$600 later, i own two tons of wood pellets

So in our home we have a wood pellet stove. Gone are the days of conventional wood fireplaces which aren’t as efficient and are nearly impossible to keep burning at a steady rate unattended for long periods of time. A pellet stove on the other hand generates a tiny amount of ash, is better for the environment, and can auto-feed itself for 24-48 hours. For the uninformed, wood is usually the cheapest way to heat a home. Coupled with pellet stoves, wood is not only cheap but better for emissions:

Pellet fuel appliances are more convenient to operate than ordinary wood stoves or fireplaces, and some have much higher combustion and heating efficiencies. As a consequence of this, they produce very little air pollution. In fact, pellet stoves are the cleanest solid fuel, residential heating appliance. Pellet stoves that are certified by the EPA are likely to be in the 70% to 83% efficiency range.

In the Town of Mammoth Lakes, it’s actually required that you have an EPA approved fireplace which basically means you’ll get a pellet stove.

I’ve been given a guesstimate that we’ll use 2 tons of pellets this winter. I’ve also learned that they’re on sale in the late summer, with the price steadily cranking up through winter. Also, you have to schlep the pellets around in the snow and ice if you get them too late. With all that in mind I put $605.00 dollars on my credit card at High Country Lumber and loaded up.

The problem was evident the moment I backed up my not-so-small truck: these pallets are massive. Where the hell am I going to put them? The nice guys are letting me grab a dozen or so bags at a time over the next week, but where in the heck am I supposed to store two one-ton pallets, each consisting of 50 bags, 40 pounds a pop.

This is where some dude who’s been living in the mountains for 4,000 years chimes in: “Well sonny, I’ve got a perfect place in my garage here to store them. Super easy to get to, they stay nice and dry. Just do that.”

Well old timer, I don’t have a damn garage. All I’ve got is my wits, some muscles, and a desire to not have my family die of hypothermia in the winter. It very much reminds of me of sailing life, whereby miles under your keel taught you tricks and tips that made life so much more enjoyable. I’m sure next year I’ll have this stuff figured out, but for now I get to be a monkey fornicating with a football