I hear Michael in the next room, loading wood into the bin. Our house has that toasty feel of a wood fire merrily dancing in its designated space.

For insurance reasons (and lack of skill, knowledge, and equipment) we hired Chris to put in the pad and chimney for our wood stove’s new home.

To prepare, we cleared out the room we had been using as a dining area and moved the furniture against the wall. The hole in the ceiling is where we had installed a chimney for the wood stove when the roof went on. Because we hadn’t yet put walls in, it turned out to be in the wrong place. We had also installed it in a manner that would have burnt our house down. Hence, the wisdom of hiring out certain jobs!

Before Chris started, Michael sistered joists onto the floor trusses to take out the bounciness from the floor. We had ordered reinforced trusses for under a wood stove, but put them in a different area. We had to install the trusses before we had walls and windows. Our floor plans keep changing as we go along.

We chose a stone type tile rather than ceramics. We figured it would look great with wood flooring. I also have this thing for agates.

Michael devised a brilliant way of getting that very heavy stove from its former home to its new location. That gray square you see on the floor is one of the heat shields we used to protect the old walls. He used one of the wall shields and would walk the stove off of the floor shield onto the next shield because it would slide on the slick metal surface. We propped up the temporary step platform we have between rooms to make a ramp. Between the two of us we moved that stove next to the new pad. It took three big guys to move it onto the pad.

Chris and his crew set the chimney and we were ready to have a fire!

And ready to host Thanksgiving! Chris patched the hole in the roof before it began snowing. I patched the hole in the ceiling before we started a fire. I still have to tape and mud that area, but it is air tight enough for the moment.

I also finally installed the trap door I made for the attic access. Our roof is a lot happier with fewer places for warm air to leak up and melt snow.

After all that construction, I had time to babysit Felix when he was down with what turned out to be Influenza A. I know this because I was just diagnosed with this bug. I also have a great case of bronchitis. Ah. The joys of daycare and viral infections. Michael is hacking and coughing too, and might have an ear infection (which is what Felix had). I’m on drugs. Michael is not. He is tougher than I am!