November 14, 2014 Fireplace saga, part 2. The apostle James warns us not to say, Tomorrow Ill do thus and so, because we dont know what tomorrow will bring. Instead, he admonishes us to say, If God wills, I will do... If you read yesterdays post, youll know this James wasnt paying attention to that James. I did not pick up any cement board today, didnt mix up any mortar, and am not ready to reinstall anything. This morning as I was cleaning up the mess I made yesterday, I thought it would behoove me to chip away any loose skim coat of concrete on the floor of the firebox. I was happily (OK, thats a lie) chipping away when a big piece of it came loose and sort of disappeared. The little hole I was going to use to bring the gas line into the fireplace turns out to be not so little. Nearly a third of the firebox pad simply fell into a void beneath the chimney. When the previous owner built the chimney and laid up the fireplace, instead of putting a regular foundation under it, he simply shored things up with, of all things, a wire refrigerator shelf over which he poured about an inch and a half of concrete. There were pieces of angle iron braces that had completely rotted away. How the entire thing didnt collapse, Ill never know. There used to be a brick chimney for the wood stove in the Millstone Room, but when the house was sided just before we moved in, it was deemed unstable and torn down. They threw the bricks over the creek bank on the side yard, where today I retrieved three wheelbarrows full and dumped them into the void beneath the chimney. Im not certain itll happen tomorrow, but before too many days go by, Ill run my gas line up through the more than adequate space beneath the fireplace, then fill it all in with concrete so well have a solid base for the stove. Theres still a lot of crud up in the chimney that should come out, so there is plenty of work to be done. My friend Harry, who recently rebuilt his firebox, got quite a chuckle out of my predicament, reminding me in the process that our dinner group meets at our house at the beginning of the month. Thanks Harry, for the sympathy! He also mentioned that he thought it quite important that I remove the rusty firebox and make sure the chimney is cleaned out. I mentioned in return, that I thought he might want to be the one to break that news to Linda. He of course, declined. One good thing about retirement: Even with dinner group on the horizon, I was able to lay aside this project for the rest of the day, knowing that I have (Lord willing!) plenty of days between now and then to button things up. So Harry and I headed to Fredonia in a mini blizzard for our jazz band recital which actually went pretty well. I didnt lose my place too often, and even made somewhat of a positive contribution to the whole. I came home to a house full of grandkids who are now quietly (for the most part) in bed. Tomorrow is another day, and after the morning rush and chaos of breakfast with ten kids, I may (MAY is the operative word here) even have time to tackle the fireplace again. And even if I cant make everything work, Ive been given a nice gas fireplace unit to slip into place if need be. My little saga is far from over, but it is a little saga, devoid of consequential content. Im not being persecuted; I am not facing life-threatening or chronic illness; I have the blessing of retirement on a pension with the woman Ive loved for over 40 years; and I know by blessed experience the merciful grace of a God who saw me in my sin and loved me to life. I ask you, how good is all that?
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 04:13:22 +0000
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