Could explain this behaviour, which now has the lid down as a habit. ( this was when we still had Dez).
Water is on and running today Christmas was good to us. I'm going to have a long hot bath this afternoon.
Congrats Melody! What an ordeal & a long haul, literally. I hope the situation is fixed & the pipes safe from the critters?
Well Melody we have joined you with no power for 3 days . Power Finally on.. over 150,000 with no power…what a pain it is like camping out and cooking on the wood burning stove … I had to climb up on the roof would you all believe a mouse house was in the smoke stack . Before burning wood I opened the flue and all kinds of stuff fell out. So using a bamboo pole pushed the nest down . This time I didn’t drop the bamboo pole inside anything. Whoo hoo…I still have a bamboo pole stuck in the roof down spout.. I swear it’s always something… Weather forecast was for a Atmospheric River..causing mud slides flooding. 15 people killed by downed trees on roads.. 12 trees fell on homes.. and mudslides and trees closed roads. And the whole western section of the state was closed down. The roads were blocked here couldn’t get down the mountain.. Now this is where the real horse power comes in if any emergencies. But didn’t need to saddle up.. It was errily strange out and soo quiet you could hear a pin drop outside once the storm was over. But oh Boy what a huge mess I have to clean up branches and trees everywhere roof, pastures, patios… just when ya think your all caught up….. Murphy’s first law…Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's Second Law: Nothing is as easy as it looks. Murphy's Third Law: Everything takes longer ... …..1…..Murphy’s law questions.… At what point is rain no longer good for the Garden ? Leaving the rest up to you all and your iminagation…ANYONE TO join in? Add to more Murphy’s law garden ‘weather related…
Well I'm sure sorry to hear this Pac. No power is no fun. I had to laugh at your vision of a mouse nest in the chimney. Lot's of smoke I assume. Sheesh. I'm happy to also hear you were safe on the roof. Also no fun. You know....once we came home from camping and heard a noise in the wood stove. I opened it up to two beady eyes and quickly slammed it shut. I thought a bat. Hubby came and looked - also slammed shut. It was a WOODPECKER!! We hung a blanket to block off the house, opened the mud room door and out this tarnished, sooty bedraggled fellow flew. He didn't leave though. He stayed on the clothes line. We thought drama was over, but a couple minutes later we heard a lot of noise coming down the chimney. Then nothing. Sure enough - it's mate was there too. Not quite as weathered looking. I think it must have fallen down on top of its mate. The same procedure was enlisted, it flew out the door, greeted it's mate and they flew off. I told the story to a student the next day, and she said that her Grandpa opened the woodstove the week before and a duck flew out. But it was unexpected and it flew around the house for a while. Then I told my hairdresser, and she said the same thing. A duck found her chimney and ended up coming out of the woodstove, flew around her basement quacking the whole time, ended up in her son's room where she could open a window. Thankfully no fires were needed in all instances. We have a cap now, and some folks have a screen. The screen wouldn't work for us with the amount of use we have. I hope those stories gave you a chuckle. I'm glad that you got the nest out safely, and that you had an adventure cooking on the woodstove. I hope your genie kept the fridges and freezers okay. What an ordeal you've had. I think you've had your three, and only good luck will follow now Pac. Happy power back on day!!
Melody your stories were definitely a lot of chuckles this poor single pic wood stoe is always a home for critters …even with a cap. The fire place has two chimney’s one side is in the livrm side and the chimney had bats ..the other side is the fmrm had birds-swifts in the chimney. During the day walking past the fmrm side the baby birds would cheep…cheep forever , carry on.. at night the livrm side walked by the fireplace and beeping from the bats.. Both flue’s were closed. Thank goodness. It turned out the chimney sweeper knocked off the screen over the opening allowing the critters inside both chimney’s. Long story short I realigned a new screen and cemented it on the top. Not a big job but it hasn’t happened since. If ya want something done right ya gotta do it yourself.. Murphy’s law… Next there were the honey bees in the wall….it’s always something..
Ugh - honey bees in the wall. Sometimes when I bring wood in during the winter a big ole black hornet or yellow jacket will start flying around. Not as bad as an elementary teacher asking parents to not let their students bring nests to the classroom during the winter or spring ( Sorry Ms.Elmon......I was a young mum and didn't know at the time.). We get a few bats every year that need to be netted - still don't now how they find their way in but it's an old house with lots of additions. Could be anywhere really. Baby bird.....oh my. What do you do but wait.hahahaha. At least bats eat mosquitos, and Momma birds catch bugs for babies. Great job fixing the screen. It's good that you found that and could repair it. I had my first tutorial in chimney sweeps day before yesterday. We use a telescopic brush and go from inside. What a mess - literally. But it is done now. It took a few hours but we started talking again.
O yes real fireplaces are a mess. We don’t use the fireplaces any more. The wood burning stove can heat ya out of the house if your not controlling the burn…yikes a huge disaster .. now you know why chimney sweeps have smoke and ash smeared faces.
