4-Wheelin' For Our Health...

    After a frustrating day yesterday, dealing with Fibro fog and the resultant mistakes on my part, as well as the dishwasher not dispensing the cleanser AGAIN, today started out on a better track.
    Until..... I decided that I needed to buck up against the negative wind chill temperatures today (it was already 9 degrees warmer this morning than yesterday morning) to take Dakota for a much needed walk.
     We had trudged through the 6-10 inches of fresh snow nearly all the way back to the furthest corner of the cemetary before I remembered that I had planned to drive over with my truck each time we got a fair amount of snow, thus keeping a walking path cleared for the two of us.  The past 2 winters we lost a lot of walking days, especially last winter, with over 110 inches of snowfall here in Ludington!
      So off we went, 4-wheelin' together again!  I would LOVE to know what Dakota was thinking each time we do this..."But mom, we were just here... walking!  Why are we driving around and around again?"
    After I had made 3 or 4 passes through the cemetary, taking alternate routes so we would have a few different paths to walk, the county plow came down the road.  I made sure each time I approached the road that there was NO traffic coming, so I would not get stuck attempting to get out onto the road after stopping for traffic.  I lucked out and the plow did not bury the driveways more than my truck would handle.

     It has now been a few days since I originally began this post.  Problems with the 2 pellet stoves, a few days apart, are now past, and we are REALLY blessed to have them, as we have had our first BLIZZARD conditions of this winter, and the new year. 
     Three days off from school, LOTS of wind, blowing snow, and MULTIPLE MULTI-CAR (30-100+) PILE UPS on US-131 as well as I-94, have created a lot of concern, worry, and headlines this week.
     Perhaps this weekend I will take the time to post some of the photos we've taken both at home and while driving home from the store in a white-out, which came up while Wesley & I were at Meijer to pick up a few things BEFORE the storm hit.

   The photos above do NOT do it justice.  Even at speeds of 30 mph we were driving beyond our visibility, so it was a headlights on, even lower speeds, white knuckle drive home.  I would NOT have gone out if I knew it was going to get this bad so quickly!

     The photo above was taken after we had received 10-12+ inches of fresh snow.  Wesley is shoveling a path for the cats so that they can jump from the deck to their cat door which comes into the living room.  As usual, Dakota was enjoying the snow storm tremendously, and I had to call her in and dry her off with the blow drier.  If she wasn't black on top, we'd never find her during the snow storms.
     The biggest snow days were Jan 8-10th so far, and with the warm weather (36+ degrees) today, Dakota and I finally ventured back to the cemetary with the truck.  What a greasy, slippery mess it was when you'd try to turn.  I was able to make a few laps though so we have more paths, and wider ones at that for our walking....until the weather changes AGAIN. 

Mystery of the missing purple glove: A Pellet Stove ODYSSEY!

     Another home maintenance issue came up this morning.  Wesley & I got up to the wonderful situation of the pellet stove on the main floor of the house not running, and it was only 64 degrees on that floor.  As soon as I got up, I remembered waking up earlier and grabbing my sheet and comforter to pull it up to my face, so when I came downstairs, the thermostat for the stove was the first place I went!
     "Auger Jam" read the error screen.... trying the 'retry' button to no avail, I reached for the pellet stove user's manual, plus fired up the laptop, anticipating a needed search for how to remedy the situation.  After turning on the furnace and turning up my pellet stove in the basement, to help warm the house while I worked on the problem (AFTER getting Wesley to school), I set off to my usual morning routine of everyone's breakfast and preparing Wesley's lunch.
     Within a few minutes I found both the error message information and schematics for the parts that I needed to work with, and told Wesley that I had to remove a cover from the stove to work on it later.
     One youtube video search later and approximately an hour (the same as the video's creator had estimated) of tedious but easy work, and I had heat again!
     I assumed that the stove had the same problem as his... pellet dust build up blocking the auger and it's eye, but low and behold, as I removed the auger from behind the burn chamber..... I HAD SOLVED THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING PURPLE GLOVE!!!

     As usual, I took photos as I went through the steps of removing pellets, removing the wiring and the auger.... and THE GLOVE CAUGHT IN THE AUGER!  The above photo shows the twisted shape of the metal auger with the glove twisted up in it, and the auger motor and wiring harness in the lower left corner.
     I was both surprised and greatly relieved that I may have solved the problem so quickly, and hoped that I hadn't damaged any of the wiring while I did it.  I sent Michael another text message (yes, I've begun texting him since we found that it SOMETIMES reaches his phone from our home) that I had 'made fire', and posted on facebook that I thought I deserved a nap.