Sunday, August 14, 2011

News on the Pellet Stove and Other Updates


The iced tea pairing of the day is Pinapple Kona Pop! and Peach Bloom Rooibos.

An update on the pellet stove situation. This requires some recap. In late March, Seth and I visited the Amherst Farmers Supply where we selected a pellet stove for installation in our condo. The pellet stove we chose was a Harmon XXV with Majolica Brown enamel finish.


We did a lot of research regarding pellet stoves as an alternate heating source for our condo. They were cheaper than the electric heat, sustainable, and, most importantly, promised a warm environment, something that our radiant ceiling electric heat was not doing.

After selecting our stove, we began negotiation with our condo board in order to seek approval to have the stove vent through the side of our unit. The venting pipe would be approximately a foot and a half in length and four inches in diameter. It would be ceramic insulated and be around 100 degrees in temperature when the stove was in operation. We figured that there would be no problems getting a speedy approval. We did not anticipate that now, in August, we would still be in discussions with the board, who wanted to do their due diligence in insuring that this installation would be appropriate for our unit and community.

Fortunately, this past Friday, we were given approval for the installation of our pellet stove with one caveat -- we must vent the stove through the roof of our home. The stove is to be installed on our ground floor, as we have a townhouse, this means that the venting pipe will need to come through the living room ceiling and travel through our bedroom (very discreetly in the corner between the nightstand and door) before venting to the outside. I have a call to the Amherst Farmers Supply (on which I am waiting a reply) inquiring about the cost and feasibility of this installation. I am fairly certain they will be able to do it but want to make sure it will be something affordable -- I am anticipating at least $500 in additional parts and labor as a result of this sort of install. I will keep you posted on how things proceed, but I am hopeful that we'll be able to have our stove this winter. At the very least, negotiations with our board have taught me something about persistence and the value of having suitable information.

An update on my exercise progress. I have been doing the TurboFire workout for a week and a half now and am quite enjoying it. While the workout is predominantly cardio, the instructor is very good about integrating resistance training and toning as well as stretching in workout program. This is good for me, as I have the tendency to not do as much resistance training and stretching as I should. Using the workout schedule that came with the DVD program is making me do more of this. The cardio is great. There are kickboxing workouts (of good intensity) with some short high intensity intervals. These workouts are perfect for my fitness level. There are also some days were you just do high intensity interval training workouts. These workouts are pretty sort, around 20 - 30 minutes, so not a problem for me although they are quite high intensity. I am eager to see how things progress as I stick with the workout schedule.

The weather has been a bit cooler this week, and Lily has been more snuggly. Here she is cozying up on the bed against Seth.



She's so happy! She loves her Daddy.

Hopefully good news on the stove to follow. If/When it finally gets installed, I promise there will be a party.

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