This morning got off to a lucky start. Our friendly chimney sweep came buy to clear the creasote blockage that we have at the top of our chimney.. The blockage got so bad that we couldn’t keep a big fire going.. which is a big deal this time of year.. restricted use of our stove these past few days has lead to it being in the 40’s in our bedroom every morning !!!
He was able to cram his brush up our 40 foot chimney and break through the gunk that had collected on the bird screen up there.. Instant relief.. the wood stove is back to its original wonderful warmth !!!
Even better we got a hot of good luck. In Austria (and I think many other places) it’s really food luck to shake hands with a sweep. When I lived in Austria, they use to say ‘halt Die Knopfen’.. .. or ‘hold your button.. you’r supposed to hold a button on your clothing when you see a sweep go by.
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do you know of any good luck traditions related to sweeps ?
Peaceful day with no obligations.. rare treat. We took advantage of the warm weather to get outside for a long 6.5 mile snowshoe. at 29 degrees, it’s the warmest temperature I think we’ve hit all year !
we stopped at ‘camp comfort’.. a derelict old building..a nd the last standing on rickert mountain for a snack..
Very nice day… Started with getting my teeth cleaned… That's always nice. Then home to see if we could debug why our woodstove was not working. Diane and I took the woodstove as completely apart as possible. We are looking for something jammed up in there because stove simply isn't running well. We disassembled the air intakes and vacuumed out all the tubes That didn't seem to clear the problem .
Finally We removed the stove pipe. Icreated a little wire holder for a mirror and stuck it Way back so I could look up the chimney. Sure enough… The screen that is up there to keep birds from going in was choked with creosote. We think and hope that's our problem
Tonight we went over to Andy and Jennifer's for might ski… Wasn't moonlight, it was the sodium vapor lamps from IDM still had a really nice atmosphere. We had a great dinner and hung out in their hot tub. Good fun. Now got to sleep… More tomorrow
Home five flight. Great trip down to headquarters… Really interesting meetings… But so glad to be home. These days that start at 4 AM and end at 10 PM seem like a day and a half.
Our woodstove is out of commission right now so I am sitting in a 50° house… Just came downstairs to make us both some TV before going to bed. Waiting for the kettle to boil… It’s the only heat in the house right now I think 🙂
What kind?? Ginger?… I feel like getting in the car and warming up
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