It ain't over til it's over, and over and over

We're all a bit spoiled with this early spring, but nothing unusual is happening.

Below is a photo I took of Blue Mountain Lake three years ago on April 29. It looks like a B&W photo, but it is a color shot of the dreariest spring day I ever remember up there. I went up to canoe and found the entire lake completely frozen.

I remember driving through the Green Mountains in VT before I got married (musta been 35 years ago) and there were power lines down all over due to 13" of heavy snow. It was early May, the day after Mother's Day.

When I was guiding up in the ADKs, on my first trip of the season one year I drove through a blizzard to get up to Lake Placid. My records show it was May 23.



All that aside, I'm gonna break down and start a fire tonight. Not in the stove, but upstairs in the fireplace. This is perfect fireplace weather.

wendell said:

And, if your current stove makes the basement too much, I'd move it upstairs and put the smaller stove in the basement. Should give you a more comfortable home.

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A VC Vigilant in my living room? :ahhh: I think that's how they got the reputation as creosote factories. Really has to be run hot to run clean. My living room is about the size of a pantry. Way overkill. Even an F3 might be too much. Besides, it wouldn't fit in the fireplace.

I figure that with the small stove upstairs, I can just run the Vig in the morning to take the chill off and then after work and overnight. The second stove would cover the overlap when we're in the living room after dinner. Something to look at like all you lucky folks with glass doors on stoves in the living space.

Really just musing at this point. I was in one of the local stove shops and they had some on sale. That, plus the 30% tax credit got me thinking. I'm not cheap, but I can only spend it once. No six figure incomes in this household. Oldest son getting married in July, putting a lot of dough and sweat equity in this place that ain't mine already. I scratch my landlord's back plenty that way as well. In the process of building a new shed in the backyard to replace the one I had to tear down a couple weeks ago. That's the cost of the stove right there. Business has been real slow for a couple years now, I need major dental work way beyond what my insurance will cough up, wife needs some as well, new grandson on the way in June, etc. Plus, I've been thinking of getting a bigger saw and a splitter and going with log lengths from now on. That will pay for itself a lot faster than a new stove.


Maybe I'll hit the lottery. Hafta buy a ticket first, though.



fbelec, I didn't know that about the dehumidifiers. I'll try turning the damn thing down. It's a huge part of my electric bill, but I have to keep the humidity down below 50% in the shop. Otherwise, the instruments I glue together in summer will crack when the wood shrinks in the winter. Repeat business, but not the kind that earns a good reputation for me. I've been keeping it turned up all the way, but you're right, it doesn't really take much more water out of the air once the air starts to dry out. What you are saying makes total sense, it's probably just cycling and not doing any dehumidifying. I just never thought about it before. Thanks.