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Saturday, October 29, 2005Beep Beep Beep BeepImagine this cozy scene: A chilly autumn morning. A family of six hanging out by a roaring blaze in the hearth. The aroma of freshly brewed Starbucks coffee. Then, suddenly, the intrusion of our smoke detectors, beeping in mad discord throughout the house. A look of terror on the face of my six-year-old. Jonathan, curmudgeon-in-training, stomps to the fireplace, brandishing a large stick. "It's the flue! The flue is closed. It needs to be on this side to be open." He whacks the iron handle to the right. "Who closed the flue?" Eric is looking sheepish. "Huh? How did he know which way...? Did I do that?" "I hate to say this, but please open the front door," I command the nearest child. "No!" Eric is almost shrieking. "No, it's cold! I'll lose the four degrees I just gained in here! Just keep the door closed. It'll...it'll dissipate." Grand. We sit in the smoke and listen to the smoke detectors screaming, their overtones clashing in such a way that my eyes are beginning to cross. All for the sake of four degrees. Obviously, we haven't turned our heat on yet. The reason is simple -- we can't afford to heat the house. Have you noticed the increase in natural gas prices? We have. So we're roughing it. Shutting down parts of the house. Moving my computer into the bedroom (trust me, I'm not happy about that. I need the privacy of my office.). And building a lot of fires. The beeping finally stopped. My ears are still ringing. I guess Eric didn't learn about chimney flues when he was a Boy Scout. |
About Me
I am: Mother to five stunningly individualistic children... Writer of young adult fantasy... Passionate advocate for Women At Home... Madly in love with my husband... In need of Organic Gourmet Chocolate on a regular basis. I've got a Paypal account if you'd like to contribute to the cause....
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10of my readers are feeling chatty:
Wow, I give you guys a lot of credit. I've turned our heat down to between 66 and 68 depending on who's in the house, but no heat...you guys have some serious guts.
Dear,
I did learn to rough it out with a good fire in Boy Scouts...
If the Gas company decides to return to reality and drops the 70% increase, I'll use the heat. If not, I bet you wish you were a Girl Scout in your past...
With Love,
Your husband :)
We have a huge OLD ( as in Victorian villa) house and it is darn near impossible to keep warm in the winter.
We have a waterford wood stove that works well but basically we huddle a lot LOL.
I really enjoyed that - an excellent, nicely descriptive piece of writing.
Gas prices are outrageous. I've done the flute thing a few times.... :-)
Hey, do you still have your flamethrower from getting rid of the centipedes?
hahahhah we have done that before LOL
I miss using our fire place as often as we use to. But because i was ill yesterday dave but his foot down and said NO Fire's for a long time! ( not ill because of the fire place this time it just makes it worse!)
i wish i could also marry my bestfriend...
cool piece
Too funny! I wish I had a fireplace, but I have to rely on (ultra-expensive) gas. Yuck. I've been keeping the temperature in my house at a blistering 64 degrees in order to conserve. I can't wait for winter. ;-)
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