Hockey stat of the week....

Joe Thornton is dead & burried in Boston. Written in today's Boston Globe by scribe Kevin Paul Dupont........ "Marc Savard has been a more than capable replacement for Jumbo Joe. He smoked home a one-timer in Toronto, ending a seven-game goal drought, but overall his numbers have been especially strong of late. He is 1-6--7 in his last five games, and 6-21--27 for the season. For those who can't let go of the past, ex-Bruins pivot Joe Thornton is 7-20--27, but he has played three more games (24 vs. 21). Jumbo Joe is also a minus-5, compared to Savard's plus-4"

Green Independance or Independantly Green

Here in South Carolina the weather has been getting a little chilly. Yes, it does get cold here. When we bought our house last April one of the things we were excited about was the wood burning stove in the living room. I grew up with both wood and coal burning stoves in our house (along with a heating oil furnace) and was excited to have one again. This also fits well with our green philosophy (keeping the green in our pockets & reducing our energy footprint). For the past month we've been able to keep our thermostat down to 65 degrees and live comfortably with the stove heating the main living areas. The cost of a cord of split dried oak wood here runs about $170 (a cord of wood measures 12ft x 8ft x 4ft stacked). Usually, I will start a fire in the morning and keep it going until lunch. It takes the chill off the house and warms up the rooms we spend most of our time in. Then, later on I will start it back up again when the sun goes down and the temperature drops again. The bedrooms do stay a bit cool but we all sleep well wrapped up in our warm blankets. As winter goes on I am sure we will have to keep it going all day long. Of course the best aspect is that it is entirely independant of the local electric grid!! Two years ago we had a major ice storm here and we lost power for a few DAYS! I was working in Florida at the time and Kimberly & the kids had to go to a makeshift shelter at the local high school for 2 days. I felt helpless 500 miles away, but now I know that we will always be able to stay warm even when the power goes out. Just add a camping stove to cook on and we can ride out anything!

I'll keep you posted as to how long a cord of wood lasts us. I would love to hear any other ideas you have about reducing your energy bill in the winter. What are your tricks?

Intersting links I found on the web about wood stoves and other non-electric sources.

Heating with wood FAQs
How to operate a wood stove efficiantly
Energy fuel comparison calculator
Geothermal heating systems
A Canadian website about green heating

If anyone ever wants to overhaul me......

I was watching TV the other night and surfing through the nerd channels I came across an episode of Overhaulin' that was working on a 1966 F-100. Now Colonel Mustard is a 1973 F-100 so I just had to watch to see what they did to it. They did a great job even though Nick Lechey was the special accomplice. I especially like the black and silver paint job. As they where asking Mr. Brittany Spears what he thought his brother's truck should be like I thought what if someone was doing my truck? What would they say? To make everyone' s life easier I thought I would give you some guidelines.

• DO NOT lower the truck!! there is a reason why I put this first. If you know me enough to have me Overhauled, then you know I don't want a ghetto sled.
• Tires and wheels should be large but not monster truck size. Wheels should look tough and mean not flashy & bling bling. Colonel Mustard is an Explorer model but it wasn't born in da' hood.
• Right now I'm looking to keep the color the original Bright Lime or at least an original 1973 Ford color. I do like the way they painted the Lechey truck though. Very traditional looking but also customized and manly looking. Rhino line that bed too.
• Leather, leather, leather. Not patterned velour, nawgahide or other space age material. The colors, of course, should match or compliment the exterior paint since the dashboard is sheet metal like the fenders. Some wood trim would be nice too. You can redo the gauges but I don't need some NASCAR looking race gauges telling me everything could ever need to know.
• I'm not looking for a thumpin' system but something better that the original 2 Am 2 FM push button dial radio. Maybe XM or Sirius, whichever has the MLB baseball package and of course NPR.
• In the show they put a chromed out 351 V8 in. Right now The Colonel has a rebuilt 390 V8. You can rebuild the engine or add chrome pulleys or trim but keep the 390. I just love getting 10 mpg!

Just imagine what Colonel Mustard would look like all redone.....

of course if some nice friend ever decided to Overhaul me... this would be the link you need.
http://www.overhaulin.com/overhaulme.asp

sigh... yup I'm getting older & the world changes

Ed Bradley died. I'll miss him. I'm a big 60 minutes fan, the kids hate it because in the fall when CBS football runs late, 60 Minutes runs late, and that means we will miss the begining of The Simpsons because we can't switch the channel until Andy Rooney has his say.

That's certainly one way I've noticed I'm getting older. More people die, or more people I know that is. And they die of being old, not tragic car crashes or a freak illness. When I was young if someone I knew died it was usually because of some accident or odd illness, or yours or someones grandparents; someone you knew was old. Now people I know die in their 70's. Which is what they're supposed to do I guess; but they were just in their late 40's or 50's a couple of years ago, right? Or has it been 6 years since I've moved to South Carolina already? Right now, it's celebities and people in the news I have grown up with or seen all of my like, Mr. Rogers, Ronald Reagan, Ed Bradley. It's starting to hit a little closer to home, friends' parents, people I will still remember as me being 14 and them the same age as my parents. But that was 18 years ago. When someone dies it's a reminder that I too am not 14 as they are not 50 anymore. I hope I don't bum you out too much with this post. Think good thoughts, like Ed Bradley's interview with Jimmy Buffett a few years ago. Good stuff.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Dave!!! Now we can all call in favors, of course only if we live in beautiful upstate New York.

http://ithacaishome.typepad.com/Ithaca_is_home/

If you've been put off by all of the political rhetoric of the past few months, click the link below and let your heart and mind swell with a sense of pride & purpose.

http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm

Vote early & often!

My inner song list....

been a while since I've written anything here. Just been a bit busy or tired or both. My new goal is to pick up an extra shift once a week for the rest of the year. It should make for a nice Christmas and start of 2007. But working 50+ hours a week does wear on you a bit. Okay, so the other day while working I found myself with different songs caught in my head and got to wondering how many different songs I think of (and sing along in my head) during the day. So I figured I would take one day and write down every song that was stuck in my head. I did this last week and I finally have some time to post the results. Here's what I wrote down.

• Hey Mister that's me up on the jukebox -James Taylor
• My baby takes the morning train - Sheena Easton
• Infactuation - Rod Stewart
• I dream of Jeannie theme/Hajii - The mighty mighty bosstones
• Bartender's Song - The mighty mighty bosstones
• Voodoo Lady - Ween
• Right Place, Wrong Time - Dr. John

I'm not sure where many of these songs came from. Most popped into my head or maybe I heard a riff or word or remembered something that triggered a song. The day started kind of relaxing and then turned more rock oriented. The order is how I thought of them but sometimes earlier songs made comebacks into my subconscious multiple times during the day. Sheena E. did that quite a few times that day. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has ever kept track of what songs go through their head in a day. BTW, I work in a pet food factory that is a bit noisy so there was really no influence from a radio or television.