December 2022

The art of Tim Huhn.

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"This Just In..."

Happy Holidays. Or should it be Happy Hallo-daze?

This month's epistle features far more information about Christmas Trees than you could possible want. Fore warned is...fore armed.

We've cobbled together a selection of bits and pieces guaranteed to enrich your life and help put you to sleep today. So DON"T read at the office!

We do wish you the happiest of holidays, good healthy and a season of joy.

December Art

Cutting Christmas Tree, by Hans Andersen Bredeskilde. Wikipedia simply says, a Danish Painter. Raised as a shepherd for his grandparents, educated as a sculptor, he became famous for an extraordinary painting, “Worn Out or The Martyr, 1889.

However, there is much, much more about this talented Dane…here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._A._Brendekilde

Nature at its finest. Then again….

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition.

The Winners

1. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of time.

2. Intaxicaton: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

3. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

4. Bozone ( n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future. 

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high 

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

9. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

10. Glibido: All talk and no action. 

11. Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. 

12. Arachnoleptic Fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.(our favorite)

13. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.



14. Caterpallor ( n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

We left out a few for holiday reasons!

Quiz #1

You’ve heard their Christmas song just under 4-million times every day since Halloween.



Now tell us here who they are – and their biggest hit – and you may be a winner of a shiny Amazon gift card – just in time for the holidays.

Phil P. identified Liz Rohm from Law and Order, while Sharon C correctly identified the four boys from Stand by Me (River Phoenix, Jerry O’Connell, Corey Feldman and Will Wheaton.

John S and Larry Z were two of only 16 correct answers in the Movie Quiz! Good luck this month

Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, also called “Festival of Lights,” commences at sundown on the 18^th and will continue for eight days.

Hanukkah was celebrated as early as the second century BCE to commemorate the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. The Book of Maccabees recounts the story of Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, who formed a revolt against the Seleucid Empire of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, eventually winning against his heir and successor Antiochus V.

Antiochus IV praying to horned idol in the Temple of Jerusalem

“Speculum Humanae Salvationis.” Morgan Library.  

It suggests Maccabee’s battle against Antiochus V (depicted as elephant and castle). After the Jews reclaimed the Temple in Jerusalem, it was purified and reconsecrated by the lighting of a multi-branched oil lamp which miraculously burned for eight days; an event which would be marked with the celebration that we now know as Hanukkah.

“Sweeping the Temple Judas Maccabaeus: Cleansing of Sanctuary.” Morgan Library. In medieval times, the growing custom of illuminating the menorah lamp, usually displayed outwardly, fulfilled the rabbi’s decree to confirm the “miracle of lights” to the world. 

Think of the splinters you won’t have to remove. Stay warm and toasty this winter. Daniels is ready to install your new propane-powered fireplace log sets. One call and we’ll be there.

860 813 9122

White Mountain’s Empire Sassafras log set & burner

Beauty and Warmth all in one.

So, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation named their Class of 2022 Snowplows. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Wicked Hard Word Quiz

Cell; plane; flu; bra; phone.

What do these words have in common?

No, it isn’t going to be easy. I didn’t get it. I was gobsmacked and frustrated that I didn’t see the obvious answer. Your chance. Tell us here your answer you may win a $25 Amazon gift card.

Wind towers.

Marco Polo noticed an interesting feature in the architecture of Hormuz: “The heat is tremendous, and on that account their houses are built with ventilators to catch the wind.

These ventilators are placed on the side from which the wind comes, and they bring the wind down into the house to cool it. But for this the heat would be utterly unbearable.”



This technique has been used for thousands of years, originally in ancient Iran and now throughout West Asia: By catching the prevailing wind and directing it through the interior of a house, the residents can greatly increase air circulation while avoiding the sun’s heat.

One - maybe - last time with David and John at the microphone. Just to say hello and thanks. Stay for the poem!

Give a listen here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DspY4zgRwJE

We hope this brings a smile to your face and warmth to your heart. Wishing you the happiest, healthiest holidays.

Quiz #2

We dare you to tell us who this rocket man is. As if his belt buckle didn’t give it away! Tell us here and you may win one of those coveted Amazon gift cards everyone loves. And….thanks for playing.

Electric Cars

OK, in 10 years we’ll all be driving electric cars. Fine.

However, we have to create electricity for those hundreds of thousand charging stations. By 2030 highway plaza charging stops will require about the same amount of electricity as Yankee Stadium. By 2050 – as much as a small town! Going back to coal? Nat Gas? Hydrogen? Fusion? 

A plaza on the interstate can fuel about 200 cars in the amount of time it takes to charge an EV. And what are say 200 or so people going to do during the 40-minutes it will take to charge their cars. Thoughts?

Although EV’s are a good idea, the build out will take years to develop and build. The New England Electrical Grid is already over worked, and some utility executives have already said if we have any extended cold weather there may be black outs. Getting enough natural gas to power generation plants may be an issue, and then the choice becomes electricity or heating homes that use natural gas. 

If you heat with oil or propane, you have a supply on hand in your tank, that can last for weeks. And today’s heating oil blended with BioHeat, is cleaner than ever, and will get even better as we ramp up the BioHeat content in the near future. Propane is also a very clean fuel, with renewable propane within reach in the next few years

They’re kinda low.



In fact, November inventories were at levels usually found in mid-April - at the end of the heating season. We’ll be sourcing fuel oil from four different suppliers at six different terminals to make sure that we have ample supply this winter. 

We have put this plan in place so that if one supplier is short on supply, we have others to choose from. The same applies to terminals, if one is low or out, we can go to another supplier at a different terminal.

It’s also one reason we’ll be aiming to delivery, on average, 150-165 gallons into 275 gallon tanks each time – just to make sure that we can service all our customers in an efficient way. We will be filling tanks, and working off the top of the tanks. We will be targeting smaller deliveries to keep the reserves in our customer tanks higher. 

This will give you more peace of mind, knowing you have fuel on hand. You might see us more often, and the bills on a smaller delivery will be easier for our customers to handle. 



 Propane supplies should be more than ample this winter, as inventories are above the five year average for this time of year.



You can’t always put the genie back in the bottle.

But in seemingly magical new technology from MIT’s chemical engineers, you can convert tons of mixed-plastic waste, including plastic bottles, back into propane. So, you could fuel a school bus, heat your home, or keep the lights on when the power goes out by turning the plastic waste that is found in landfills and oceans around the world into propane. All while helping to clean up the environment, which should be magical enough.

Catalysts have been around for 70 years to convert propane into polypropylene, one of the two major building blocks of plastic, along with polyethylene, which is the most widely used plastic in the world. Now the process can be reversed.

 It will take time, capital, and vision to polish up this new technology. But the process is intriguing and (you must admit) the public appeal should be tremendous.

Christmas Tree Lots by Chris Green

Christmas trees lined like war refugees, 

a fallen army made to stand in their greens. 

Cut down at the foot, on their last leg, 

they pull themselves up, arms raised. 

We drop them like wood; 

tied, they are driven through the streets, 

dragged through the door, cornered 

in a room, given a single blanket, 

only water to drink, surrounded by joy. 

Forced to wear a gaudy gold star, 

to surrender their pride, 

they do their best to look alive.

Not everyone has a 10-ft Balsam Fir in the front room. Some people must make do with what they have. Still, you must admire the workmanship and imaginations, no?

With the onset of winter we get less light. Morning deliveries are often before sunrise and the late fall light fades so quickly that it makes it quite difficult to find house numbers. Please make sure that we can see your house number on the house or the mailbox. It will make a real difference to our drivers this winter. Thanks.

Leave em' Laughing

Oh, C'mon! Now it's Lizzards.