Getting Ready for Winter

      I went to the shop yesterday morning to restock pumpkin hats and my Snow Owl hat and Fanny went with me and I stopped and got treats for everyone on the way back.  (Chocolate glazed donuts for Jeff and chicken nuggets for Fanny) and I swear it was snowing up on Rte 28 by the Jordanville Rd!!  When I got home it was just raining lightly and Jeff was ready to go shopping.  He had decided it was time to

re-fit the pipe to the woodstove instead of

thru a house fire when he lived in Gray the first time that destroyed everything!  They were lucky to get out alive.)  He checked the pipe and it probably would last another year but why take the chance, he asked?  So yesterday afternoon we went shopping for a length of double walled stove pipe.  Lowe's has always had it but when Jeff...and the guy he talked with there...couldn't find it on the shelf, Jeff wanted to check out the other places in the Valley who had stove pipe before ordering it.  We went to Ace Hardware in Ilion, Farm and Tractor and Collis Hardware both in Herkimer before trying Lowe's again before ordering the pipe.  This time the Lowe's guy we talked to looked things up on their computer and found out that there were suppose to be 6 sections of that pipe in the store.  Jeff and the Lowe's Man went back to the display and actually found it!  We had our double walled stove pipe and a few extra pieces and were all set.

just cleaning it before lighting the first fire of the season.  I think the section of pipe that goes

thru the wall gives Jeff
nightmares.  (He lived 
   When we got home, Wally met us in the driveway to let us know the electricity was out.  That meant  no lights, TV, PC, water or heat (especially with the stove pipe in the back of the car!!!).  After a few minutes it dawned on us that it also meant no supper since we have an electric stove.  Jeff suggested we go out to supper.  I said yes, of course...hey, that made 2 nights in a row!  (A new record...we had gone out for fish fry at Fat Cats Friday night.)  We checked out the new Italian Feast that has replaced our favorite Belly Busters Diner in the old Dandy Donuts.  It has an all-you-can-eat buffet and has just opened.  We walked in and looked around.  The buffet didn't appeal to either one of us so we left and went to the Knight Spot in Frankfort.  I had a covered meatball sandwich with a side order of greens and Jeff had a huge hamburger with real onion rings.  We both ate well.  We stopped at Stony's on the way home to leave a bag of hot peppers and tomatoes from the garden and when we got home the electricity was back on!  I made a pot of coffee and one of us turned on the PC and the other the TV.   I cut up the section of sandwich I had brought home for Fanny and she was happy to have it in her supper.  It was a cold, wet, black night and I was glad to be home.  I just wished the stove pipe was up where it belonged and not in the back of the Forester.