Furnace

It was so nice to visit Richmond this past weekend because it's still autumn there. We're definitely heading into winter here; no leaves on the trees even tho we've had a spell of warmish weather. My house has oil heat along with the wood stove that Stephen Hawking needs to explain to me. Or Neighbor Dave. Just when I think I've mastered it, I haven't. But at least I have a full tank of oil. Except.

I can't stand the smell of petroleum products. And when I turned on the heat, it smells. Awful. But this year even moreso. So Neighbor Dave came over to give a looksie. Well. There was a leak, which is why it smelled so bad. So Dave v. kindly took apart the furnace & we cleaned up the leak. Then I turned it on to see if it would leak.

"Is that FIRE?" I said, kinda-sorta surprised.

Neighbor Dave smirks. "What did you think it was? How did you think this works?"

Ummm . . . the truth is that I never thought about it. I just flip the switch. But I guess it does have to burn, right? That's why it's called an oil furnace. And that's what makes the heat. That comes thru the vents. So I don't freeze. Except I have all the windows open to air out the house because it smells like oil. And oranges, because I sprayed the oil filter with Healthfood Store natural air freshener.

I can hear John snorting right about now. This is where he calls me Blondie. I learned that I burn about 1/2 a gal of oil per hour. I have a 250 gal tank, so lessee . . . that would be math. I'll just keep my eye on the gage of the oil tank. THANKS, Dave!