Courage is fire, and bullying is smoke.
Benjamin Disraeli
Did the things I do every morning and then some. Fed the cats, fed the fire, fed the outside birds, made coffee.
When I was outside bringing the feeder I made inside, I got a blast of snow in the face, high winds and fresh snow equals snowdrifts.
I would have to deal with that later. I just had a look, a four-foot drift was forming at the top of the driveway.
I came to check the fire. I noticed a piece of chimney pipe had rotted out. A 3-inch by 1-inch piece was gone. I couldn’t lift the chimney to put in the new piece. It was too windy to go out on the roof and lift the chimney. I had stove cement in stock, so I got creative.
It just had to last a week or so till it got warmer again. A cold front was dropping down from the Arctic and would be here for a few days.
After I was finished smearing the stuff around I did a stupid thing. I read the instructions.
It said air dry for three hours, then start the fire. I couldn’t do that. I already loaded the fire before I noticed the hole.
I couldn’t leave the goopy pipe with boy cats around, they would love to scratch that off. They were the cause of the rusted-out pipe. Constantly peeing on the chimney pipe.
The other problem was the temp. With the wind blowing and no fire, it had already dropped to ten degrees inside.
In three hours, the inside of the house would be sub-zero.
I had no choice but to leave the fire going. I would also have to stay in the cold room with the cats until it was hot enough to keep them off.
My compromise was to turn down the draft as much as I could. That would keep the stove temp down, while I hope to get it warm enough to keep cats off and give the goop a chance to set.
I noticed it was smoothing itself out. Maybe that was a good sign.
I went out to gather snow and sweep the solar panels. There were 3 inches of snow on them, so at least 6 inches of snow fell.
I gathered more used wood from around my shop and brought that into the fire room. It was going to be -30 tonight.
I would need it later. While I was in the shop I got a look at the views I had not seen for years it seemed.
As for the fire, it was what it was. It was lit again, but burning slow. Still ten in here, but I had my winteralls on. Winter coveralls.
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