Pellet Delivery

Maine Energy Systems is providing the pellets for the first delivery. We will most likely change to a Vermont company that is gearing up a pellet production in Gilman, NH, just over the river from VT, for 2017.

INCENTIVE NO 4.     Pellets are good for the local forest economy. With mills closing down in NH and ME, and global forest products flooding the markets, pellets are good for the local and regional wood industry  which needs a place to sell its soft wood and pulp woods.  It's win-win.
Here comes the truck! It's yuuuuuge.

like a milk truck, only different

just over 3 tons of pellets in a bag

Progress with the Pellet boiler

In with the new...

 The pellet boiler is very amazing. It is Austrian, Okofen, and is compact, fitting perfectly where the wood boiler was.  Here is a link to see the system we have (if you care ). Okofen wood-pellet-boiler

in position

small and compact

storage bag before pellets, hose to the boiler

Hoses will bring the pellets into the burner box from a huge storage bag.

new smoke stack

Craig's list works

John is helping a guy from NY load and remove our wood boiler. Tah tah!!!  He was so glad to have it and we were, well......smiling for sure.

Why Pellet Boiler....

 INCENTIVE NO. 2
Heating with a wood boiler requires a lot of work! period. Stacking the wood (which was just finished) takes place over the entire summer, bit by bit. All John's work when we could be boating, it seems that there is a pile of wood lying around everyday, just taunting him to stack it. Done, gone, over. The three cords were sold easily to the workers on the project.

not hard to get rid of the wood

the daily routing

INCENTIVE NO 3 

Cleaning the wood boiler, several times throughout the winter, is not fun. John has complained about that a lot and so.....done, gone, over.  The pellet boiler has this sissy little ash box that maybe has to be cleaned out every month or so, but dumping a fine white powder into a container. Good for the  compost, too.

Incentives to go to Pellet Boiler heating system

 Cutting Edge Energy Systems out of West Burke was the grand winner. We applied for the incentives offered by the Northern Forest Center and were approved. We chose Cutting Edge and got started right off, by removing our existing wood boiler.
INCENTIVE NO. 1
Money, $8000.00 to be exact, from 3 sources, with 3 layers of paper work, but hey, it is in fact, $8000.00

Tractors are handy

Out with the Old

plenty of space for the new boiler

Waiting Craigslist to work

Meet Red Molly

This 1971 Saab 95 station wagon arrive in early October. I was owned by a man on Nantucket and his friend Graham told me about it. Graham, a Saab rally car driver, essentially rebuilt this wagon with his friend and assures me that it is is good running condition, best he's seen in this age group.

First beer run

We have been driving it around in good weather, it is registered and inspected and just rattles a bit. There will be more pictures to come. First one is in front of Rock Art brewery in Morrisville on our first beer run.

Home in the barn

trailer view, inside

first plate

by the house

storage for all the spare parts

very first ride out

Fishing on Narragansett Bay

Alas the fish were too small. But John and Dave had fun in Rhode Island last week, and that is the point.

Back to boating and the Umbrella story

Moments after this picture was taken, my favorite umbrella from Cirque de Soleil was lifted out of the rod holder and flew over the water and dropped. Thinking it would float, we reached for it with the boat hook, but it went down into the water very quickly into 20 ft. of water. I was devastated. Then John got his fishing equipment together and started casting. After about 12 casts he pulls on something, slowly, very slowly, he pulled in the umbrella, hooked on the very tip of one section. We were both amazed at this entire scenario. I mean what are the chances?  My hero.

Tanglewood Visit - A Prairie Home Companion

 On June 25, we paid a visit to Tanglewood in Lenox, MA for a final performance of  A Prairie Home Companion. His last show will be tonight somewhere. We enjoyed the calm, peaceful setting, familiar performers and good food.

Finally, summer begins

Birthday with Joan Baez

In early April, Joan Baez performed at the Flynn theater in Burlington. No intro band, just Joan for 1.5 hours. It was wonderful. Dinner at the Pizza Verita did not disappoint with pizza making demonstrations by Griff . Took a cab to get around due to the Mardi Gras festivities, and had breakfast the next day at the Skinny Pancake on Lake St. A good time was had....

Finally coming out from under.....

To arrive at the moment, post birthday, post winter (we think) and pre summer fun, I will present a photo display to capture the high points. The best xmas present to us was Priscilla II, who arrived around the holiday and has given us something to dream about since. Here she is.

The big window in the rear and side rear windows are the bedroom, which we can see is ideal. We have customized it  to our liking. John has upgraded the vent fans. We have removed the big TV in the main living area and will replace it with a bookcase/magazine rack. Etc. We will be ready to try her out in May, right Here and then off to Lake Champlain in June. 

Here are a few looks at the interior. 

Queen bed that we fit in!

Shower

Bathroom across from shower

kitchen next to frig

Sofa and dining table

Bookcase in TV space