 degrees and with the temperatures forecasted to drop into the 40's on Saturday night, I begged Mike to clean the pipes on the pellet stove and light it up just to make sure it was really going to work when we needed it. We cleaned it, we lit it and sure enough a glitch. I'm glad we checked it first! Something about a seal that needs to be replaced.
We bought this stove two springs ago from a farmer down the road who'd used it for a few years for alternative heat, but was looking to get rid of it because it was just too much work for him to haul pellets. Laurie saw it in his driveway for $100 and called us. We took a quick trip down the road, wrote the check and brought it home. There was quite a bit of work to do to it, but Mike ordered the parts and rebuilt in just in time for the install on Thanksgiving day 2007. Last years heating seasons we used 3 tons of pellets at about $230 a ton. Usually we use 2 tanks of oil one winter, and 3 tanks the next. Since last year was a 3 tank year we estimated we save over $2000. The only pitfall to the pellet stove is that the living room is very warm (the way I like it, about 75 degrees) and the rest of the house (which consists of the kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a loft and is 600sq feet total) are quite a bit cooler. Even still we spend more time together in the living room as a family, enjoy more movies and puzzle building and have the nice ambiance of fire with the wintry smell of wood smoke. I couldn't wait to light it again, as I type this it's up to a balmy 75 degrees....shhhh....don't tell Mikey!