I'd like to say that the burning season is over. I'd like it to be over. But the fact that its May doesn't seem to keep the nights from dropping down into the mid twenties. Gads. The 2007 season pellets are gone, they went pretty fast:
| Month | This year | 2007 | 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|
| September | 160 | 360 | - |
| October | 960 | 1,360 | - |
| November | 1,120 | 1,640 | 1,200 |
| December | 2,080 | 1,920 | 1,720 |
| January | 2,240 | 2,360 | 2,000 |
| February | 1,800 | 1,920 | 1,280 |
| March | 840 | 1,320 | 1,080 |
| April | 240 | 480 | 440 |
You can see we burnt a lot less in March, but that was mostly due to the fact that there wasn't much left to burn. A lot more fires that much. April wasn't too bad, and I was home most of the month watching the kids while JM went overseas, so I let the temperatures in the house drop below 70°rees;F at night. But that's over now too.
Just when I was getting ready to enjoy having that third parking spot left, I got a call from a friend who had spotted a sale sign over at Ace.
2006 was a mess for wood pellet users. Nobody in town had consistent stock, prices was all over the place, and I ended up buying pellets from two hardware stores, Walmart, and the local gas station (who shipped in a supply from Canada). Part of the problem was a supply issue from a local pellet plant in eastern Arizona. So for 2007, the stores placed monster orders all over the place. Now it was May 2008, and they were sitting on top of a couple million tons still.
Ace blinked first. Normally a more expensive option (over priced only by the local grocery store), they dropped their price to $3/bag or $150/ton. There went my parking space. For about the same price as four tons before, I picked up six tons this time, and actually managed to get them all in the garage, in one parking spot. And because we now have what looks like an infinite quantity, we've relaxed a bit and started burning them again. Granted otherwise my basement would drop below 60°rees;F, but it still seems absurd.
I need to start setting up for next year with some solar plans. Maybe by 2009 I might not need to hand carry 12,000 pounds of wood pellets down into my basement.
