You Get Three Guesses for Where Cherie is Going to Spend the Rest of the Winter

Something is different here…  There's something that seems warmer about our house.  What could it be?  What oh what…

Hey!  We have a functioning woodstove!

Michael's parents, Greg and Annie, were just up here for a visit and if there is one thing they love, it's trying to move our house projects along with something resembling speed.  So while Cherie was busy working (or should that be "working"?), Michael and Greg were doing this:

That right there is a completed metalbestos chimney.  No, it's not very Arts and Crafts-y, or even very pretty, but it provides a means for the smoke from a warm fire to safely exit our house.  And that's good enough.  Besides, it's on the back side of the house, so who cares?

We didn't have to cut into the roof to mount the chimney, as we thought we might have to do.  Instead, it goes neatly around the roofline.  Here's a closer look for those of you interested in that sort of thing.

Cherie is not interested in that sort of thing.  She's interested in this sort of thing:

Can you blame her?

(You'll notice that we have, for the moment, abandoned the debate concerning the granite up the back of the surround.  You know us.  Why make a decision that will require work when stalling is possible?  The cement board behind the stove is fire resistant and acceptable to our code enforcement office and that's good enough for us.)