Horrors

We recently started up our Netflix subscription after taking the summer off. Last night was Art's pick- Legend. I love Wil Smith, so even though I heard it was scary I agreed to watch it.
I am not a scary movie person. I went to see Raiders of the Lost Ark with my church group when it came out (I must've been six or seven?) and had nightmares for weeks. I haven't gotten much better since. After hubby talked me into watching The Ring I wouldn't let him leave my side for over a week. Don't get me wrong I love bloody gory movies like Die Hard, Kill Bill, or Pulp Fiction. Even movies like Fargo, and No Country for Old Men are right up my alley. I just don't like horror movies!
So last night we watched Legend. I had Art on one side with a firm grip on his hand, Zoi on my lap, and I even pulled Polar up on the futon for additional support. Poor dog, he got so stressed out each time I jumped, or gasped and ducked my head into Art. He kept saying "It's just a movie!" I left the room for the final scenes and at this point hubby was mocking me about how it was 'just a movie.' After the movie he went down to watch Saw or Ghost Ship. DH tried to get me to watch Ghost Ship once. I will forever have the image of people being cut in half by metal wires imprinted in (on?) my mind's eye... ((shudder))
I turned on The Girls Next Door and Gene Simmons to try to clear the creepy images from my head when Art's cell phone rang. It was a little after nine. MJ from the fire department said that our big pellet supplier a couple of towns over has just had a second alarm for a fire at the plant. CRAP! (only the other word!) We turned on Art's pager and listen in for a while. Crews were being called from several surrounding town's. We tried to get tac 1 on Art's radio for on the scene details, but couldn't.
So, we headed down to the station. MJ and another officer were already there. We listened over the next couple of hours as the fire moved from the an electrical panel to the cooler, then outside to the large 20 ton storage silos. Our town didn't get called, but everyone around us did including a ladder truck from a nearby training facility.
After a couple of hours it was obvious that our fd was not going to be called so we headed home. I had to ask Art if this was "just a movie." Not this time. We are having our highest demand year for stoves and fuel this year. Stoves are sold out this year and allocated half way through next year. Pellet mills are running 24/7 to try to keep up and this will set us back weeks. NOT good. Around midnight we turned in as it seemed that they had it under control and were just mopping up.
First thing this morning we headed over to the plant to check it out. The fire barricades were still up and pumper trucks were still on scene. We talked with the plant manager who said that sometime overnight the fire migrated to their large (60 ton?) raw material silo. Then more engines and tankers started to pull in. I ask about our friend who owns the company. Poor guy was stuck on Martha's Vineyard. He couldn't get back last night on a plane because of the severe thundestorms, and the ferries weren't running.
Then Art's phone rang. MJ called to ask if he could be late for work because our fd was paged for cover duty relating to the fire. Art said yes and btw grab his gear, he would meet them at the cover station. Then Art's pager went off again. I dropped him off at the cover fire department then hurried back home to try to finish a deal with a commodoties broker to secure some (expensive) pellets so we have some for September. I don't think we will be getting any out of the guys nearby for a month or more. (Random cursing)
This is definitely a horror movie that I wish I had NOT seen.

Carbon Footprint

Like many others we have been working to reduce our carbon footprint. Our biggest contribution to reducing our carbon emissions was done years ago when we began heating our home with carbon nuetral wood pellets.
When we moved into our new house we upped the ante by putting in the boiler so now we not only heat our home with pellets we heat our domestic hot water as well. This is our first full summer with that setup and it is working great.
On the example of friends who use an efficient wood boiler to heat their home and water we turn the boiler on once a day. We take our showers, do dishes, cleaning, and laundry that needs hot water then we turn it off. On average I would say it is on for about ten hours a week as opposed to 168 hours (24/7).
We also do most of our laundry in cold or cooling water and then hang them on the line to dry. I love the crisp fresh feel and smell of line dried clothes!
In the summer months and into the fall we use our wood pellet grill for cooking/baking. It has just as much temperature control (with a built in thermostat) as my oven/range, but doesn't warm my house and uses about one-fifth the electricity.
I went around the house about a year ago and unplugged everything. I plugged things in as I used them, and the others remain unplugged. I also make an effort to unplug things after I use them that I only use sparingly like the iron, an extra tv, boom box, pellet stove in the summer, and sewing machine. I do make an effort to unplug my cell phone and laptop chargers when I am not using them as they suck up almost as much juice whether or not they are charging/powering the device.
When we first moved into this house we changed our lightbulbs for the compact flourescents, and we are upgrading our windows and insulation as we can to decrease energy loss in the winter.
We also buy as much food as we can locally. I love the fresh milk and cream (especially ice cream ;) from our local dairy, and the fresh meats can't be beat. We joined the local co-op for our veggies, and get most of the fruit we eat from our yard. We have had great success with Damon using our greenhouse and fields for growing. Win- win there. Then, of course, we have the chickens now. They are way too much fun! You should have seen them fight over a few grapes I gave them yesterday. Best game of keep away I have witnessed in a long time...
We combine our trips so we aren't constantly in the car running up and down the hill. We got bikes and should be better about using them for local travel, but that is in the "still working on it" category.
The latest project for energy reduction is actually an idea from last winter. For Christmas we bought a 100 year old wood cook stove instead of gifts for each other. It was a little rusty and well used, but still in working order and will be beautiful with a little tlc. Of course, our plan is to adapt it to burn pellets (not changing it to a convective stove just using the pellets instead of wood for fuel). It sat in our friend's garage for almost two months after the holiday, then in the warehouse until today. (We had gotten a hearth pad for it in the spring...) Today we spread it all out and got the grinders and wire brushes out and start cleaning her up. Tomorrow I will paint it and then we can bring it home to set it up! We are putting it where the original house owner's had a wood stove. Venting through roof is done we will just have to adapt into it. Gee- I wonder where we will get the pipe from!LOL! Here are some before pics...

Hot, Cold, Hot...

Little rant.
((((Sigh))))This is our business life. Things are either off the charts, or dead as a doornail. We have years where we are booked out three months in the fall, backordered on stoves for months. The next year you stare at the door and wonder what the hell happened to all those people who were screaming because you couldn't get them squeezed into your schedule in a couple of days as soon as it snows and you wonder if you'll make it through the year??
Where are all the people who swore that pellet or wood was the answer not just because it's cheap (I hate that word), but because it the right thing to do? These people shut their stoves off in droves when oil prices are low. Not lower than pellet in many cases, but hey if you don't have to get your lazy ass off the couch to fill the stove once a day it's worth a few extra bucks right?
Last year was one of the worst for our industry. What people don't realize is they created a very dangerous situation by having such on again, off again support for alternative fuels. There were many major players, and little guys, that went out of business or had to sell to the highest bidder, are carrying large loans and/or are on the brink of collapse because of this. One of the worst parts is that every time we lose users here- even for one heating season- that fuel is LOST. Sold to Europe, sold to China, sold to so many others who know the value of the fuel. We now export more pellet fuel than we use in this country. Good luck getting it back. It won't happen. I have been to a few world pellet conferences in Europe and they spend a great deal of effort and money to woo the US and Canadian manufacturers. Their standards are lower, they pay in advance, and they buy very large quantities.
When the oil prices are out of sight the number of people that use their pellet stoves goes up by the tens of thousands. Well in excess of 100,000 extra stoves were estimated for the 2005 heating season. The average house uses three tons in a heating season. So these extra users can add an extra demand equal to as much as a third of the annual pellet production in this country in an instant. (AND that doesn't account for the fact that we now ship more pellet fuel to Europe than we do domestically.) This creates spot shortages, DUH! The best JIT system in the world couldn't manufacturer 30% of their annual production in a week or two...
The industry took the area shortages in the Northeast very seriously in 2005. They made deals with West coast manufacturers (who had excess that year) to ensure that there was ample supply in New England. Manufacturers, and dealers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, and more on infrastructure, and extra stocking space to buy the fuel early. Then our fair weather friends did not turn on their stoves. They did not buy fuel. The Year of the Cricket, where many fell or were severely crippled.
This year the oil prices are back where they should be and suddenly we are back to a packed store of people wanting this yesterday wondering why we have so few employees, why we are sold out of many stoves, and why it will take weeks for us to get out to install a stove. Pellets are holding for now-(knock on wood)...
I have learned to be greatful for the times when I cannot get the product and have a backlog. Even though customers are screaming at us and holding us responsible at least the fuel is being used and therefore preserved for our use- this year at least. ((((Sigh))))