Blather

Pretty good day today. Yesterday, my small son and I moved the old couch out onto the porch and set up the bed that was mine when I was a child. (Richie used it in San Luis Obispo when he was living there.) Much more comfy than I'd expected, since the mattress was a bit tired, but I slept well. Really well. This morning, I slept in a bit, waking to the sound of the pellet stove's blower spinning. In the adjacent room, Richie had disassembled the pellet stove. I got dressed, fixed oatmeal and Tetley's for brekkie, then went to see how he was doing. He showed me a rather hefty auger that drives pellets up and then they drop into the firebox. The auger hadn't been spinning. One end was crusty with some sort of lubricant residue, so I cleaned it off. When he put it back, the auger worked. We shoved the heavy stove back into the fireplace and I wrapped some aluminum tape (good stuff!) around the exhaust vent. Took us awhile to get the pellets lit, since we were new to pellet stoves. They kept going out, but finally we got 'em going and they've stayed lit for about five hours now. The living room is nice and warm; the adjacent rooms are not as cozy, but far more livable than before we started putting some BTUs into that end of the house.

Oh, the day also included some yardwork and I cleaned up the kitchen a bit, but the best part of today was making half the house far more comfortable than it was yesterday.

Still have to try dialing in the blower speed and the feed rate. To my uneducated eyes, it seems that there's too much air and not quite enough pellets, but only by a bit.

With this plateau, making Stockton my permanent home is that much closer. This time I brought out my two BMX bikes. Next time I'll bring Schaffe's bicycle and some of my other bikes. My too-tall bike runs, but its name is indicative of why I shouldn't try BMX stuff on it- it's too tall for my short inseam. Might bring some bedroom furniture and some of my closet stuff, too. Tomorrow I might try working in the two closets- rip out the rugs, paint the walls, find the closet poles and the folding doors so no one has to look at my messy closets when I begin sleeping there.

Not the most productive day ever, but I'm happy with the results.