Virginia Real : A Case of the Flue…

October 1, 2016

Chimney flue, that is. With most of the shed complete and the weather turning cooler by the day, Charming is in the process of building a new chimney on the house at the farm. This past week, he cut out a section of drywall where the stove pipe will be located. Because he will need to put a section of brick inside the wall to insulate the thimble (flue pass-through) that is required by Code, he also had to add 2”x4”s to reinforce the area that will hold the bricks. Luckily, the previous owner had left enough bricks to use for this renovation project. Charming cleaned the bricks with the garden hose and after they dried, I carried and stacked them in the work area so they’ll be close at hand when he’s ready to use them.

In addition to the inside prep work, Charming had to cut off a section of the deck in order to make room for the chimney. I had thought this would be a difficult task for him, but he breezed right through it in just half a day. He cut off the outside railing of the deck as well as three joists. Good fortune was with us as his cuts fell perfectly at a joist and the supporting post at the front of the deck. Although he did need to add a temporary support at the back of the deck, which he’ll make permanent after the chimney is completed. We were able to save the boards from the part of the deck that was removed. I helped Charming remove the nails from the boards and stacked them beside one of the sheds. I’m sure Charming will find a way to recycle these into another project later.

Last week, we purchased a new 7’ mower for the tractor. The mower that had come with the tractor was old and falling apart. We were unable to the make or model of it. Charming had posted a photograph of the mower on an on-line farm forum to see if anyone knew what type of mower it was. No luck there either. Although he had searched the internet farm supply stores as well as local and some not-so-local farm stores, he was unable to find another tire that fit the mower. After mowing the field in about half the time it took with the old mower, we both knew he’d made the right move in buying the new one. Time is precious and every minute we can save will allow us to get other things accomplished on the farm.

In between helping Charming with the mowing and chimney project, I found time to finish the sweater I had been working on for the past few weeks. All of the loose ends have been woven in and it has been washed and blocked. Since it was so easy to knit, I plan to knit at least one more in either a variegated color or solid. I can just envision myself after we move to the farm, sitting beside the warm stove on a cold and snowy winter night while knitting up one of these sweaters and…the dad-gum electricity goes out!