10.02.10

Today's heart has been sponsored by..........

...the weather.....

Oh - yes, in case you were not aware, it's been snowing again.

And on a cold day like to day,

while flakes of snow whirl and flurry around,  

I like to have all the doors and windows open and the woodburning stove empty.....

(can you hear a note of sarcasm in that last statement?)

A few nights ago, the woodburning stove belched a tar-laden acrid-tasting thick cloud. It coated everything with a thin layer of grey greasy soot. We let the fire burn down and then go out, so we could give it a good clean the next day. 

In the morning, when we came down, that same sour stink was lingering heavily in the air. Himself tackled the immediate problem of the stove, clearing out ash and soot and removing the soot plate in the chimney to see why the flue seemed to be choking.  He rodded the pipe to loosen anything, but as far as he could reach it seemed just to be a light coating of soot - nothing to cause the pungent back draft we had had the night before.

So, he set the fire up again, lit it and although it sulked and didn't seem to be drawing properly, the smell was gone and the foul bad tempered burping seemed to have stopped.

Then.......last night at 3.30am, I was aware that Himself had leapt out of bed and thudded downstairs. I followed him to find him lurking at the back door with a handful of pitch-like tarry-gloop soaked kitchen towel. He'd been woken by the bitter stench of the sulking woodburner and had found copious amounts of this black treacle-thick tar coating the back of the woodburner, the hearth and all the heating pipes.  He had opened the stove door to see how down the fire was and had been completely engulfed in a large oily puff of smoke. 

We went back to bed - and despite my cold, I could smell him - and it wasn't nice...........

So, I have spent most of this morning cleaning out the foul-smelling mess in our lounge - hence the statement...

I like to have all the doors and windows open and the woodburning stove empty.....

The chimney has a date with some rods and a brush this evening. 

And I need a bath before I go to work - I stink!