Good morning!!!!

jbrumberg · Dec 23, 2018

^^^^^ Thank you Bill.

And I wish you and your family and friends a healthy, safe, and merry Christmas as well. Actually I will extend this wish to everyone here.

I did not celebrate a real family Christmas until I was 24 yo with the GF and her family. For the few years that I did not work on Christmas I was working on/cooking the family's turkey, lamb, and/or anything else that was on the menu. Now there is no family with whom to celebrate.

And it seemed that every year there was one less occupied chair around the table. Christmas for me (like all holidays) is a time for reflection and introspection and being thankful for what I have and hoping those less fortunate and in need receive the support they need. Peace and Goodwill means a lot.

Jim Nelson · Dec 23, 2018

jbrumberg said:
Billy-

Thanks for the feedback. I do not think the soap&water really works. It may make things worse. I left detergent out of the process today. This new stove is "light years" from my old Ben Franklin stove.... a very different kind of burn and more controllable. The wood I burn is stored 'well' (tarp/cinderblock off ground) and well seasoned (+1 year). I used to burn 1.75 cords/season with the old stove. For many reasons I may only burn .75 cords the way temperatures are going. Who knows?

On our wood burning insert I use an old fashioned single edge razor blade scraper to get the heavy stuff during the burning season.I use it in conjunction with a stainless tanked vacuum to clean up when I clean out ashes etc.
I once had a chimney sweep tell me the only way to clean the glass was to wet a paper towel and dip it in cold ash and rub the glass with that, then wipe off with crumpled up newspaper. He tried to demonstrate his method and it turned into a lot more work than using the razor blade scraper.
When the insert is cool I clean the sooty stuff from the outside with 3-M finishing compound and it really shines it up with not much work. It may work on the glass too,I haven't tried it for that.

toppop52 · Dec 23, 2018

jbrumberg said:
^^^^^ Thank you Bill.

And I wish you and your family and friends a healthy, safe, and merry Christmas as well. Actually I will extend this wish to everyone here.

I did not celebrate a real family Christmas until I was 24 yo with the GF and her family. For the few years that I did not work on Christmas I was working on/cooking the family's turkey, lamb, and/or anything else that was on the menu. Now there is no family with whom to celebrate. And it seemed that every year there was one less occupied chair around the table. Christmas for me (like all holidays) is a time for reflection and introspection and being thankful for what I have and hoping those less fortunate and in need receive the support they need. Peace and Goodwill means a lot.

I wish you the peace of the stars on a clear quiet night.

txdon · Dec 23, 2018

Good evening! They say bad things come in threes and this weekend another Aunt died. That's three in 10 days. There will be a lot of sad cousins this Christmas. This aunt most likely died from the the most common first sighn of heart disease - death. She was found yesterday by her son in her yard with a hoe in her hand. This holiday season has had more funerals than parties.

Cool evening going into the 30's by morning.

My Mom had her Christmas party yesterday and all the immediate family was there and it was good. She baked chicken breast for the meat eaters and we brought bean tamales with an apricot/cranberry sauce for the rest of us. After lunch we installed her new TV on the wall so see could see it from her bed. Right now the antenna only picks up two channels so we will either put a big antenna in the attic or connect this second TV to satellite dishTV. If we connect to antenna at least she can still have TV if the dishTV goes out. This flat screen HD 32" replaces a tube 19".

bunyip · Dec 23, 2018

Sorry for your loss and we just heard today that an old friend has just been admitted into palliative care, we knew he was not well but we didn't think he was that bad, don't expect him to make it to new year.
Full on summer today 32C and getting up to 36C later in the week, sitting inside watching the grass growing but I'll wait until it cools a bit before going out to cut it.

Looking4new · Dec 23, 2018

bunyip said:
Sorry for your loss and we just heard today that an old friend has just been admitted into palliative care, we knew he was not well but we didn't think he was that bad, don't expect him to make it to new year.
Full on summer today 32C and getting up to 36C later in the week, sitting inside watching the grass growing but I'll wait until it cools a bit before going out to cut it.

I wish I could send you some of my weather to cool you off.

-13C and snow tonight.

buckeyefarmer · Dec 23, 2018

Sons 11pm arrival now delayed till after 1am. Gonna try to sleep a few hr before the hr drive to airport. He's in stl now.

Buppies · Dec 23, 2018

Safe travels to airport buckeyefarmer

mostly_gas · Dec 23, 2018

Good evening all. 41F for the start, light wind clear sky. Wind picked up early then petered out late afternoon, sky stayed clear and high temp of 56F. Chapel then made breakfast, went to town for Christmas dinner stuff, then worked on wife's laptop, transfer the email is the last item to go live. Watched some of the cowboys game and caught a nap

When I used a razor blade on the glass, I used some ammonia water of the window first, and the seemed to loosen up the buildup.
RNG good luck with the touring bike.
Merry Christmas celebration to all.
prayers for all.