Autumn Muse

Fall is a lovely time of year. The leaves are really coming down, which provides hours of amusement for the grandsons... and Tall One. Tall One is at Home Depot, or it's first cousin, Lowe's, with Surfer Dude. There is no place on earth they'd rather be. Unless, it's Disney World, and Disney World doesn't sell lumber.

Tall One's project du jour is the compost heap. He is building an enclosure to keep the weeds, grass clippings and other organic debris at bay. It's situated behind the small shed he built a few years ago. The shed was supposed to house the lawn tractor and it's accessories, but the lawn tractor's accessories are now too high-fallutin', hoity-toity to stay in the shed. They are living in the garage. This is only acceptable because we have a two bay garage, and my car still fits on the other side. I have grown accustomed to parking in a garage.

Last year, or was it the year before?, Tall One invested in a leaf collecting device that he hooks to the riding mowing. It looks as if he's pulling a small, noisy shed around the yard. In actuality, it's an unnatural combination of a shop vac, mulching mower, and temporary storage system. Tall One appears to drive this contraption, willy-nilly, helter skelter all around the grounds and then empties the contents out by the side of the road where they wait (get blown into the neighbors yard) for the borough leaf collectors to take them to their final resting place (land fill). I am way too unskilled (a woman) to operate this state-of-the-art monstrosity. Suits me. It's just silly.

And, I should probably say a word or two about the pellet stove. I'm still a bit skeptical. It hasn't really been so cold as to give the thing a real challenge. And, surprise, gas/oil prices have not continued to escalate...in fact they haven't even bottomed out from the nose dive, so I can't make a judgement on the fiscal feasibility. I'm not convinced that "saving money" was the real impetus anyway. I think Tall One saw it as a cool toy - hearkening back to the primal desire to provide shelter for his shivering family - and he's a bit of a temperature wimp. Remember, he's the one who lost the pissing contest on "who's-gonna-turn-the-central-air-on" - not that I'M keeping score. Nah, nah, nah, nah,nah!

There may be a pellet shortage. The local hardware store is "rationing". But, the 42,876 pounds of pellets we've stock piled DO fit on the leaf collector's side of the garage, so there is THAT. Let's hope the floor holds. I was concerned about the smell. Yes, we love the smell of wood burning in the winter, but when burned constantly, for heat, not aesthetics, everything begins to reek of baloney. So far, there's no discernible odor except at start up, power down or if standing directly down wind of the ventilation pipe outside on the deck. And, I've cleaned the stove twice by myself, and once with Tall One (never again) and it's this-side-of-inconvenient. It's only about a quarter as filthy as the wood/then coal stove of our early years. As long as the ashes don't do lasting damage to my very cool, very pricey (ye gads), lavender vacuum cleaner that I had to purchase because our whole-house vacuum system is terminal. There's a short...somewhere...so the damn thing never turns itself off. You have to go all the way downstairs, through the shop, and flip the switch. And, heaven forbid we actually find someone to service the thing. It probably would have cost less than the replacement Dyson. But, I'm sure the extra expense will be absorbed by the pellet stove, after it pays for itself, by working part time at McDonald's. This is all acceptable - if not prudent.

There is one thing I really like about the little pellet burner. In the morning, it casts a truly cozy glow.