Carbon Monoxide!?

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Weird. The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured out what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared, I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace draft (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heat...
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New York State Refugee

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Life is good. I received a promotion at work a while back. I have been here in Duluth now 5 years. I can hardly believe it. A lot has happened, but fast. Much better than Upstate NY. This evening Angie and I were in the Duluth Commons listening to live music sharing a table with some other folks we had never met. I mentioned something about NY knowing that it would start a conversation. Sure enough, one of the folks was from Lockport, NY. We all know the story about the dropping a frog in boiling water, the frog jumps out. Put a frog in cold water. Gradually turn up the heat and the frog boils to death. The folks left in Upstate NY are dying frogs. The resurrection of NYC starting in the 70s and 80s continues at the expense of frogs in Upstate.

Here is a link showing actual purchasing power in US states. US State Purchasing power I have also included the infographic below because experience tells me website references last only a short time. Notice NY is second only to Hawaii as far as the worst states.

I calculated average taxable income for my location in NY ($34.8K) versus my home in GA ($41.4K).


So, the average income is 16 percent higher and the value of a dollar is 20 higher in GA vs. NY. I travel a lot internationally, and these days this difference between states I this example is more like a difference between countries.

Across the board (not just for me, I have done much better) there is a baseline 36% greater wealth living in my Duluth home than my NY home. They have ruined NY State. The funniest part is NY actually plays commercials on the TV here in GA to bring businesses North. It is a waste of advertising dollars and I find the commercials very humorous.




Here is a pic of Gracie the cat after Angie returned home.


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Carbon Monoxide!?

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Image
Weird. The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured out what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared, I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace draft (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heat...
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