Day: January 22, 2022

Smoke

Slowly

Fills the room,

Then the house.

The fire is not

Extraordinarily high,

And the chimney flue

Is open.

So, why, the smoke?

After a few hours,

The smoke alarm

In the hallway

Comes on.

I turn on the exhaust fan,

Above the stove.

I open the front door,

With the window up

On the screen door.

I open the door to the garage.

I turn on the ceiling fan,

Sucking air up.

Finally,

The blasted smoke alarm

Turns off.

Now,

We’re not toasty

Anymore.

Time to put more wood

On the fire.

A fire burns

In the fireplace.

It is hot.

It does not burn

My dog,

Who lays near it.

It does not catch my house

On fire, no, it is safe.

However,

On second thought,

We haven’t had the chimney

Inspected in several years.

Maybe,

It’s time,

Perhaps,

Past time!

The fire warms the room,

Indeed,

It even warms the house,

Takes the chill

Out of the air,

As my wife says.

The fire was easy enough

To get started,

With those chemically-treated

Fire logs to get it going.

Just light the corners

Of the paper package,

And it blazes away.

Simple enough.

Not sure if those are bad

For chimneys or not.

We get firewood

Delivered

To our house.

They back their truck in,

And carry the wood

Into the back yard,

And stack it up

Next to the fence.

Makes it nice

When you need some wood.