Once in awhile it gets cold in L.A. This is how I handled it this year.
The temperature has been dropping into the 50's at night and this house seems to get even colder than it is outside at times. Well I figured it was just about time to do one of my husbandly duties. Something Wifeypoo will forever leave for me to do in spite of the Romantic Implications the Disney cartoon gives to the job.Clean out the fireplace.
Now I know that this is something I should have done at the beginning of spring after the last time it was used and I would have done it too except the timing just didn't seem right to me somehow. Besides I wasn't sure, at the time, WHEN would be the VERY last time it would be used.
Plus I have the enviable ability to put things off and since I like people to envy me I figured this was just one more way to accomplish just that.
So! Now the timing was right.
Break out the SHOP-VAC!
Drag it into the house. (Sure glad it has wheels! It must weigh 8 pounds!) Junk drawer for extension cord. Move the screen aside, tilt the grate up and back, plug in the SHOP-VAC.
Contact!
Switch on!
(Whirring sound starts here!)
Suck up the ashes!
Wonder if Tim Allen could soup this baby up? - Whoa! - Don't think he'd need to. Look at this machine just suck the bricks clean!
Sure am glad that that last year I didn't use any wood with nails in it. When I cleaned it out last fall I had to deal with nails clogging the hose. This is great. Cinderella should have one of these pig machines. Then she wouldn't have to complain about working so hard and maybe even her evil and wicked step-sisters would be envious enough to do it for her. This is almost like fun. The corners need a bit more work than the middle. I should have done this last spring but then people would have said I don't have the enviable ability to put things off. I am raising a bit of ashes though. Not enough to worry about. 99.99% is going down the tube. But it is getting hard to breath with my head stuck in the fireplace. Maybe I should take a bit of a break.
OH NO!!!
What the???
I forgot to put the filter in the stupid shop-vac the last time I cleaned it!
Scheesh! What-a-mess!!!
Wow!
Good thing Wifeypoo and I have a deal.
I clean out the fireplace and she cleans the rest of the house...
Most of this story is true. I did stray a bit from reality while my head was stuck in the fireplace and I imagined the filter being off the shop-vac. At this point I looked behind me, was relieved to see all was OK and carried on with the work. The last sentence was what I imagined I would say to Wifeypoo.
We all know how that would have gone over.
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Update - I should have and forgot to mention that this posting is a result of my visit to a special blogsite and a posting that got me going to tell this story - Thanks to Chris at - Book Hunter's Holiday -
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