I fired up the woodstove for the first time today. There were a number of small tasks I had to perform prior to firing it up, the first being reattaching a small portion of the door gasket that had loosened over the heating season last winter. The gasket itself was in good shape so there was no need to replace it.
Next, I had to pull the blowers off the front of the stove and clean out the vents and the vanes on the fans, then reattach the strain relief on the electric cord, then remounting them on the stove before getting the tinder, bits of cardboard, and wood loaded into the firebox.
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I always forget how different the heat from the stove feels compared to that from the baseboards. I also forget just how noisy the blowers can be when they run at full speed and they aren't balanced!I think we have to make plans to replace either the blowers or the stove. I thinking it's time for the stove to be replaced as we've had it for nine winters now and it was used when we got it. It's always been undersized and isn't capable of heating The Manse well when the outside temperatures get below zero Fahrenheit. It has served us well but it doesn't owe us anything.
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Bogie's small pellet stove on the upper floor of her home, on the other hand, died a premature death when its combustion motor died. As Bogie wrote, “Okay, I can take a hint (I left out a few exciting details - let's suffice to say we all survived and the house did not burn down).”Ouch.
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The Deep Blue State conspiracy in Wisconsin targeting conservative groups and Republican Governor Scott Walker has received yet another condemnation, this time from Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, Jr.. Sheriff Clarke, a long time Democrat, says the ongoing “John Doe” investigations are nothing but a “witch-hunt” for the purposes of intimidating and silencing any opposition to the Democrat agenda in Wisconsin.Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. has accused District Attorney John Chisholm, a fellow Democrat, of "abuse of prosecutorial power" in the relentless criminal investigation of Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and 29 conservative groups.Chisholm denies there's any malicious intent, but as anyone in the public sector should know, perception is reality, particularly when both state and federal judges have ordered the John Doe investigations to cease because they see a pattern of abuse and misconduct.
Clarke's forceful public criticism is of Chisholm and the so-called "John Doe" investigation that Chisholm has pursued since 2010 against Walker, his staff and virtually every conservative advocacy group in the state.
Sheriff Clarke has also endorsed a petition filed that asks for a special prosecutor to be appointed to investigate the partisan John Doe investigations.
You know it's getting bad when even other Democrats are condemning the actions of the the various DA's involved with these special investigations and persecution of state Republicans and their supporters.
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Ann Althouse delves into the latest bit of eliminationist rhetoric from the New York Times which asks the question many of the more radical feminists have been pushing as a meme: “Does 'mankind' really need men?”This has a familiar ring to it, something from one the darker periods of European history. I'm thinking something along the lines of Mein Kampf.
Perhaps the rad-fems would like to try an experiment: They will be given some territory – preferably an island, maybe in the Caribbean - to set up their 'perfect' society. There will be no men allowed in their new society, though perhaps “burly men” will initially help them off-load supplies and construction materials. They will not do business or trade with any male-owned/run businesses elsewhere in the world. They will not receive any kind of aid from countries or organizations that are run by men. They will be allowed to have their own sperm banks, but the supply will not be replenished from outside. Then we will leave them alone for 60 years and see how they do.
My prediction: abject failure.
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Assistant Village Idiot comments upon the N'Hampsha accent.Ayuh.
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Most people think there are three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). A few think there are four (add plasma to the other four). But there are dozens.These are but one set of scientific facts that we all know, but that are wrong.
(H/T Maggie's Farm)
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One unintended consequence of ObamaCare is the growing number of small businesses are dropping health insurance coverage for their employees.That isn't the downside. It's that we, meaning the taxpayers, will be subsidizing most of those employees now forced to purchase health insurance through the exchanges. The cost of ObamaCare continues to rise and the White House still insists it's 'good for us' to make health insurance more expensive.
Just wait until the Employer Mandate kicks in on January 1st.
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This doesn't surprise me in the least. The Pew Research Journalism Project conducted a survey about political polarization in the US and came up with a surprising (to them) conclusion: Liberals are far less tolerant than conservatives when it comes to opposing political viewpoints.I know that just from my own observations. But having a liberal leaning organization find the same thing merely confirms what so many moderates and conservatives have known for some time – the oh-so-tolerant Left is anything but tolerant.
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Tell us something we don't already know!From Nice Deb comes the observation that the Democrat Party is nothing more than a criminal organization masquerading as a political party.
Their latest outrage? Threatening people if they don't vote. Yeah, that ought to go over well.