Rear Window

The view out our back window appears often here. There are 2 bird feeders that are kept full of sunflower seeds all year round.  Many seeds fall to the ground below. In summer, a sunflower or two always manage to survive the regular mowings. There is a rosebush below where many of the birds take their seeds to work them open and eat. Also in summer, when the rosebush is in full foliage, our cat waits in ambush. She has preyed upon so many birds there. 

The music is the intro from Jesca Hoop’s song “Seed of Wonder”.

Today was somewhat productive in that I finally cleaned the chimney. This is a very important thing to do if you don’t want to have a chimney fire. We’ve heated with wood for many years, thus we’ve had our share of chimney fires. We’ve even had neighbors whose homes have burnt down because of chimney fires. The fact that this chimney had not been cleaned since we’d had it rebuilt and lined a couple years back has been on my mind for some time now. It’s the last thing that I really really needed to do before winter sets in. Well hooray today I finally did it. And what a disgusting job this is. Dick Van Dyke made it look so easy …

At least I saved some money. The brush was $16. If I’d asked someone to come and do this for me, a chimney sweep, it would have cost much more. We are very broke now, I don’t need to tell you. I need a bailout. I wish that the government would just divvy up  that $750 billion dollars and give it to us people who actually OWE the money so we could just get it paid off. Jeez, it’s not rocket science! But guess what? I hereby declare that billion is the new million. In much the same way as 50 is the new 40.

The chimney was rebuilt and lined with a stainless steel tube a couple of years ago. This is the first time it’s been cleaned since then. 3 or 4 cords of firewood, very well-seasoned and dry, were burnt in an inefficient Fisher stove and left about 7.5 gallons of creosote behind. 5 gallons just needed to be scooped out from the bottom of the chimney, while the remaining 2.5 gal. was loosened and removed with the 6-inch diameter brush that I bought this morning. Had to climb up onto the roof and lean a stepladder against the chimney, drop the rope that was tied to the brush down the liner, shove the brush into the liner, then climb down and tug it down, inch by inch, from the cleanout door, which is not easy to get to.  I pulled the brush through twice.  I’m sore now and I’ve been coughing from inhaling the dust. Yuk. Glad to have that behind me.

Once that was done, I was treated myself to a technology wonder, thanks to YOU, O wonderful INTERWEB. My BFF and I grew up together on TV of all kinds, and have been known, in the distant past, to have watched TV programs while on the phone together.  Sure, you’ve all done that too I’ll bet. So today, via internet and phone connection, we watched a wonderful YouTube video produced by an hilarious group of goofballs who call themselves VooDooWop. It was a half hour production in 3 parts that was called See That Guy. I so recommend this video! I know, it’s a half hour of your time. And there’s a good chance that you might find it disturbing. So. Enjoy!

This is part 1 of 3. Sorry if you don’t care for it. Apologies to the bandwidth deprived.