The next storm is on the schedule and it’s to be another blizzard Saturday night. Old Probabilities is saying it may bring the twenty-day total snowfall at my house to…oh, I don’t know exactly, but somewhere around seven-and-a-half to eight feet – well more than an average year’s snowfall in just under three weeks. I’ll do some errands in the afternoon, return home, don my sheepskin slippers, turn down the lights, open the blinds, look out at the snow as I cook something piping hot and comforting for dinner, and feel a little better about winter now that my Multi-Fire XD electric fireplace is in its permanent home as of last night. It’s quite relaxing, indeed all the way to soothing.
A friend was going to help assemble the flat-packed Windham media console but his kid was sick, so I put the 140-pound behemoth together on my own. The instructions were perfectly clear, but the weight and size of the pieces made the job awkward for one and the somanabatch took two-and-a-half hours to build.
Click for a larger view
I selected the Windham because, like my old media console, it has a raised glass platform for the telly that allows me to have the set perched on a turntable – the rectangular piece under the four legs at the top – so I can easily rotate the TV 75 degrees counterclockwise to watch while I work in the kitchen that’s off to the right, and have my soundbar – the 40″ wide black bar underneath the glass – in a position where it won’t get knocked off when I swing the set around.
I imagine a multi-watch/warning/advisory map like this morning’s is akin to foreplay for professional weather people. All of the items on the right are in effect for various parts of the state and shoreline; the colours on the map side reflect only the most important warnings for each area.
“Oh, baby.”
URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
1057 PM EST FRI FEB 13 2015
…WINTER STORM WILL BRING BLIZZARD CONDITIONS TO EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS THIS WEEKEND AND HEAVY SNOW FARTHER INLAND…
MAZ005-013-017-018-020-021-023-141200-
/O.EXT.KBOX.BZ.W.0002.150215T0000Z-150215T1800Z/
CENTRAL MIDDLESEX MA-WESTERN NORFOLK MA-NORTHERN BRISTOL MA-WESTERN PLYMOUTH MA-SOUTHERN BRISTOL MA-SOUTHERN PLYMOUTH MA-DUKES MA-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…FRAMINGHAM…LOWELL…FOXBORO…NORWOOD…TAUNTON…
BROCKTON…FALL RIVER…NEW BEDFORD…MATTAPOISETT…VINEYARD HAVEN
1057 PM EST FRI FEB 13 2015
…BLIZZARD WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM SATURDAY TO 1 PM EST SUNDAY…
* LOCATIONS…EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS INCLUDING MARTHAS VINEYARD.
* HAZARD TYPES…BLIZZARD CONDITIONS…INCLUDING HEAVY SNOW…POOR VISIBILITIES…AND STRONG TO DAMAGING WINDS.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS…8 TO 10 INCHES. SNOW DRIFTS UP TO A FEW FEET CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED.
* TIMING…SATURDAY EVENING INTO SUNDAY.
* IMPACTS…TRAVEL WILL BECOME NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE AND POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING DUE TO WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AND BITTERLY COLD WIND CHILLS….ESPECIALLY ALONG AND INSIDE ROUTE 128. CONDITIONS WILL REMAIN DANGEROUS FOR TRAVEL WELL INTO SUNDAY DUE TO BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW…REDUCED VISIBILITY AND DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS.
* WINDS…NORTH 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 60 MPH.
* VISIBILITIES…ONE QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES.
* TEMPERATURES…AROUND 20.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A BLIZZARD WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS OR FREQUENT GUSTS OVER 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH CONSIDERABLE FALLING AND/OR BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. TRAVEL MUST BE COMPLETED BY LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THOSE VENTURING OUTDOORS MAY BECOME LOST OR DISORIENTED. STAY INDOORS.
&&
$$
I just got in from taking a walk through Strawbery Banke, which I live across the street from.. Already the paths and walkways that were cleared in the afternoon look as if they never existed. Tomorrow, I’ll go out during the day with a plastic baggie over my camera and see if I can get some shots of the snow-piles out on Pierce Island, where the city has been putting the snow. The rumor is they are now nearly 5 stories high. Well! Will have to investigate that. The plows stopped about three hours ago, I live on one of the main streets that gets traffic to the waterfront and into the historic South End and literally am at the narrowest point of Court St, and it’s ALWAYS plowed. Not tonight though. I think the city is on the verge of being overwhelmed with snow removal. Like Boston, they may have to start shoving it into the Piscataqua – though the environmentalists may squeak about it – I seriously heard someone earlier today saying “the road salt isn’t ‘good’ for the river” – christ on a cracker lady, this is a *tidal* river and what, the sea-salt that is sprinkled on the roads is going to make the ocean it came out of saltier? Now oil-pan and radiator drippings I can see.. but salt as a ‘contaminant’ of the ocean? We’ve got the full-on alert for coastal Rockingham to see 24 inches. I am SO glad that the husband and I have spent the last few days shoveling snow off of our roof and porch and spent our Valentine’s on my mother in law’s porch roof.. Good luck digging out Lalo. I think we’re all going to need it.
That, indeed is a fetching fireplace you got there. What do you get for heat out of it? Sure beats the pants off of my video of a yule log on a loop.
Yours in fluffy white stuff,
Deb.
Five stories! I just had a brief image of Chevy Chase going faster than a speeding bullet.
I think some people may have the idea that road salt is something other than sodium chloride. There are anti-caking agents added, but it is nearly all plain old salt – except when mixed with sand. A fair amount around here is salt of a pinkish hue shipped from Chile, and some even comes from Morton Salt. The chief difference between road salt and food-grade salt is that they don’t do the extra processing to remove impurities.
The fireplace produces very good heat – within the firebox is a 5,000 BTU ceramic heater – 1,500 watts, or 750W in Eco mode, which I have turned on. The heat boost function lets you get the maximum output for 5, 10, 15, or 20 minutes to quickly warm up a cold room without having to shut off the Eco mode and then re-enable it later. They say it will warm up to 1,000 sq ft, but I won’t be doing that with the 37% boost in my kWh supply rate last November.
The heat is fan-funneled up through a 20″ wide by 1″ high channel at the top of the firebox, so when you stand in front of it, the effect is much like standing in front of an actual fireplace, with heat right across the width of it. Nifty.
I’ve played around with the various colours available via the remote and the default setting of “wood fire” is the best, though the “gas” setting is kind of pretty, adding a blue colour in the lower part of the flames with yellow/orange above.
I’m persnickety when it comes to technology, and I haven’t found a single nit to pick. Dimplex did everything exactly right with their new generation firebox, which I’d say is at least three times as good as the previous generation. To demonstrate, the last gen had a remote with On and Off – that’s it. The only other thing you could do is set the temperature, for which there was a wheel on the unit. In the manner of…well, let’s say the 1950s, there were no markings or indicators, you just turned the wheel to put the heat on, then when it was warm enough, you’d walk back over and rotate the wheel the other way just until you heard a click and it shut off. It would then keep the temperature +/- three or four degrees of that. Whatever it was. Compare and contrast with these pics. As is true of all my devices with remotes, I use my Harmony One remote instead of the one they provided.
This is my version of the scene; real flames and a very similar model of tv.
I am burning old oak beams and floor boarding from a house that was demolished in the village. My landlord is a builder, specialising in the restoration of the stone houses we have here, and was given the job in exchange for the stone he could use from that house. A few of the oak beams were usable but most were scrap; cutting them up is quite a job as oak that has been felled a hundred odd years ago becomes as hard as steel.
The tv is on an old cherry wood chest that I restored. There is a large drawer at the bottom and the access would be from the top lid. I cut out the top two front panels and hinged them so that they flip down, giving me access to the set top boxes and recorders inside.
A lot of snow in the Pyrenees 200 kms to the south of me but next to nothing here, more rain and clouds at the moment.
“Luxury! Why, when I were young, t’heat weren’t free. Had to pay for it with blood and tears down t’mine, we did, and we only got tuppence every fourth fortnight! Half-lump of coal at Christmas had to last twelve months!”
But really: very nice indeed. Sounds like the ultimate in seasoned firewood – I’ll bet those leaden logs burn a good long time. Have you enough to last the season?
At the fruit and veg place I visit in an affluent town nearby, they have cute little teeny-tiny bundles of firewood – looks more like kindling, really – for those who have both a sudden need and limitless funds. I haven’t looked at the price, but I’d be willing to bet three notes featuring Alexander Hamilton would be involved, with little in the way of change back.
There’s still another six or seven inches to go here according to the forecast, whose blizzard warning now covers all of the eastern half of Massachusetts, no longer stopping at the often-used but always suspicious climatological boundary of Route 495. The storm is doing that classic and annoying Nor’easter thing, sitting and spinning. “Oh, look, there’s lots of moisture out here over the Atlantic. I’m gonna pick me up some more and put it down over yonder.”
I just broomed 12″ off my car, so the total by tonight will likely be more than a foot-and-a-half.