Fire continued

1/17/08 Thursday
It’s daylight now so I will be able to go out and see the damage. Then I will go buy what we need to fix it. Whether we do just a patch up job or what depends on how much it costs. Regardless I want to get the wood stove back to operating safely as it is our source of heat. I think those pass through things that insulate the stove pipe from the wall cost about seventy bucks but I can’t rely on memory so who knows. Then there is the challenge of knowing the right way to repair this as I don’t have much experience with construction or don’t remember it if I do. As with everything I’ll do the best I can with what I have. Damn sure don’t want this happening again. I am impressed by Cherie’s strength in all of this. There was a time I think she would have fallen apart but now she can even make little jokes to lighten up things.









So I have a busy day ahead and it’s cold even for my northern self and going to get colder. I’ll have Cherie check our bank accounts but there is a hundred dollars in our savings account so I think it will be alright. Besides she gets her last check from the cotton survey job tomorrow so we’re covered. Time to dress warm and get out. Dressing warm is now required inside the house. The warmest room is the bedroom where we have the space heater but walk past the blanket hanging over the doorway and the temperatures drop drastically. I’ll take some pictures of the burn damage in the daylight as they will show you a better view of the damage than the ones I took last night.









Wow, I have to wonder how long it was burning considering how much wood is absolutely gone. But this siding is old old so pretty dry. Will have to see how bad the two by fours are burned cause they are structural or something like that. I will call Jay to see if he had Bob Trimble’s number at Christmas in April. Perhaps he will sell me building materials cheap.
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10:45 - I just came in to warm up. Despite wearing two pairs of socks my toes are frozen. The nice thing about being partly paralyzed on the right side is I can barely feel it but I have to be real careful on a ladder, make sure my foot is where I want it to be. I’m going slow, one step at a time, to be safe. It looks like I’ll have to take the whole chimney down. Is that what you call this? A chimney? Not sure but it’s not relevant because you know what I’m talking about. It’s hard to believe I put the whole thing up by myself. But looking it doesn’t seem like too good of a job. Oh well, I’m sure I was proud of it at the time.

I called Jay. He was in the hospital with his son, who was getting a colonoscopy. I’m sure they are glad I mentioned that. Hope it was a routine inspection like we all should have at this age and not something more serious. Jay gave me Bob’s number and let me know he is not allowed to sell material but would probably be glad to give us some.

Got a hold of Bob. He has some cement type of siding I can have but it’s twenty degrees and he wasn’t keen on going out to the metal shed and get it. Besides he has to leave soon so suggested I just put something up to cover the whole and get with him Monday when it warms up. I’ll probably do that but will still work on it as much as I can. Jay said he would call when they are done at the hospital and offered to come out and help. That’s appreciated but it’s freezing and he’s pretty old so I’m not too keen about putting him through that. It is a mark of his character that he is willing to do this in this weather. A good man for sure. We’ll be ok, just batten down the hatches like we did the first winter here with no heat till Amy got us the wood stove. I’ll work on getting the stove pipe removed and cut away the bad wood. Will leave the drywall in place to at least keep the wind from coming in too bad.

The toes are warming and I’ve consumed the cup of strong coffee Cherie prepared knowing it would be appreciated, so time to go back out.