Friday, December 19, 2008

Da Coount in 55-Pellet Stove.

FRIDAY 55

In August the utility company decided our monthly heating costs would double.
In September we looked at heating alternatives.
In October we ordered something.
In November the temperatures were like January.
This week we had our pellet stove installed.
The pellets resemble kibble.
It's green heat.
I'm counting the stove.
OPEC can kiss my arse.



DA COUNT

From last year to this year the oil/gas company doubled it's prices. When I got the budget plan this summer I was astounded and called to make sure a mistake hadn't been made. I was told rather tersely that many customers had their plans triple...as if I was supposed to say,"Thank you for merely doubling my payments, how very magnanimous of you." I.think.not. Of course right after we ordered the pellet stove the price of pellets shot up becasue lots of other people got the same idea but that's ok. Truthfully, if I am going to pay high prices either way, I'd rather do it this way. The pellets are made of reclaimed sawdust and shavings from lumber mills. I very much like that idea of not letting anything go to waste and that it's a renewable resource. Because of the way the pellets are compressed and the way the stove burns it's supposed to be very efficient with very little ash compared to a fire place or traditional wood stove. I expect today it will get a big workout since we are supposed to get hit with a lot of snow. I'm counting my stove. She just needs a name. Any suggestions?

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're naming your pellet-stove?

But good for you - hope it keeps you guys toasty.

Bijoux said...

Love the last picture! Tell me you weren't the one to get rid of the "I"

barman said...

I have heard pallet stoves were suppose to be great. Good luck with that and your naming contest. I am to tired to think as they have not let me go home yet from work. I hope they let us go soon or else I am going to get snowed in at work. We have over 2 inches already and it has been snowing for less than three hours.

Duck, it is coming your way.

Oh and I love that picture of you. I thought it was funny when I saw that before. Nice.

James Goodman said...

Great 55, Lime. it's a shame it sprung fom something so sucky... At least you are enjoying the new stove though. :D

Breazy said...

that is a great idea! Good luck with the new stove and if you want you can blow some of that storm down my way. This needs to be the year that we get lots of the white stuff, otherwise I am going to start spending my winters somewhere that gets snow.

Have a good day!

Cheesy said...

I would love to replace my wood stove with a pellet stove but mine is more for when there is no power... wouldn't do me much good. I will think on a name but right now I have to go out and put my chains back on the truck --in the dark... crap~

EmBee said...

In the interest of accuracy I looked up this site:
http://www.luxotica.com/education/firegoddess.php
I first liked 'Hestia' but then I noticed that 'Brigid/Brigit/Brighid' is Celtic for 'Fire of the Hearth' and 'Fire of the Forge'... Can't think of any other name more accurate than that.
:-)

lime said...

citizen, she cried for a name. we name our cars too.

cocotte, no i did not remove the "I." it was a serendipitous find

barman, it has begun

james, i'm glad we were able to get the stove, for sure

breazy, hurry up, snow's blowing now

cheesy, well the woodstove is good when there is no power for sure, the pellet stove has an electric ignition so unless we get a generator outages will affect us.

embee, what an excellent suggestion! the greek side of me wants to go with hestia, but brigit has such a great ring to it.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, you just gotta name it after some kind of a hottie... goddes or mortal. A warm count to you. BTW... feel free to invite anyone for the Redefinition Roundup. Cheers!

Desmond Jones said...

We've had a wood stove in our family-room addition since we moved nine years ago, but we've never fired it up. Until now. Plus, we get to burn the huge limb that fell off our maple tree last winter, so for the time being, at least, the wood is free. . .

That last photo is wonderful! If it was you who 'lost' the 'I', it would only raise my esteem for you higher than it already is. . .

Kat said...

My hubby and I are really hoping we can get that new house because it has a wood burning fireplace and that would help us tremendously. His folks have 120 acres of woods up north so we have plenty of wood to use.

Hope your stove helps!
And I love your ass stance! ;)

Mona said...

Oh! that was the way our servant used to fill our stove ( tightly with saw dust & all) & it burned whole night & warmed up the house in winter!

I LOVE that picture! Where is the I gone? don't tell me you took it off! :D

S said...

Stella the Pellet Stove

Stella Pellet! :P

Just yesterday LR and I saw a gigantor bag o those things at the hardware store and we at first thought it was hampster food! Then hamster bedding, or rabbit food or whatever.

Now I know what they were! I'm tellin you child, I get the feeling you can buy those gigantor bags at Costco or whatever they call it on the east coast! That bag was bigger n' me!

Stay warm!

Craver Vii said...

You'll find that the heat from the stove has a special quality to it. It's great to come in from the cold and huddle close to the fire. That's something that I find lacking in central heating. It's kinda like how you can drink your cup by holding the mug by the handle, or bypass it, wrapping both hands around to take full advantage of the heat. It makes me warm just seeing people do that. Enjoy the stove; let us know how it goes, 'cause we have a bunch of snow plopping down on us (Chicago area) too.

Suldog said...

I don't know. How about Flambe?

Actually, I think the Irish and/or Greek names above are pretty good.

Anonymous said...

Oo Looks Warm!

How about:
Thermy
Snug
Toasty Roasty
Pleasant Pellet

:)

Hugs Bella!

Merry Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Marley, Marley was dead, as dead as a doornail... this must be understood if anything wonderful is to occur. ;)

Ok... so I'm all Christmas Carol'd.

I hope you are keeping warm this winter! The pellet stove looks great!

S said...

Stella Flambe?

S said...

(using suldogs name as inspiration)

g-man said...

Neat little Gizmo there Limey!!
Thanks for the 55 today.
You are always part of Da Count in my book Trini...:-)

Cheesy said...

ANKHIALE (or Anchiale) was the Titan goddess of the warming heat of fire. She was the wife of Hekateros, the titan-god of the hands, and mother of the metal-working Daktyloi, literally the Fingers. These rustic gods lived on the slopes of Mount Ida (either the Kretan or Phrygian mountain), and together represented the power of fingers and hands to create and utilise fire. Indeed, it was Ankhiale's own brother Prometheus who stole fire from heaven for mankind.

Lolly said...

the Hawaiian goddess of fire, Pele.
Also, as the greatest footballer of all time, Pele would be able to kick the cold in the ass, out of the house.
Merry Christmas!

KFarmer said...

Congrats on your new addition to the household. I know when I replaced my old wood burning stove with a more efficient one, I was thrilled. (It is my only source of heat in the kitchen area.)

Wishing you many years of happy heat and warm toes. :)

ArtSparker said...

Bertha, or name after one of the Hawaiian volcanos?

BTExpress said...

I changed to natural gas for the same reason. No more fuel oil for heat, nor propane for hot water. Once I read that 80% of the natural gas we use comes from North America, I was sold on converting to gas. I won't know if it's less expensive for a long time, but knowing that OPEC doesn't control my supply is worth it.

Jocelyn said...

How about Henny Penny ("pellet" sounds like "pullet," right)?

So the stove pretty much heats the whole house?

Casdok said...

Great 55.
Am loving your stove!

Anonymous said...

Arthur.

Jocelyn said...

Thank you, dearling, for the further info on the stove (you could turn that into a follow-up post!). We have an old house with wonderful radiators, and we keep the joint really cold, so costs stay pretty low.

If the tie dye offer is genuine--per your last comment--heck, yea, I love it. Gotta admit, my kids do, even more than I, even. And they're growing all the time and are shooting right out of anything tie-dyed they own...

Hilary said...

The Pellet Zealot.

The Pelletzer Prize.

Lulda Casadaga said...

Great 55 and pic...laughing my ass off over here. My uncle up in PA has the Pellet stove for a number of years now and it really is wonderful...my mom and brother went for the kerosene heat and that works well also...
OK...how about Petulia Pellet
or perhaps you can come up with a Trindadian name..sorry, I don't know any off hand. :)

I'm sure you'll find the right one soon!

The Zombieslayer said...

No suggestions for the name, but never even heard of those pellets. That sounds really cool.

We are now officially apartment dwellers and let me tell you, it couldn't have come at a better time. We went from $470 PG&E bills (our local energy company) to literally under $50. Love it.

I don't even think if we win the lottery we'll ever live in a house that big again (we were renting, we didn't own it). $470 PG&E bills are against my religion.