Wordless Wednesday

Here There Be Dragons

"...and from the ashes of the Old World, another breed of man will be born. A man born in peace and not in war. And to his kin, the teachings of the Order will be as myth.

The sacred pact 'twixt Dragon and Rider forgotten, dormant in time.

Yet fear not, for when the darkness is once again made flesh, The Order will ride again, delivering righteous fire from the sky..."

-From the sayings of Rimril, Fourth Archmage of the Order

Lately I gotten back into playing an old video game of mine called "Draken Order of the Flame." I'm really not a very serious gamer, since I tend to play them for awhile, and then put them down and forget about them for a year, and then start playing them again. This one I have had for quite awhile and it is definitely one of my favorites.

Most games don't really do much for me, but put me in one where you get to swing a BFS (Big Farkin Sword), Fly a Dragon and protect a Fair Warrior Maiden, and I'm all there.

The story revolves around "Rynn" (that would be the Fair Warrior Maiden) who is traveling the land of Draken searching for her younger brother "Delon" who was carried off when a band of "Wartoks" attacked and destroyed Rynn's village. Along the way she hooks up with the ancient dragon "Arokh" and together they search the land for Delon, all the while having to fight off all kinds of creatures like Wartoks, Orcs, Giant Spiders and Scavengers. During the quest all manor of weapons, Armor, Potions, Magic Crystals and Runes are found to help them in their search.

I spent most of the day today playing, though in truth I had to start over at a previous game save because I got my dragon "stuck" in a mine and couldn't get him out. I don't know if it was a glitch or what, and at first I thought maybe he just wasn't allowed to go any further with Rynn until I played on for a while and realized he was really supposed to be with her. I had to start over again at a save that was quite far back in the game and spent most of the time just getting back to where I was. Once I got back I found the going much easier with Arokh, it really helps to have a fire breathing dragon with you when you are slaughtering bestiary. These dragons should really come with four-wheel drive for moving around on the ground and in caves and mines.

There are a lot of places in the game where Arokh cannot pass and Rynn has to go on alone until she can unlock a gate to allow him to come through. Some of the time you are flying around on Arokh's back blasting the creatures on the ground, fighting crow dragons in the sky, and dodging the shots from the cannons that the Wartoks use to try and blast you out of the sky. Other times you have to traverse underground mines and caves on foot, fighting the creatures with sword, mace and bow.

I'm not the greatest gamer in the world and I do manage to get Rynn and Arokh killed probably more often than many other gamers would but that's when the health potions and game saves come into play so I can keep on going through the game wreaking mayhem and destruction on my enemies.

I collect swords and dragons, and even have a couple dragon tattoos so this game pretty much has everything in it that I could possible want in a 3DVR game. I also like going to Medieval Faires and this game really has very medieval flair to it. You just can't beat a game where you get to fly a dragon and swing a sword, so if you will excuse me now "It's time to go hunt some Orc"...

Happy 18th Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday and according to the calendar and my driver's license I am 45 years old but I believe they are wrong and I can prove that I'm 18 again.

Now when I was 18 I looked up at 28 and thought it was old, it seemed so very far away. Now that these lying documents say I'm 45, I once again look at 28 and it seems every bit as far away.

Therefore the only conclusion I can come up with, using strict scientific visual observation, is that I have come full circle all the way back around to 18 again, though if you visually observed me you might disagree.

So not only have I proved that I am 18 again I have also proved the viability of circular logic.

My Meme

Sorry about being a.w.o.l. on blogger lately, but overtime has started up at work again and though I don't mind the money it really doesn't "leave much gas in the engine" at the end of the day or much brain to think with. I've had things to say just not a lot of energy or time to say them....

This time I've decided to write the meme rather than just snatch it off of someone else's blog. Someone has to begin these things somewhere, so I thought, "why not here with me." If you like it, please feel free to snag it...

1. What is the background image you have up on your computer right now? Teotihaucan, a place I've never been to but would love to go see someday.

2. Which is your all-time favorite Dinosaur? Brontosaurus which is now called the Apatosaurus.

3. What was the first music concert you went to? Kiss and I was 13. It was at a place here called the Erie County Field House and their pyrotechnics scorched the ceiling...good concert...

4. Polar Bears or Penguins? Always partial to Penguins whether they are in Pittsburgh or a PC...

5. Describe your favorite "comfy" clothes? My Raiders sweat pants and my gray flannel shirt...

6. What natural disaster would you least like to experience? I don't think I would enjoy being around a forest fire very much...

7. If you could have any other job, what would it be? Archeologist...no wait Bush Pilot...

8. How do you like your coffee/tea? Coffee with creamer, no sugar...

9. I was going to write you a letter since you left the Earth, but you forgot to tell me which planet/moon you moved to, which is it? Hanging out on Europa watching Jupiter rise...

10. What was the first car you bought? 1978 Firebird Redbird Edition, she was sweet...

11. What is your favorite type of tree? Eastern Hemlock...

12. You've offended my honor! Now we must duel, choose your weapon! Draw your cutlass matey...Aaaaarrrghh!!!

This Post Really Stinks

Well this guy seems to have taken up residence in my yard. I've seen him a couple times now in my backyard, right behind the porch, but every time I ran to get my camera he pulled a disappearing act. Now I know these guys can't run very fast, and generally don't need to, as a defense, since most creatures run from them, but every time he managed to elude my camera... until now.

This time I just stood in the window and waited, watching him eat. When a car drove by I saw him scurry into my shed. Now he can't really get into my shed like "Oscar" the red squirrel can, but I have a little open addition built on the side of the shed and he ran into that. The addition has three sides, a roof and a floor but is open in the front, and is where I keep trashcans, my wheelbarrow, and such. It appears that he has made a little home for himself among the junk that I have stored there.

I don't know how "Oscar" the red squirrel and "Chubby", the woodchuck that lives under the floor of the addition, feel about their new neighbor, but my shed sure seems to be turning into a wildlife condo. As for myself, I don't think I'm too overly thrilled with the new resident.

I grabbed my digital camera and snuck out onto the back porch and tried to take his picture, but it is a really dark and rainy night, and my camera isn't the greatest, so the first pictures all came out black. I then went back inside and got the 1 million-candlepower spot light I got for myself for Christmas, and went back out on the porch again.

The spot light did the trick, allowing just enough light for him to show up in the pictures. Fortunately I have my back porch wrapped with plywood panels for winter, which afforded me some protection to get these very dangerous shots. It's funny how long I just stood there with the spotlight trained on him, snapping pictures, and he really didn't seem to care, at times getting within 15 feet of me, of course he knew he wasn't the one in peril.

He hasn't sprayed yet or at least I haven't smelled him, but I'm sure he's a "fully capable skunk" so I guess I'm going to have to be a lot more careful when leaving and coming home now. The shadows thrown off by my porch seem a lot more ominous now, maybe holding unseen dangers.

The only thing left to do now is come up with a name for him... Pepe is just too un-original...

Plant a Tree... Save the World...

TREES ABSORB CARBON DIOXIDE.

CARBON DIOXIDE IS THE GAS THAT CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING.

PLANT A TREE...SAVE THE WORLD...

I don't know how I can make it any clearer. It's early morning, the sun is just rising on this New Years day 2007 and it's a balmy 50 degrees F. and raining outside when it should be 20 degrees with 2 feet of snow on the ground.

We are deforesting our planet, killing off the one thing that can save us. There is no more time for argument and debate, because while people talk, the temperature is rising.

In 2006 I managed to plant 22 trees in my yard and have many more in my "tree bed" waiting to go in this year. Here are some tree facts for you taken from the Colorado Tree Coalition.

Carbon Sequestration:

· Heat from Earth is trapped in the atmosphere due to high levels of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and other heat-trapping gases that prohibit it from releasing heat into space -- creating a phenomenon known as the "greenhouse effect." Trees remove (sequester) CO₂ from the atmosphere during photosynthesis to form carbohydrates that are used in plant structure/function and return oxygen back to the atmosphere as a byproduct. About half of the greenhouse effect is caused by CO₂. Trees therefore act as a carbon sink by removing the carbon and storing it as cellulose in their trunk, branches, leaves and roots while releasing oxygen back into the air.

· Trees also reduce the greenhouse effect by shading our homes and office buildings. This reduces air conditioning needs up to 30%, thereby reducing the amount of fossil fuels burned to produce electricity. This combination of CO₂ removal from the atmosphere, carbon storage in wood, and the cooling effect makes trees a very efficient tool in fighting the greenhouse effect.

· One tree that shades your home in the city will also save fossil fuel, cutting CO₂ buildup as much as 15 forest trees.

· Approximately 800 million tons of carbon are stored in U.S. urban forests with a $22 billion equivalent in control costs.

· Planting trees remains one of the cheapest, most effective means of drawing excess CO₂ from the atmosphere.

· A single mature tree can absorb carbon dioxide at a rate of 48 lbs./year and release enough oxygen back into the atmosphere to support 2 human beings.

· Each person in the U.S. generates approximately 2.3 tons of CO₂ each year. A healthy tree stores about 13 pounds of carbon annually -- or 2.6 tons per acre each year. An acre of trees absorbs enough CO₂ over one year to equal the amount produced by driving a car 26,000 miles. An estimate of carbon emitted per vehicle mile is between 0.88 lb. CO₂/mi. – 1.06 lb. CO₂/mi. (Nowak, 1993). Thus, a car driven 26,000 miles will emit between 22,880 lbs CO₂ and 27,647 lbs. CO₂. Thus, one acre of tree cover in Brooklyn can compensate for automobile fuel use equivalent to driving a car between 7,200 and 8,700 miles.

· If every American family planted just one tree, the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere would be reduced by one billion lbs annually. This is almost 5% of the amount that human activity pumps into the atmosphere each year.

· The U.S. Forest Service estimates that all the forests in the United States combined sequestered a net of approximately 309 million tons of carbon per year from 1952 to 1992, offsetting approximately 25% of U.S. human-caused emissions of carbon during that period.

· Over a 50-year lifetime, a tree generates $31,250 worth of oxygen, provides $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycles $37,500 worth of water, and controls $31,250 worth of soil erosion.

If you live in an apartment or don't have any place to plant a tree here are some people at AmericanForests.org that will plant trees for you.

Please try to make it your New Years Resolution to help do something about this environmental catastrophe that is going on all around us.

Christmas Festivities and Such...

Thursday I was invited to my best friend "Jul's" house for their family Christmas dinner get-together. It was very nice of them to include me in with their family. They had an unusual Christmas Eve afternoon dinner and present opening. Since both her and her husband's children (from previous marriages) are pretty much grown up, with some moved out, they had many family dinners to contend with, which prompted the afternoon dinner. I've known "Jul" since we were 15, and to tell you the truth, cooking has never been one of her strong points (she'll admit that). Still she put on a pretty good spread with a nice holiday ham, though I did have to give her a hard time, telling her "I half expected fish sticks". I love her dearly.

I went and had Christmas dinner today at my first ex-wife's house with my son, and it was very nice. It's really a good thing that her and I can manage to get along so well, even after the divorce.

I think she liked the gift I bought her because she laughed when she opened it. I always bought her traditional gifts every year, along with the other stuff I bought for her, and every year she would get a large sampler pack of a particular brand of candy. I ran across it when I was out shopping and wondered if she would remember. I told her before she opened it "she would probably recognize it". I think she liked it.

My son did insist on picking me up off of the ground again, though I was a little worried that he would hurt his back, he did manage get me up in the air a little bit. This is no easy task as I am around... ahem... 220 pounds or so (it's been awhile since I weighed myself, ok)... He has his learners permit now and I got to ride with him to the store for the first time. We went in his mother's standard, and though it got a little "wonky" going around one corner shifting into second, he still did a very fine job. It amazes me how fast he's grown up and turned into a fine young man.

Yes, all in all, a very nice Christmas indeed...

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And yet another stolen meme, this time from Kimber's Blog...I'm feeling more and more like "the Grinch" all the time...hehehe...

1. Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog? Egg Nog, Egg Nog, and more Egg Nog.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Always Wrapped.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored Lights.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually Thanksgiving weekend.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? The Green bean Mushroom Soup Casserole with the onion thingy's (that's what they call it right?)

7. Favorite Holiday memory? One year (as a teenager) I opened the door to my bedroom in the morning and my mother had "saran wrapped" me into my room. The next year she used wrapping paper that had a brick pattern on it to "brick" me into my room. Of course at that age I didn't really care much about Christmas, preferring to sleep in until noon instead, but she got a kick out of it.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? To tell you the truth, I can't really remember, but then again that was some time ago.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Most years' one gift was allowed.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I always liked the hodge-podge look with all different kinds of decorations.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I wouldn't say I love it, but some for Christmas would be nice.

12. Can you ice skate? Oh yes, I used to love playing hockey on the local ponds, but I couldn't play defenseman because I could never manage to learn to skate backwards.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Probably the Bowie Knife my father got for me.

14. What's the most important thing? Family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pumpkin Pie with lots of cool whip.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Our non-traditional, traditional Christmas dinner...Steak and Shrimp.

17. What tops your tree? A star that belonged to my father.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Ok, I'll admit it, I love opening presents.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? "We Three Kings", I always enjoyed hitting the bass notes on that one.

20. Candy canes, Yuck or Yum? Yuck, I've never been much of a candy person.

Christmas Wish List...

On this Christmas morning I have a few Christmas wishes for my Blogger Friends. These are wishes that I could not possible make come true, But I will wish for them just the same...

Spider Girl - For her I wish a Magic Carpet that will take her off to all the exotic lands she desires to see.

Tai - That she may sprout wings so she can fly and never come down.

Wolfgirl - The only thing any mother really wants, health and happiness for little Zoe.

Tenacious T - Finally finds her perfect place in this world.

Liz - Hawaii elects her empress of the islands where she may spend the rest of her days on her thrown being served avocados on silver trays by buff Hawaiian men.

Claire - Finds that which she seeks.

Hope - She finds her muse again.

Pobble - smiles, smiles and more smiles.

Enid - The cure for Sarah.

Gnightgirl - The military, in its infinite wisdom, decides her son's platoon should go protect Greenland instead.

Lynda - The cure she seeks.

Spider Walk - Finds the path through her troubling times.

Andyt - Always finds the next day easier than the last.

And for everyone else I hope this Christmas brings you your fondest desire...

A Christmas Meme...

In the spirit of Christmas I stole this Christmas meme from Lynda's site, I hope you enjoy it...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I'm definitely a bag person, so to speak.

2. Real tree or artificial? I have an artificial tree that I bought about twenty years ago. It was a really nice one and very expensive at the time. All the limbs are hand wrapped so it doesn't look like a bottlebrush type tree. It turned out to be a very good investment, I don't think I'll ever have to buy another tree.

3. When do you put up the tree? I didn't get it down out of the attic this year, but normally it goes up Thanksgiving weekend.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the weekend after Christmas.

5. Do you like eggnog? My son and I are both egg-nog-aholics. A long time ago I used to have a really good recipe for making it from scratch and would make it all year long.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? A hardbound copy of "My side of the Mountain".

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No, not really.

8. Hardest person to buy for? I never have any problems coming up with gifts for anyone.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Me.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? E-Mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Sweaters, people buy me sweaters though they have never seen me wear one, I don't know why.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? "The Grinch who stole Christmas" (the old animated version).

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I always thought the 23rd wasn't too early to start.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Never.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Busted...I made a whole tray of deviled eggs today just for myself...hehehe.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Colored.

17. Favorite Christmas song? "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" which my friend "N" and I would always sing at Karaoke around this time. During the entire song we would keep trying to crack each other up.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home. To me Christmas is all about being home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yea, all I have to do is sing the song.

20. Angel on the treetop or a star? A star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Lines in stores.

23. What would you like for Christmas? Would the Penguins making the playoffs be too much to ask?

A Little Christmas...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!...

Yes this is my Christmas tree...Sort of a Bonsai Christmas Tree with a little bit of Charlie Brown thrown in for a good measure... Certainly not ostentatious by any means, instead delicate and understated just the way I like it...Ok, Ok, so I didn't go to town on decorating, so shoot me...No, I didn't get up to the attic to get my tree out, and it's not like you can really overload a little Bonsai tree like this with ornaments anyways, but at least it got the ornament on it that was most important...

I did want to wish all my friends a Very Merry Christmas and I truly hope you receive all that you could ever ask for this Christmas...

Peace
Dagoth

Man vs. Wild

Have I mentioned before that I am somewhat of a survivalist? Being such, I enjoy watching all things having to do with the subject. Lately I have been watching a show on the Discovery Channel called "Man vs. Wild" that I really felt had to be mentioned. I know this kind of show isn't for everyone but if you are going anywhere near the wilderness there are some things about basic survival you should learn first.

A young British fellow, by the name of "Bear Grylls" (yes that's Bear), hosts this show, and puts himself out in different locals, where people may get stranded, and then tries to survive and escape the area.

He's definitely not the first person to do a show like this but I've found his show to be much more interesting than some others I have seen. At first I thought he was nothing more than a thrill seeker (he may still be that) but after watching half a dozen shows or so, I've come to the conclusion that he's really willing to "take it to the edge", and his survival techniques are sound, though at times quite extreme. Surviving in the wild often requires that you do some extreme things.

In last nights show he parachuted (he usually parachutes into the area he is going to survive in) into the African Savannah and worked at surviving the native wildlife while trying to find his way out. During the show he came across a zebra carcass that had been killed by lions and fed on by vultures. I was quite impressed when he proceeded to cut and eat raw meat off of the carcass with his knife and sometimes tearing at it with his teeth. In another part of the show he passes up drinking water from a stagnant pool where he finds a dead turtle, deeming that the water was unfit to drink, but later finds some elephant dung that he then squeezes the "fluid" out of, into his mouth, and drinks that. From my point of view the stagnant water seemed much more appealing. Yes this show can get quite gross at times, but I'm still very impressed at the lengths he's willing to go to, not only to survive, but also to make a television documentary.

Many people get lost in the wilderness each year with very little to survive on, and almost no knowledge of what they need to do to survive. This show, though at times gross, gives a lot of good information on just what you should do if you find yourself in just such a situation. So far I have seen "Bear" survive in the Moab Dessert,Sierra Nevada Mt. Range, Costa Rican Rain Forest, Mt. Kilauea Lava Fields, European Alps and African Savannah all of which are places where people get lost in every year and don't survive. The outcome, for these people, could have been different had they just a little bit of training on survival in the area they were venturing into. Most of these techniques have been handed down through the generations from our distant ancestors who used them in every day life in order to survive and allow our society to rise to the level it has. The vast majority of people in our society could not survive without their grocery stores and taxi cabs, yet they still go on vacations, and get lost, in these areas wholly unprepared for what can await them.

"Man vs. Wild" airs on the Discovery Channel on Friday nights at 9:00 pm EST (and also some other times). They also have a very good Website that has survival techniques, videos and lots of other information about surviving in the wilderness. The website also includes many video highlights from the show and information and videos from other survival experts such as "Les Stroud" ("Survivorman", one of my other favorite shows) and "Ross Mcfaden". You can find out more about "Bear Grylls" at his Website, which includes information about some of the other adventures he's filled his life with. He has lived a very interesting life for such a young man, which includes climbing Mt. Everest at 23, being in the British Special Forces, going through the French Foreign Legion Basic Training ("Escape to the Legion" documentary on the Military Channel which is how I discovered him) and being a Black Belt.

Next weeks show he is in an Alaskan Mountain Range and being confronted with having to cross a glacier, he chooses to go "under" it! I think I may just be able to tune in to see that...

Spreading some Christmas Cheer...

I was always disapointed at Christmas, every year I only asked Santa for one thing and he never came through. All I wanted was his "Naughty Girls List", but you think he would give it to me... nooooo... what did he need it for after Christmas anyways...

I always figured he was the guy to go to since he was always walking around saying, "Hoe. Hoe. Hoe!"...

Which brings me to a naughty Christmas joke for you...

Santa was visiting Jessica Simpson's house one Christmas eve when Jessica came into the living room in her nighty. Removing it she said in a very sexy voice, "Santa won't you please stay the night".

To which Santa replied, "Ho, Ho, Ho, gotta go".

So Jessica removed her bra and said again, "Santa won't you please stay the night."

Santa once again said, "Ho, Ho, Ho, gotta go!"

Finally Jessica removed her panties and desperately said, "Santa won't you please stay the night!"

Santa seeing her stark naked replied, "Hey, Hey, Hey, gotta stay, can't get up the chimney with my pecker this way"....

Here's hoping Christmas brings you lots of smiles...

Don't read this post before operating machinery...

Since this post is about everything you never wanted to know about heating your home with a pellet stove, I suggest you read this just before going to bed, as it may help you to get to sleep.

Well today is going to be pellet stove cleaning day. In some of my previous posts I've mentioned that I heat my home with a pellet stove and though this does save me money, it also comes with a price to be paid. Regular cleaning of the stove is necessary in order to keep it running well,and depending on how well it's running, determines how often you have to clean it, kind of a "pellet stove paradox" (making a mundane thing sound important).

Pellet stoves run on pellets made of compressed sawdust. This sawdust is a byproduct of the wood industry, and there was a time before pellet stoves, when they would have to dispose of the sawdust, but now it can be used to heat your home. Being that I am a tree hugger, and not a big fan of the wood industry, you might think this odd that I would heat my home in such a manor, but I figure if you are going to cut down the tree anyways, you might as well use all of it.

These pellets look like nothing more than rabbit food. They come on a skid of fifty, forty-pound bags (one ton) and do require a little work moving the bags around depending on the set-up you have. The skids of pellets come with a giant black "garbage bag" over them and are then wrapped in plastic wrap to keep them dry. As long as the bag and plastic wrap are intact, they can sit outside in the elements and not get wet. After I remove the wrapping on a skid, I move the bags up onto my covered porch to keep them dry. If the pellets get wet they will expand and be ruined. It's not as bad as it sounds, moving a ton of pellets, I can do it in about twenty minutes, which is the other job I have to do today.

The place where I buy them delivers them with a large flatbed truck that has a forklift hooked on the back. This forklift is lowered to the ground and the driver will put the skids of pellets anywhere you want them. It's an unusual forklift in that it is three wheeled and the wheels are more like big "mudder" tires with tractor tire treads, this allows the forklift to drive through just about anything, so they can even be delivered in the winter and not tear up your lawn too much.

My pellet stove has a large hopper in the back that will hold about three bags of pellets. It feeds the pellets down into a burn-pot where the pellets are ignited and burned. The burnt ash is then blown out of the burn-pot by the air coming in through the air intake pipe that comes in through the back of the stove and hooks into the burn-pot holder. The burn-pot has little holes in it that allow the air to blow through, expelling the burned ash, which then falls down into a removable ash pan. This ash pan has a gap around it where the soot and smoke are sucked through and the exhaust then flows through a damper, past an exhaust fan, and vents out through a pipe that goes out through my exterior wall (yawning yet?)

The stove is about seven years old and doesn't run as well as it used to. I had to replace the seals around the door and the exhaust fan this year. These stoves are much more finicky than wood burning stoves in that there cannot be any air leaks around any of the openings in the stove. If there is, the stove will suck in air through the leaks and not through the intake pipe, which will stop the ash from blowing out of the burn-pot, and the pellets will start backing up out of the pot and the whole thing just stops burning correctly. Also if there is an air leak around the exhaust blower, the soot will "stay" in the stove, turning everything black and clogging up the exhaust.

I have to clean out the ash anywhere from three days, if it's not burning right, to a month, if it is burning well, but I haven't had it last a month since it was new. Right now it has been burning for about two weeks, the ash pan is full and the ash is filling up the bottom of the burn chamber and creeping up the side of the burn-pot holder. I have had it fill up with ash to the point where it's right up to the edge of the burn-pot, but I don't like to let it go that long (eyes getting heavy yet?)

I found out last year that the stove I was sold is defective. While talking to the owner of the store where I bought it (he has the same stove in his home) that there were supposed to be "tracks" in the bottom of the stove that the ash pan slides into, but my stove was apparently built without them. These tracks hold the ash pan up off of the bottom plate allowing the soot to vent out around the pan. The only reason my stove ran at all, was there is a weld seam near the ash pan and there is some weld slag (drops of weld) on the bottom plate that the pan sits on, holding it up just enough to let the soot out. Over time these weld droplets have worn off so the ash pan is sitting directly on the plate and there is no gap for the soot to get out. The company I bought the stove from wouldn't do anything about it since the stove is so old and out of warranty, so I fixed it by jamming two washers under the pan to hold it up and allow the exhaust to vent out.

Cleaning involves shutting the stove down and sucking all the ash and soot out of the stove with a shop-vac and also cleaning out the exhaust pipe with a brush on a long pole (just like a chimney sweep, but it's only 4 feet long). There is also some hard carbon build up on the burn-pot that I have to bust off with a hammer and chisel because this build up starts to close off the holes in the burn pot that allows the air in. This can be a very messy job but it isn't as bad as cleaning a wood burning stove, or so I'm told. It takes about two hours to clean everything after you let the stove cool down for an hour.

With the extra work involved and the mess, pellet stoves aren't for everyone. I don't mind the work involved with one of these, and they certainly aren't as convenient as heating with gas. I burn about 5 tons during the worst winters and less if it's not as cold. I had 1 ton left over from last year and bought 4 more tons for this year at $230 a ton (you can get them cheaper if you buy in the spring), with delivery it cost me $1018 (you can also save money if you have a truck and go get them yourself). I know heating this house with gas would cost a lot more, as I have had months like January when the gas bill ran upwards of $400 by itself. The price of pellets has gone up a lot since I bought the stove. When the price of natural gas went up, a lot of people put in pellet stoves, creating a shortage of pellets and driving the price up. I like knowing that my heating bills for the winter are already paid in advance and there are no big surprise gas bills to deal with.

One of the big drawbacks with heating this way is that the heat is not even throughout the house, with it being very hot in the room with the stove, and cooler in the rooms that are farther away from the stove. I do love being able to sit in front of the fire on those cold winter mornings, drinking my coffee, and it's great to stand in front of the stove and warm up after you come in out of the cold. I have a rocking chair in front of the stove, and the heat, and the "hum" that the stove makes, can put you to sleep very quickly, just like this post has done for you....

Return of the Zombies...

I've spent most of the day just playing with my blog (they said I'd go blind if I did that, but I'm ok, I did it just until I needed glasses). I updated my template to the new blogger layout. Even though it looks like the old template, it has all the new blogger features, which I have been messing around with.

I found some new ones for changing fonts and colors in different parts of the template, so you might notice this looks a little different than it did before, even if it looks the same.

It didn't seem to like the old code for my Flickr Badge or my Frappr Map so I went to their sites and got new code and they seem to be working fine.

It also has a gui for putting your links into your side bar, but it puts the first one you put in at the bottom of the list, which is kinda backwards from how I think it should work. It will allow you to order them in alphabetical order or in reverse alphabetical order with the flick of a switch, which is nice for people who like to order their links.

I really wish they would add some more fonts even though a font only works if the person viewing the page has the font stored in their computer. You would think we could manage more than eight...

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I stole this meme from Tai's Blog a while back and said I would do it, but it sort of got lost in time. So there, now I've done it, even if it is a little late...

1. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? Gary Bettman the NHL commissioner. I never forgave him for changing the division and conference names. "Because us hockey fans are just too ignorant to remember those old complicated names"...

2. You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Which one will it be? Michael Jackson..."nuff said!"...

3. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? Ok, so I'm not much about hitting girls, but that girl on the timeshares commercial with the facial expressions, just to stop her face from doing that...

4. What is your favorite cheese? Muenster.

5. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your immediate disposal. What kind will you make? Any sandwich as long as the bread is absolutely fresh and soft.

6. You have the opportunity to sleep with the movie celebrity of your choice. We are talking no-strings-attached sex and it can only happen once. Who is the lucky celebrity of your choice? Celebrities have never really done much for me, they just seem like people doing a job. I suppose if I have to pick one it would probably be Jeri Ryan...

7. You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who do you pick? Lorrie Morgan...

8. Now that you've slept with two different people in a row, you seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Holy shit, a hundred bucks! How are you gonna spend it? I'd probably add it to what I'm spending on my son for Christmas...

9. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? With winter setting in Fiji sounds good right about now...

10. Upon arrival to the aforementioned location, you get off the plane and discover another hundred-dollar bill. Shit! Now that you are in the new location, what are you gonna do? In Fiji I'd spend it on an outrigger canoe and fishing nets so I wouldn't have to come back...

11. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. It is...? This would probably be better if I actually drank...

12. Rufus appears out of nowhere with a time-traveling phone booth. You can go anytime in the PAST. What time are you traveling to and what are you going to do when you get there? April 19, 2004 and take a little car ride.

13. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? Everyone goes nekkid!...

14. You have been given the opportunity to create the half-hour TV show of your own design. What is it called and what's the premise? Can't think of a thing.

15. What is your favorite curse word? Pecker head...

16. One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren't really doing anything, they're just standing around your bed. What do you do? As if this hasn't happened before, I invite them back to bed. What does it matter if they had children before anyways?...

17. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don't worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely.So what's the item? My little calendar thingy with the feet that my son gave me...

18. The Angel of Death has descended upon you. Fortunately, the Angel of Death is pretty cool and in a good mood, and it offers you a half-hour to do whatever you want before you bite it. Whatcha gonna do in that half-hour? Go buy a gun and shoot the angel of death...

19. You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what's even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What's it gonna be? I'm able to communicate with all the wild animals and I lead them in a revolt to destroy the humans that are wrecking the planet...

20. You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again? Snuggling in bed with "J"...

21. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? (the answer "nothing" doesn't count) If I have to answer this then you haven't been reading my blog...

22. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit... you can move to anywhere else in the world! Bitchin'! What country are you going to live in now? Fiji would be nice, but I already mentioned that...

23. This question still counts, even for those of you who are under age. Check it out. You have been eternally banned from every single bar in the world except for ONE. Which one is it gonna be? Since I don't go to bars this one is easy. I pick my ex-bar since I wouldn't go there anyways...

24. Hopefully you didn't mention this in the super-powers question.... If you did, then we'll just expand on that. Check it out... Suddenly, you have gained the ability to FLOAT!!! Whose house are you going to float to first, and be like "Dude, check it out... I can FLOAT!"?. The Dalai Lamas house just to show him I could...

25. The constant absorption of magical moonbeams mixed with the radioactive vegetables you consumed earlier has given you the ability to resurrect the dead famous-person of your choice. So which celebrity will you bring back to life? Carl Sagan...

26. The Celestial Gates of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn't think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person, etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? See answer #21...

27. What's your theme song? "Whipping Post" The Allman Brothers Band...

Leftovers

Well Turkey Day has come and gone and now the only thing left to do is eat the leftovers.

As it turns out, I didn't have my T-day feast all to myself, as I stated in my last post. All last week a fellow that I work with kept claiming that "he and his wife would be over Thanksgiving day to share in my feast", I thought he was just joking. So wasn't I surprised when there was a knock at my back door, Thursday, just as I sat down with my first plate. I had jokingly told him "the turkey would be done around 1:00 and the could show up any time around there." I really never thought they would actually show up though.

He and I have worked together a long time and are always joking around, so I really never took him seriously. Fortunately I made enough food to feed an army so there wasn't any problem there, and all the food turned out good, in my opinion, so all went well. He said that "since I had ran a restaurant before, I had better be able to cook" and though this is a little different than cooking bar food, it's well within my capabilities. I grew up on a farm, with a mother who worked full time, so I learned early on the art of cooking, which has always been something I have really enjoyed. I can remember my brother and I going out and collecting blackberries and creating blackberry pies with them, or going fishing in the morning and returning to cook them up for our lunch. Often making breakfast meant going out and collecting the eggs from the chickens first, so I learned my way around a kitchen at a very young age. Unfortunately many men never learn how to cook, and my friend is no exception, claiming that "he would starve if not for his wife feeding him", of which I have no doubt.

It was very nice to have some company for dinner for a change, and of course not wanting to come empty handed they brought me a Pomegranate. Now this may seem like a strange thing to bring, but during our many conversations I believe that I mentioned that I had never tried one before, so now I guess I am going to have to try this thing before I go back to work because I'm sure he will ask how I liked it.

So if you ask me what I'm thankful for on this holiday weekend, it would have to be "friends that don't let you eat alone." Though had I really believed that they were coming I would have made more biscuits and started the pumpkin pie sooner...

Celebrations of Life...

Hey You...

I want to thank everyone for their heartfelt sentiments and support for my last post, and to let everyone know that I'm doing ok. I really dreaded that day coming again this year, as last year was so very, very bad. This year I did handle it better, having learned to distract myself and "stay out of my own head", which seems to be the best way for me to "keep my balance" these days. I did take flowers (carnations, her favorite) and place them at the cross, out at the crash site on Sunday, but I didn't stay long, as that place is still very hard for me to cope with. I know she understands. Time seems to be "doing its thing" for me, even though I still think this has been going on for far too long. I don't know if I'll ever be totally over it...

I want to wish everyone a very happy "Turkey Day." Even though Halloween is my favorite holiday, Thanksgiving comes in a close second. You have to admit if there were a holiday made just for guys, Thanksgiving would be it. First you stuff yourself with massive quantities of food, then you snooze on the couch, drinking beers (not me though) and watching football games (of which they've added a third one this year). What could be more in tune with any mans expectations of a perfect day. I believe they added "Black Friday" just to make it up to the womenfolk for all the work they do on Thanksgiving while the men are absorbed with their debaucheries. I went to the store on Saturday and picked out my bird and all the trimmings to go along with it. I only got a small 13.5-pound turkey as I am cooking this massive feast just for me. I was looking for garlic oil to baste the bird in, but the only thing I found was garlic and basil oil, and since I'm not a huge fan of basil, I blew it off. This idea of using garlic oil was something my best friend "Jul" suggested and it sounded pretty good, but since I live in a small town and our grocery store has somewhat limited selections, it was not to be. I guess I'll go back to my tried and true methods for my turkey and look elsewhere for the garlic oil for next year. I also picked up Sweet potatoes, green beans (for the casserole) and a pumpkin pie. The only thing I forgot was the bread for left over turkey sandwiches, which is the real reason for cooking all this food in the first place...

I'm going out to see my son tomorrow, as it is his 17th birthday. My ex, "T1", has invited me over for dinner like she did last year. She has a funny way of inviting you for dinner. When I talked to her on the phone she said, "are you coming over for dinner", to which I said, "Yes, cook for me woman!" It wasn't like I was going to just invite myself over for dinner. It appears that my son is all grown up now, this year for his birthday all he wants is "cash". I think the first time they ask for that you know they have changed...

Miss You...

J.A.S. 1/30/69 - 11/19/04

"I Never would have opened up but you seem so real to me"...
"I don't have to pretend"...
"I believe this is heaven to me, to no one else but me and I'll defend it long as I can"...
"But I love the way you smile at me. I love the way your hands reach out and hold me near"...

I Love You and miss you always.

Blogger Beta Revealed

Up until now there has been one very large issue with switching over to Blogger Beta. We were not able to post a comment on an old blogger site with our new Blogger Beta ID and password. I've discovered that we can though; there is just a little trick to it.

If you go to an old blogger site and try to post a comment by putting your new Blogger Beta ID and password directly into the comment section, it won't work, giving you an error saying your ID is not recognized. The old blogger comment section won't take your new Beta ID and password, but if you go and log into your Blogger Beta dashboard with your new ID and then go to someone's old blogger site, when you go to leave a comment, it will post it without even asking for your ID and password. The idea is to be logged into the server first, then go to people's sites and comment.

I am very close to the point where I am going to blow off the Old Blogger site and just start using my Blogger Beta site. This last week with all the problems the Old Blogger servers had, has pretty much convinced me. While the Old Blogger was down quite often, the new Blogger Beta, on it's new servers, was chugging right along with no problems (in fact right now the Blogger Beta let me post this while the Old Blogger won't even let me log in). I'm not saying that there are no problems left with Blogger Beta, there are still is some issues with mobile blogging, team blogging, and if you need a dashboard in any language other than English, French, Italian, German or Spanish, but most the other bugs seem to have been worked out.

The new Blogger Beta does have some nice new features like being able to categorize your posts by adding "Labels". The new templates (though there are only about 8 of them that look like the old ones) have a nice GUI feature for adding sections to your sidebar easily. My Blogger Beta site, Dagoth's Domain, is an old template and does not have this feature but my Blogger Beta Site, Dagoth's Board Room, is one of the new templates and does have this feature.


There may still be some problems with posting a comment on a Blogger Beta site that has its security features turned on. If you have an anti-spyware filter running, the secure site wants to put a tracking cookie on your computer before it will allow you to comment and your anti-spyware software won't allow this. The ant-spyware could be shut off temporarily, allowing you to comment, and then turned back on removing the cookie afterwards. I presently have an email out to the Blogger Support Team asking them about this issue and a few others, hopefully they will get back to me soon.

Since I have been running dual sites I haven't heard of anyone having problems posting comments (other than the issues the blogger server had the other week) on either of my sites and have had some people posting on both. Having two identical sites has caused a little confusion which is why I am thinking about ending this practice. I would really be interested in hearing what you think, is it time to switch?

Games! Did someone say games?!?

In my previous post, Household Pictorial Challenge, I showed the chessboard that I acquired down in Mexico, as one of my favorite objects. After seeing it, Blogger AndyT, who found my site through Gnightgirl (the post was her challenge), challenged me to a game of online chess. Never being one to turn down a game, and since it has been sooooo very long since I've had the opportunity to play, I accepted his challenge. So to facilitate said game, I have started a new blog, Dagoth's Board Room, where I will be posting pictures of our game and play-by-play.

Mind you, neither of us claims to be Grand Masters or anything like that. It just seems like it might be a lot of fun. I've always loved the game, though many people find it boring. I remember many games in my life, many wins and many losses, all of which were a great deal of fun. I especially remember one weekend when my father, my brother and his wife, and myself were snowed in, inside my small apartment. They came to visit just before a raging blizzard set in, and were trapped there. We entertained ourselves for three days, by having non-stop chess tournaments from morning till night. It was one of the worst blizzards that I can remember, with nothing moving outside except for snowmobiles. How better to entertain ourselves than to get two chessboards going, with winners playing winners. I couldn't begin to tell you how many games we played that weekend, but by the time the snow let up we had played so many games there was no way to tell who the overall winner was, and for that matter, it didn't seem to make much difference to any of us, anyways.

I hope you all will stop in to the new site and check out how the game is going, and don't be shy to comment. Though AndyT and I both agree that no kibitzing is allowed. I don't know how long this game will last, though we have agreed to try to make at least one move per day. As I have never played an online game before this should be quite interesting. I will be posting one picture for every two moves in order to try and save bandwidth. So I would just like to say good luck to AndyT, though I expect that any chess player would say lucks got nothing to do with it...Let the games begin!

Household Pictorial Challenge

This post was inspired by Gnightgirl's Household Pictorial Challenge wherein she asked that we would find a few items around our house that have special meaning to us and post pictures and talk about them...ya know, kinda like "show-n-tell" in school, the only subject I got straight A's in...yea yea, right...so here goes...

First of all we have the "Dragon Banner" I have had this banner for quite a few years now and I always say "Wherever this banner flies, that is my home". It has flown in more places in the last few years than I expected and whenever I move into a new place one of the first things I do is hang this banner...


This small pouch that I acquired down in Mexico contains some items that are very special to me, it has; 2 small stones, one from the ruins at Chichen Itza and one from the walled city of Talum (stones NOT from the ruins themselves), it has my two wedding rings from both my marriages (ok kinda strange), and most important the Lothlorian Broach from the Lord of the Rings that is pinned on the outside of the pouch that my girlfriend "J" gave me for my Halloween costume when I went as Legolas...


These are just a few of the dragons that I collect. I haven't quite found homes for them yet, but I will as soon as I build some of the shelves I have planned for my house...


This is my favorite chess set that we got at the flea market in Cancun. It features the Spanish Conquistadors versus the Aztecs and is really a lovely piece. It only has one problem; it's never been played on. There is something a little sad about a chess set that has never been played before but I hope to change that soon...behind it you can see my Samurai Swords which are also one of my favorite things...


This Oriental Lantern is a strange object that I have had since I was about 7 years old. I found it at an old junkyard where my friends and I would go to scavenge "good junk" when we were kids. It's an item that seems bound and determined to travel with me on my entire journey through life...


And finally this Oriental Fan that doesn't really fit into the rules of the Household Pictorial Challenge, because I just received it today. At work we have an Engineer visiting from one of our sister companies in China and he gave out presents to people in our department who have been helping train him. It's just very lovely so I thought I would include it. Now I just have to find a good place to hang it...