Reality Check- Heating your Hovel

This past Thursday morning I was awoken by the wife who said there was an outlet fire in my two year old sons room, there was no actual fire but there was an electric burning smell and bubbling of the paint next to the outlet where his nightlight projector toy is plugged in. There was no immediate heat so I sped downstairs to turn off the circuit and i heard a strange high pitch whining noise coming from the heating systems return vent, the blower at my home gave up the ghost and decided it would blow no more, leaving us with no heat. We had electricians and heating techs come over to confirm no electric fire and dead blower. The blower is currently being re-built hopefully they'll get it back here as soon as possible,

Luckily we have a woodstove. Unluckily I had connected it yet. After a bit of frustration and a few minor cuts the woodstove was ready for the local fire chief (who lives three doors down) to drop by and inspect: It wasn't great but we are allowed to burn to keep the place from freezing as long as we get the upgrades in as soon as possible. The wife is having the devil of a time finding a spark-mat or hearth-mat to catch sparks in front of the stove just in case one shoots free while loading. (anyone know a place that has such a thing in stock in southern /nh?)

The reality check I've made is that for each hour of woodcutting with crappy tools and fallen wood it's possible to get eight hours of heat in my fair sized home with a good woodstove . This isn't early 21st century luxury heat but still a comfortable enough range 0f 50-63 depending on a host of variables and locations in the house. Of course tis was with outside being 40-21 and a colder day or two is coming.

So in closing: 1 hours work for 8 hours of heat and 50-63 is so much warmer than freezing.

My Wife's Box

During the move I rediscovered the box of D&D stuff my wife brought with her when we first moved in together.



The whitebox D&D set is a little beat up on the outside but the rulebooks inside are in great shape along with Greyhawk, Blackmoor and Eldritch Wizardry supplements. As I recall the OD&D set came along in a box of game stuff a female professor's mother gave her in college (which had some dice and grenadier miniatures also). I jokingly call the whole box her dowry.

A number of books also came from a random guy who dropped off a box of D&D stuff when he saw her playing in a coffee shop.

She's got another box of White Wolf Games products but I can forgive her for that ;-)

Exploring Ruins

This here blog has been a bit quiet of late as I've been off packing, restoring, and exploring ruins. yup...exploring ruins. The new place had a saw mill on the premises for decades before it burnt down. What remains today are a number of foundation walls accessible down an earthen ramp and a few bits of obscure ancient bits of iron including a wide iron chute that penetrates the foundation descending from somewhere above.

Gamehalla Rising

We've recently purchased a new home (last week really). Well, not so new at all really the home was built in the 1880's; It's got some renovations to do before we move in (one contractor already did some work on Thanksgiving morning). It's on a large hilltop plot bordering the headwaters of a small river. We've got ruins on the property as the builder of the property (an inventor with several patents) ran a mill for a number of years. The house itself has undergone updating over the years and my wife is simply in love the luxurious details, tin walls and tin ceilings. It's a grand old place (not huge really but more then 4 times the size of our current tiny home).
Of greatest interest to readers of this blog is this home shall be the future site of Gamehalla (my game room), when we can finish insulating and prettying up the attached barn. /there shall be a large game table, shelves, storage cabinets, work bench(es) and desk area for a generation of gaming. Many adventurers will enter, their deeds shall be recorded and few will leave.



I spent a large chunk of yesterday with my brother-in-law and father ripping up the rotten flooring and decrepit floor joists in the cottage/shed (not in picture). The floor need "a little work" and as said work began the true extent of the required work revealed itself under three or four era's of floor repair; the joys of home ownership.