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Having spent the last week shivering in my house, I decided I needed to figure out my pellet stove.  When ever I mention the fact that I have a pellet stove to pellet stove people, they all reply the same, “They heat good!”  So, since my heat pump “don’t heat good!”, I was motivated to take action.  Admittedly, I was a bit cautious considering my previous home maintenance ineptness, but there is nothing like a day where the temperature barely gets above freezing to make me risk burning down my house.  I called the store that had sold the stove to the previous owner and asked if they recommended a chimney sweep who also did stove maintenance in the area.  They gave me the information and then I asked where I could purchase the pellets.  They said I could come by the store and they would go with me to their warehouse and have a ton of pellets loaded on the back of my truck.  I got really quiet as I considered that pellets are purchased by the ton and that Dale could now use pellet hauling as well as dump running as reasons to buy a truck.  I told them thanks for that information and I hung up.  A ton of pellets? Really?  Next, I called the chimney sweep and talked to the woman who sets the appointments.  She was a pellet stove person and promptly told me, “they heat good”!  I brought up the ton of pellets question and she said she goes through 3 tons a winter.  3 tons?  I told her I didn’t have a truck, so she gave me the number for a man who delivers pellets to your house.  She then told me the story of how she got her pellet stove for free because some silly woman moved into a house and thought the pellet stove was ugly and asked the chimney sweep to remove it.  I congratulated her on her good deal, but didn’t share the fact that when I moved into this house I had the same thought as that silly woman.  But since everyone kept telling me, “They heat good!” I kept it where it was.  So, I called the pellet delivery man and said I needed some pellets.  “You need me to bring you 10 tons?, he said.  “10 tons?  No. 1 ton will be more than enough,” I answered.  After he took down my details, he said he’d bring me 3 tons.  “1 ton will be plenty,” I said.  “Come on,” he said, “I’m trying to get some business.”  I told him that I knew I should be thankful that he had brought the amount down from 10 tons to 3 tons, but I would stick with 1 ton.  Josiah and I were soon helping him stack the bags of pellets in the garage.  I remarked to him that I should have more than enough for winter.  “Nah,” he said, I’ll see you in February.”  Now with the stacks of pellets in the garage, Gabe and I began the process of lighting the pellet stove.  I had the manual in hand and we went step by step.  We primed the auger, turned the blowers on, squirted some fire starter on the pellets, lit the pellets, set the pellet feed, and watched it burn.  We were proud of ourselves.  That silly woman, she’s probably freezing in her house right now, but me, well…”They heat good!”