Keeping the Home Fires Burning
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It's May 1940 as the lads of the English village of Chilbury head off to war. It is the women, mainly, along with the children and old men who are left behind, who tend the home fires and keep them burning strong in the lads' absence. In the absence of male choristers, the women gather together to establish a "Ladies' Choir" for the church and for local competition. They find comfort and strength in the company of one another as well as discover the healing and bolstering properties of music well sung.

The story is told through correspondence and personal journal entries of five key women of Chilbury. ranging in age from 10 years to 50 or so. It speaks of young love, black market dealings, fear of Nazism, spies in their midst, autumn love and personal sacrifice. Through the ladies of choir's sense of community, there's very little which cannot be accomplished together and the music provides the balm needed by broken and worried souls. This was a lovely account of the strength of women when called upon to lift up their community and to care for one another through thick and through thin.

I am grateful to publisher Penguin Random House LLC for having provided a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review, the words of which are mine alone.
4571355
These nuggets make wood burning fireplaces easy to operate. They are quick, easy, and economical. I buy in bulk and use the smaller box to leave on the hearth. Thanks again Amazon.
482086
Good friends recommended purifier to us and it was also highly rated by Consumer Reports. We live at the base of the Rockies and there are many trees throughout our town. There have been major fires near us the past 2 years and this purifier made us feel much safer as there was a lot of smoke in the air. Works beautifully. Nice design.
4197433
I bought one of these for work and liked it so much , I got another for home . I live in the Pacific Northwest and when we get forest fires , the smoke surrounds everything . Im hoping this will make sleeping during the next inferno feel less like smoking 3 packs of cigarettes, and more like a regular nights rest .
4157699
Fire in all conditions.  What's not to like?
3851373
My Dad help fight this fire as did two more of his brothers and several uncles.  My Mom worked at a restaurant and they daily made huge amounts of sandwiches, cookies and coffee for those fighting the devastating massive fires.  It is a tribute to all who helped to stop this devastating fire.
1057305
It would be more efficient to generate light by taking a small pile of money and setting it on fire. One light works occasionally. The other light does not work at all.
3872041
I have seven Nest Protects in my house.  One in each bedroom and then in the hallways.  They've functioned wonderfully in the year I've had them up.  I've never had any actual smoke even to trigger them, but one time I did take a particularly hot and steamy shower and the alarm in the hallway outside of the bathroom sounded a pre-warning in which a voice stated that an alarm could be sounding shortly. But the Nest obviously realized there was no threat and never alerted.  That sort of advanced notice of a blaring alarm is a welcome feature.

I hope I never have to see how well these work as fire alarms, but until then I'm very happy with how they look and how they function.
1031661
This is a nice simple unit.  It reminds me of the earlier burners when propane firepits first hit the market.

We placed it into a vintage metal acorn fireplace and ran the hose out through the side at the screen, to the 20 lb propane bottle tucked around the rear (behind a stone block back wall).  The plan was to make it relatively portable so we could revert back to wood fires now and then.

The firepit gives off lots of heat even at 1/3 "on" level, and to maintain that heat within the fireplace, the chimney damper is almost closed (not really needed for any smoke discharge).  To keep the hissing noise down and the flame at a more natural amber color, I made up a metal circlip-type shield around the venting hole that's just outside the metal firepit shroud -- this worked well.

If there's one bitch we'd have with this unit it would be the excessive consumption of propane:  regulator set to 1/3 "on" and using two 2 1/2 hour evenings, the tank was down to only 1/4 full!  That's a lot of propane burned in my books.  We are going to really have to think about when we use this thing.
4454565
I love putting some of our valuables in these boxes because they have a fire retardant property and therefore, if they were in a fire, the valuables would be spared.  The box is a great size, you can put important papers in there.  Very convenient and useful for our house.
1286046
Good bye newspaper.  This stuff burns way longer than newspaper so it makes getting fires going much better, especially if you are, like me, light fires in a fireplace and don't have much kindling.
4060357
We have a fireplace insert and use three of these to get our fires started.  I love them.  They work great, don't make a mess and don't take up a lot of space!
3791019
I have these all around my house. I ike that I can leave it one and not worry about it burning anything. I rarely turn it off.
1006014
I have 4 of these for my three large aquariums and entertainment center. Can't be too careful. Many house fires have been caused by using cheap outlet strips instead of nice surge protectors. Well worth a few more dollars.
1244827
I wanted to get some smoke detectors that would allow us to get notifications on our phone if they ever went off, and these will do just that without a monthly cost! These may be on the expensive side when it comes to smoke detectors, but when we are not at home it gives us some piece of mind knowing that the house and our two dogs are okay.

We also have a few Nest cameras that we are able to use to check on the house in case there is an alert on a smoke detector, but that has never happened when we've been away from the house. We have had them go off when we've been at home with some cooking mishaps that caused excessive amounts of smoke, thereby triggering the smoke alarms. The nice thing is that you can easily silence the smoke detector by pushing the button on the detector itself, or you can silence it on your phone.

It will also show you camera footage if you have any of the Nest cameras assigned to the same room as the smoke detector that is going off, which is a nice touch.
4971484
We are in the middle of one of the smokiest wildfire seasons ever, so I have this thing working overtime.  I bought it during a smoke-filled summer in 2012 and I know it is helping.  Nothing can 100% clear our house right now, since we are having a record season for poor air quality, but I have this in the living room and it's doing the best it can. It had been about 1 year since I checked the filters and the carbon one was completely covered in dust and dander, so I know it is doing something! I replaced it with a new one (nice that it came with a couple replacements) and have it kicked up to the higher levels.  It is quite loud at the high levels, but I'd rather have a loud fan over breathing smoke particles.

Not many have posted this tip recently -- but on auto setting it detects aerosol sprays and ... ahem ... gas ... better than anything. Be ready for a tattle tale.
1317525
This is highly recommended for home fire/carbon monoxide protection, along with the Nest Thermostat for energy efficiency. Easy to use and setup, like that I can check the temp settings at home while I am out and also be able to readjust if needed. The Nest Protect is also great because it senses people in other rooms away from the Nest Thermostat so it does not go into Away mode when not in the area.