The Rock

I have yet another great revelation that just came to mind!

Everyone needs a giant rock (boulder if you will) in their living room!!!

Why is this you ask? Well a rock does a great job of retaining heat. Long after the sun goes down, the rocks on this planet are still giving off heat. How the hell do you think the earth doesn't turn into a massive ice ball at night? Not to mention it's been keeping liquid magma in it's core for billions of years. You see ... ROCKS HOLD HEAT!!

So anyway, you have this big rock in your living room. During the day the sun heats up the rock, and at night the rock radiates FREE heat for you and your family!! Now I know what your thinking. There isn't enough sunlight to heat a rock during the day, nor is it powerful enough rays. Well I already have that covered! You see, on the sides of your windows are mirrors, and those mirrors reflect light onto another mirror. That mirror reflects light in 'concentrated' form, right the the rock in your living room. This heat would be intense, and focused heat. By the time evening comes around, your rock would be a few hundred degrees, you could even use it to cook supper on. And all night long, you would have natural, radiant heat keeping you and yours toasty all night long. And of course your thermostat would never kick in hence saving you money too. This should be listed as a 'money saving tip' as a matter of fact.

So let's all get together and make a big coffee table rock the new trend. Perhaps it could be the 'gift of the year' for Christmas 2010!! Thank you.

Money saving tip #10

Snow removal .. it stupid!!!

Every year I've always done the same damn thing, it snows .. I go out and remove the snow. I even got anal and cleared a 10 foot wide path around the house to keep it nice and open. And what happens? A week later you just get more snow or maybe a nice 40mph windy day and EVERYTHING you did is all buried again. What a stupid idea to even think your a match against mother nature. You'll lose every single time.

I have formulated a new plan for snow removal that is not only time saving, but money saving as well. What is it? FUCK IT!!! That's right .. leave it there!! Snow is an awesome insulator for the home(just ask the Eskimos). If you have 4 foot drifts up against your house think of it as a GOOD thing! Just go out and plow a path around your vehicle, and a lane just wide enough to get to the road. Everything else can wait. Come April or so, go out and spend a few days moving it all out of the way so it doesn't thaw and leak into the house and over saturate your yard, septic .. whatever.

And another bonus, when people drive up to your place, they look down your long driveway and see that it's hardly plowed and they think that they might get stuck going down it so they leave! They probably think no one even lives there. How great is that? Peace and quiet too!

And for those of you who live in town, just clear a path from the garage door to the street. That's it!! Screw the sidewalks .. who the hell walks in the winter anyway?? As for the postman .. screw him too, what's he gonna do, hold your mail until the snow is gone? GOOD .. all he brings is bills anyway, who needs that? And if your really desperate you can go to the post office and get your 'held' mail anyway.

So I say once that first snowflake falls, all the way through spring .. let it fall where it may. Pile up to the roof for all I care, the more snow, the lower the heating bills (not that I have much of one anyway).

The heat is on!

Current outside temperature when I wrote this - MINUS 24 degrees!

Current inside temperature - A balmy 74 degrees!

So what's the big deal? Well .... all My thermostats are turned OFF!





Yup, while most of you out there are fretting how much your heating bills will be this winter, I'll take the logical choice and get My heat totally free.

A wood burning stove does cost around $500, and another $500 for parts to install, but since they last a lifetime it becomes dirt cheap. Add to the fact that typical heating bills can run from 600 to well over a 1000 or 1500 dollars a winter, one might see just how stupid it is to be connected to the grid, and a slave to the system.

I think back to Thanksgiving day when We had family out and were heating the house with the wood burning stove and had all the thermostats turned off. During dinner we actually had to open the outside doors it was so hot in the house. And need I remind you that the cost of getting the house that warm was totally free!! And I have yet to be able to describe the difference of wood heat, but there is something better about it. It's more ... uhmmm ... warming?? I don't know!! All I know is that the heat registers do NOT heat your body the way the stove does. For some reason you can have it be 70 degrees with home heat and feel cold, but 70 degrees with wood heat and your toasty. I can't prove it, but it's true for all My family members.

Yes, much like most things in life .. heat is free. So is water for that matter. And I would argue that in the very near future, electricity will be extremely cheap also. Science is in the process of making solar cells that can literally be printed on a sheet of paper off a computer printer. Well it's a bit more complex than that, but in general that's the truth. We are on the verge of going from $2.50 per solar watt, down to 25 CENTS a solar watt. A ninety percent savings .. not bad.

And before I go, I know what your thinking. "But I don't have trees all over that I can just cut down and use for the winter." In other words .. that sounds like work. I would argue that just about any farmer out there would have some dead trees that he would love to have cut down and taken away. Taking out the dead ones promotes more life for the good ones. So anyone out there COULD get free wood if they 'wanted', but nobody does. I've read a dozen ads this year on the internet alone advertising free wood from people who want old tree rows tore down and stuff. I am fortunate however that I just have to go in My backyard and start cutting.

I would add that most people can't have a wood stove because of a very stupid reason. They never sit their ass down long enough to let a fire heat a house. I'm sure most of you would have a tough time dedicating a good chunk of your day just staying home and relaxing and you would be out driving around in a couple hours running your countless errands, getting a movie, or going to get your 'fast food' supper for your family. And since it's best not to leave a wood stove burning while not at home, your forced to pay for it. You see .. once again, there is such balance in nature.

So I'll leave you with a quote that's kinda cheesy, but is really true as it's great exercise.

"Firewood is the heat that warms you twice. Once when you cut it, and again when you burn it."