Price of home heating oil got you down? Join the club. Did you know Maine is the state most reliant on home heating oil? No? Well now you do. See, you come here, and you learn shit. Is that worth the price of admission? $10.00 $5.00 SALE admission payable via Paypal donate button under sexy Betty. Great – thanks! 😉
Seriously, though . . . . I AM serious! Nyuck nyuck nyuck. K, enough with the begging.
Wood stove sales are up big time. Wood pellet stove sales are up big time. Firewood prices are big time. Call it the home heating oil ripple effect. People are trying to escape the atrocious costs of heating their homes with the ultra-convenient Saudi Arabian “firewood” called #2. Touch the thermostat and aaaaaaah, heat. That convenience is coming with a mega price premium these days, though. Check out the going prices in Maine: www.maineoil.com. Around $4.40 per gallon is the cash price with “lock-in” prices significantly higher. Pretty nasty, huh?
THIS is the reason everyone is going old school in the home heating department – firewood time! C’mon, let’s kick off a poem in honor of the oldest heat known to man:
Firewood, Firewood
Oh how we love you,
Oh how we hate you.
Buzz, Buzz, Drop
Cut, Gather, Split
Haul, Stack, Dry
Woodpile action
Spiders crawl around you,
Snakes curl inside you,
If properly stacked,
Air moves through you,
Water escapes you.
Then you dry, crack, and
SNAP inside the stove.
Heat like no other.
I bust my tits for you.
You warm my ass.
Ummmm, yeah, whatever. What did you expect from 45 seconds of writing? Friggin’ Robert Frost?
Anyway, this post was inspired by this article, which states firewood is the latest “hot” commodity. Prices according to this article are at $220 a cord with expectations that it’ll hit $300 a cord this winter. I knew, being the SHTF seer that I am, that people would be scrambling this summer for wood action. For this reason I bought 6 cord cut, split and delivered before the spring snow was even done melting for $165 a cord – bargain! Six cord is more than I’d typically burn in a year, but for that price, and considering oil is obscene, chances are high I’ll burn more this winter.
At the Ranger’s keep we have an efficient Lopi fireplace insert, and an older, less efficient cast iron stove in the basement that we fire up on bitter days or when we think the power might go out. We also have a propane monitor heater and oil fired hot water baseboard heat. Various options we can use depending on prices. I call it the “heating source shuffle”. Here is the mighty Ranger Man Lopi in action:
What a difference that thing is from the shitty Vermont Castings “Winter Warm” insert we had before. This unit has fewer moving parts, burns more efficiently, uses less wood, cranks out more heat, and has quieter fans. I love it . . . and I touch myself when I think about it. Not really, but I do feed it my wood . . . lol.
What’s YOUR heat source?
– Ranger Man
BTW: Anyone taking bets one when/if Israel takes F-16 action against Iran?
6 comments
The F16 action probably won’t take place until after the election. IMO it is almost gaurenteed to happen if BHO wins in November.
I also think that it’ll happen after the election, if either wins. This is how that president elect will want it.
They can automatically slap Israel on the hand and not have to deal with immediate reprocussions not being president yet. Bush will just sit back and grin.
All of that assuming Iran, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt don’t try to storm Israel after Hezbollah and Hamas GO NUTS on Israel.
One thing about wood it warms you 2 ways when you cut it and when you burn it.
Very efficient natural resource……….
Glad your Back. Hopefully the lights won’t go out as quickly as some might think.
Back in the 60’s when oil was cheap people were throwing antique woodstoves in the dump by the hundreds. As a kid I helped my friends dad break them apart for scrap metal.
These stoves are worth thousands of dollars each now. We got a couple dollars worth of metal out of each one.
One thing about burning wood for heat – you can always find something, even furniture or pieces of your neighbors house if need be.
Great post, glad yer back Rangerman. Personally, I live in South Texas and don’t need no steenking heater! Seriously though, when we get those “blue northers” it gets damn cold down here. Had a guy from friggin’ Minnesota tell me last year he found the coldest place on Earth, Port Aransas!! Me, I got a “real” fireplace in my hacienda, built outta solid brick and block. The thing radiates heat 10 hours after the fire dies! I figger it cut my electric heating bills by at least 50% last year, and I didn’t use it to it’s full potential. And fortunately for me, plenty of MO-rons cut down their trees ’round here and supply me with lotsa free firewood. I only need a cord to get me through, and could get by with less depending on the severity of the winter (which lasts maybe 2 months here). Now if I could only find an alternative to air conditioning……
TRY THE EASTERN PLAINES OF COLORADO WIND CHILL-70. IVE GONE INTO MY LIVINGROOM IN THE AM WITH A TEMP OF 8 BELOW. BUT IVE GOT A LOPI SEMPER FI