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Happy New Year
Whew...we made it.
At least we hope you did. As we begin a new year we thought we'd try to do it with as little reference to the pandemic as possible. Figure, you might be just "up to here" with it all.
Instead...we'll try a bit of this and some of that and give you a real chance to write something horrible - and win. As we begin our 95th year - please know - we do so appreciate your decades of
"Letting Daniels Do It!"
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ODE
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams; -
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams;
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And overthrow them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worst;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
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Romeo... Romeo...
Where Are Heck You?
We thought we'd start the year of with a bit of Shakespeare and...a bit of clarification.
Juliet is not asking the moon where Romeo is - she's bemoaning the fact that he is a Montague. And, she is a Capulet. Why did Romeo have to be a Montague?
From Middle English wherfor, wherfore, hwarfore, equivalent to where ("=what") + for. Similar to:
Dutch waarvoor ("what for, wherefore")
German wofür ("for what, what for, why"),
Danish and Norwegian hvorfor ("wherefore, why"),
Swedish varför ("wherefore, why")."
Next time you hear a performance (typically high school or amateur productions) in which Juliet asks "wherefore ART thou Romeo?" instead of the proper "wherefore art thou ROMEO?" you'll smile and say...duh!
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Been Downstairs Recently?
It's the start of a new year. And 2021 might just be the 25th or 30th or 40th anniversary of that big old furnace or boiler down in your basement. We want to send our congratulations on its longevity and, modestly remind you that should you need to replace it with a new, more efficient boiler or furnace, we'd love it if you'd Let Daniels Do It.
One other thought. 25 years ago the fuel oil we sold had 10,000 parts per million of particulate matter - nowhere near as clean as it is today. In fact, we're now delivering ultra low sulfur fuel oil with only 15 parts per million! Ahh, progress.
Combine that with better insulation, upgraded equipment, new windows and whole house energy review projects and you begin to understand why most homes burn 30-40% less than they did 25 years ago!
So this winter, keep in mind that with - just 1/4 tank of oil - on average - you can heat your home for 8-10 days! If you find yourself below a 1/4 of a tank today - give us a call and we'll come by with a fill-up!
With the time we've lost during the pandemic (about 4-mos. of "service time") we've had to postpone some periodic maintenance for some of our customers. We promise to get to you as things begin to open up.
One last thought - please help our drivers by making sure that your driveway is clear and a path to your fill-pipe is accessible. Thanks.
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ABHORS, ALMOST, BEGINS, BIOPSY, and CHINTZ
What is so special about those five words?
In a sense they are all the same. Hint: (As if you folks need a hint): It's not about their definition, rather their structure. Tell us here and start the New Year off with a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
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Bulwer-Lytton Prize/Contest/Laugh
Don't know Baron Ed? Well, you will love his legacy.
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, (1803-1873) was an English writer and politician who served as a Whig member of Parliament and is famous for, among other things, declining the Crown of Greece in 1862 after King Otto abdicated.
Bulwer-Lytton's works sold and paid him well. He coined the phrases "the great unwashed","pursuit of the almighty dollar", and "the pen is mightier than the sword", and the opening phrase... "It was a dark and stormy night."
We're going to play along. We'll provide a $25 Amazon gift card to whoever sends in the WORST opening sentence of a novel or poem. And we'll do it for the next three months so...get your Bulwer-Lytton hat on and have some fun.
Now we will share a few winners until you get sick of them. They're usually good for a laugh. Enjoy.
2020 Grand Prize
Her Dear John missive flapped unambiguously in the windy breeze, hanging like a pizza menu on the doorknob of my mind.
Lisa Kluber, San Francisco, CA
Grand Panjandrum's Special Award
As hard-nosed P.I. Dan McKinnon stepped out into the gray gritty dawn, a bone chilling gust of filth-strewn wind wrapped the loose ends of his open trench coat around him like a day-old flour tortilla around a breakfast burrito with hash browns, sausage, and scrambled eggs, hold the pico.
Lisa Hanks, Euless, TX
Crime/Detective Winner
When she walked into my office on that bleak December day, she was like a breath of fresh air in a coal mine; she made my canary sing.
Yale Abrams, Santa Rosa, CA
Dark & Stormy Winner
It was a dark and stormy night, explained Moscow weatherman Sergei Ivanovitch Nabokov, or Sergei Invanovich, fondly called Seryozha by some and Seryozhenka by his family, but don't bother memorizing that as Sergei won't appear again until the end of this book, when his weather forecast is heard in the background as we learn that the main character, Alexei Dmitriovich Makarov, or Alexei Dmitriovich, also known as Alyosha, Alyoshka, or Alyoshenka (or simply Alexei M.) has shockingly died.
Frank Bennett, Malvern, PA
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It's the start of a new year. So...let's stay home and get in great shape for...well...ya know...umm...err...you could go to the beach or ok, wait, you could go...JUST DO IT FOR YOURSELF!
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Can you guess what this piece of art was used for?
It was a nose ornament.
It comes from Peru's Moche culture, between 500 and 600 CE. The Moche were known for their metalwork. Here is a silver crescent with gold shrimp attached on, with tails that extend beyond the silver, and eyes marked by green stones.
Throughout the Moche world, high-status individuals would wear crescent, oval, or square-shaped ornaments of precious metals suspended from the nasal septum, effectively obscuring the mouth of the wearer.
Such works must have been dazzling, catching the light as the wearer moved, and reminding all who had the privilege of seeing such works of the power of the person who wore it, and his or her ability to marshal rare resources, from the materials themselves to the skills of exceptional artists.
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Or...
Simple, simple, simple. That's what you guys keep saying. Keep it simple. So tell us who either of these two amazingly talented people are and you'll be eligible to win a $25 Amazon gift card.
Chris F won last month by identifying the weirdest cave on the planet Harpeas Cave. He had a lot of company - 42 people id'd the Cave and the Isle of Skye as the other location. And 77 of you correctly identified Clement Moore, author of "A Night Before Christmas" including Karen S.
We should point out that it was NOT Rasputin, John Brown, Rutherford B. Hayes or Norman Vincent Peale. Some of you need to rejigger your Google settings!
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January Map -
Origin of States Names.
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Nothing makes us crazier than finding a Daniels web page with
just one star.
For reasons NO ONE understands, Google can't seem to recognize that Daniels Oil is Daniels Energy is Daniels Propane. We're one company. Our Google rating for Daniels Energy is 4.4 stars and we're working to make it five!
HOWEVER, for some reason our Daniels Oil list has only one star. This is the thing that makes us crazy. IF IF IF you have been happy with Daniels - Oil - Propane - Energy - whatever - would you please say something nice...here:
It would truly make our new year. And thank you.
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When I was a kid, and that was a loooong time ago, we lived in an apartment building just outside of NYC. It had all sorts of fancy things to make life easier - like a special door that offered a place to hold a hot iron.
And a door that indicated to the milkman just exactly what we needed that day. Haven't seen or thought about them in six decades.
Didja ever seen anything like that?
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January Mystery Link
Call Us.
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Daniels Energy, 8 High Street, Portland CT 06480
Daniels Energy: CT License S1-385517 HOD#19 /
Daniels Propane. LLC: #846 CT License S1-302857
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