Oh you made me gasp in horror, laugh at the irony and chaos, the sigh with the apt metaphor of an avalanche and release and cry when I saw the tattoo. This was a powerful evocation of grief and recovery.
WHAT a chain of events! I started laughing is disbelief at the water shooting out of the light fixture. Holy shit! No doubt in my mind this was all Snoots doing.
I’m moving through a different kind of grief, but your mention of trauma points, of items and spaces being actors, really reframed some things. Gonna do some deep cleaning today.
I hope the result is cathartic! The actual cleaning had me privately weeping and holding pieces of trash like they my actual cat. But after the cleaning was over, I saw my home with new joy.
I’m glad you are all ok and that your house is standing. Chimney fires are violent and scary and in 45 years of heating with wood, I’ve had just one and I NEVER want another.
I had stupidly jammed in a bunch of cardboard on top of the fire and that set it off. It sounded like a freight train was plowing through my house and the black stove-pipe glowed red with the heat. I closed the flu and damped the stove down immediately, ran outside to see sparks coming out the stove pipe top, came back inside and went up to the attic to check if all was ok up there. It was and, with no air getting to the wood box, the fire inside was extinguished. I called my sweep at 11pm and he came over the next morning. After his inspection, he told me I had done everything right and my metal chimney pipe and roof looked ok. I had been able to put it the out fairly quickly and save my house but not all are so lucky.
Have you considered installing a woodstove? A fireplace and baseboards aren’t very efficient sources of heat, which I’m sure by now you have figured out. For 40 years I burned in Vermont Castings wood stoves, the last one has moved to the wood-burning sauna. Several years back I switched to an all metal Blaze King and love it.
We're so torn about the woodstove because the fireplace is *so beautiful* and is the centerpiece of our house, plus we love to cook over an open flame in it. It seems we have an unspoken agreement to spend 2-3 more years trying to insulate the house better before giving up and going the stove route. But a stove in a sauna.. now there's a distracting project we'd love. <3
When I was teaching a Pie Camp in France, my host had just made the decision to add a woodstove to her 300 year-old fireplace. As much as we loved gathering around it and cooking over its flame, she opted for the stove and is glad she has this "new" heat in her un-insulated stone house. You can see a photo of what she did here.
I also gasped out loud when you got to the water-drenching-you part -- like, if some put this in a television script, the producers would go "Guys, that's a _little_ heavy-handed there..." The tattoo is such a perfect remembrance
I just had to enlist a friend who drives to help me take my cat to the emergency vet this morning, for what is looking like $6000+ attempt to find out what abruptly caused his hind legs to stop working (painfully, judging by his screaming) this morning. (Spinal stroke, possibly -- I probably need to take him to the place with a neurology set-up), so...feeling all of this a lot.
Oh god I am so sorry to hear about your cat. Seeing them in agony is utterly destroying. I hope you found solutions, and if you have a GoFundMe, please share it. I'm thinking of you.
He spent the night at the clinic that has a neuro vet and she is going to do an MRI and things later today. But I have a sinking feeling I am just going to have a wildly expensive few days to learn that I need to have my cat euthanized. *sigh*
Rest in mayhem, Snoots. ❤️ It's not hard to make me fall in love with a cat, even one I've never met before, but you did it so beautifully. Absolutely love the tattoo!
Damn woman, Snoots wanted to shake things up. And hot tip (pun intended), nothing puts a chimney fire out faster than a box of baking soda. We've had it for every wood fired house we've lived in and I've used it to put out grill fires and oven fires too. Buy the extra large box. ;)
I love your metaphor for grief — If grief is a haunted house, you need to deal with the actors first. Dealing with a big loss over the past year, I've read (too) many books on grief and your shared understanding is one of my favorites! I'm glad Snoots got his message across and hope the inevitable future mayhem he brings from the other side is a little less intense. :) Also, love the tattoo!
Lewann I wanted to tell you how moved I was by your piece in Outside this month. I read it last week and just wanted to smother you with love. I tried to find it online — do you know if it's available digitally?
Hi!! Oh, that's so cool that you recognized that I wrote it! 🥰 Thank you. It's not out digitally yet, but should be in the next week or two. They tend to space out their long reads a bit. Which I'm honestly really grateful for, so folks could have that fun experience of opening the print version to see the amazing artwork of Leo. 🥹🥹🥹😭😭😭 Print is just so special these days. Thanks for the love! Leo is a total cat person, (he loved our calico kitty, Dotti, before she died from an undiagnosed brain tumor in early 2020), and I can see him getting into mischief with your Snoots. 🐈⬛👼
Jesus Christ!!! when it rains it pours ... ash and fire and snow and leaks and avalanches (oh my). The fact that you found levity in all this is fucking courageous, but I guess it’s a testament to what an ace mischief-maker Snoots continues to be 🖤🤍🫶 sending warm-ass thoughts and vibes.
So sorry to hear about Snoots, but he was definitely involved in the chimney drama, albeit from afar!
Hoping you are now water tight and warm and dry. You have a great support there with your neighbours, so important whether you are rural or urban. Love reading your newsletter, from the chilly North of England xx
Oh my gosh- reading this I was so afraid for your home- especially during such a tender time of your life. Glad it all ended ok and with that awesome community you’ve made. I remember not so long ago you looking for friends and Bam! You’ve done it! I lost my pug just over 4 years ago and even now thinking of my Wheezy brings tears to my eyes. I love her so much. Hugs
You went through so much trauma of the most personal kind and I am so very sorry. Glad that you have good friends and neighbors who could help you with the chimney fire (that damned creosote…that happened to us in our wood stove/metal chimney and SO GLAD it was put out before the roof was damaged). So many hugs to you thinking about dear Snoots and love the memorial.
OMGGGG what a cascade of ... events. Snoots was sure shaking things up. Hope the pipe-fixing and chimney repair go well. Grateful you are OK and the house is still standing!
Oh you made me gasp in horror, laugh at the irony and chaos, the sigh with the apt metaphor of an avalanche and release and cry when I saw the tattoo. This was a powerful evocation of grief and recovery.
Thanks Peggy 💛
WHAT a chain of events! I started laughing is disbelief at the water shooting out of the light fixture. Holy shit! No doubt in my mind this was all Snoots doing.
I’m moving through a different kind of grief, but your mention of trauma points, of items and spaces being actors, really reframed some things. Gonna do some deep cleaning today.
I hope the result is cathartic! The actual cleaning had me privately weeping and holding pieces of trash like they my actual cat. But after the cleaning was over, I saw my home with new joy.
I’m glad you are all ok and that your house is standing. Chimney fires are violent and scary and in 45 years of heating with wood, I’ve had just one and I NEVER want another.
I had stupidly jammed in a bunch of cardboard on top of the fire and that set it off. It sounded like a freight train was plowing through my house and the black stove-pipe glowed red with the heat. I closed the flu and damped the stove down immediately, ran outside to see sparks coming out the stove pipe top, came back inside and went up to the attic to check if all was ok up there. It was and, with no air getting to the wood box, the fire inside was extinguished. I called my sweep at 11pm and he came over the next morning. After his inspection, he told me I had done everything right and my metal chimney pipe and roof looked ok. I had been able to put it the out fairly quickly and save my house but not all are so lucky.
Have you considered installing a woodstove? A fireplace and baseboards aren’t very efficient sources of heat, which I’m sure by now you have figured out. For 40 years I burned in Vermont Castings wood stoves, the last one has moved to the wood-burning sauna. Several years back I switched to an all metal Blaze King and love it.
We're so torn about the woodstove because the fireplace is *so beautiful* and is the centerpiece of our house, plus we love to cook over an open flame in it. It seems we have an unspoken agreement to spend 2-3 more years trying to insulate the house better before giving up and going the stove route. But a stove in a sauna.. now there's a distracting project we'd love. <3
When I was teaching a Pie Camp in France, my host had just made the decision to add a woodstove to her 300 year-old fireplace. As much as we loved gathering around it and cooking over its flame, she opted for the stove and is glad she has this "new" heat in her un-insulated stone house. You can see a photo of what she did here.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CnY-rOQotWJ/
and
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm3ak05oeRa/
My son built the sauna completely from recycled materials. He's clever like that.
I also gasped out loud when you got to the water-drenching-you part -- like, if some put this in a television script, the producers would go "Guys, that's a _little_ heavy-handed there..." The tattoo is such a perfect remembrance
I just had to enlist a friend who drives to help me take my cat to the emergency vet this morning, for what is looking like $6000+ attempt to find out what abruptly caused his hind legs to stop working (painfully, judging by his screaming) this morning. (Spinal stroke, possibly -- I probably need to take him to the place with a neurology set-up), so...feeling all of this a lot.
Oh god I am so sorry to hear about your cat. Seeing them in agony is utterly destroying. I hope you found solutions, and if you have a GoFundMe, please share it. I'm thinking of you.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/pay-gunthers-emergency-vet-bills-and-euthanasia?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
Spoiler: it did not go well
I have exactly no social media at all, and never have, but if you want to share this anywhere, I would super appreciate it. Thank you!
He spent the night at the clinic that has a neuro vet and she is going to do an MRI and things later today. But I have a sinking feeling I am just going to have a wildly expensive few days to learn that I need to have my cat euthanized. *sigh*
Rest in mayhem, Snoots. ❤️ It's not hard to make me fall in love with a cat, even one I've never met before, but you did it so beautifully. Absolutely love the tattoo!
Thank you so much for saying that (about the cat, but also about the tattoo)
Damn woman, Snoots wanted to shake things up. And hot tip (pun intended), nothing puts a chimney fire out faster than a box of baking soda. We've had it for every wood fired house we've lived in and I've used it to put out grill fires and oven fires too. Buy the extra large box. ;)
OK that is GREAT to know. Adding that to the shopping list.
I love your metaphor for grief — If grief is a haunted house, you need to deal with the actors first. Dealing with a big loss over the past year, I've read (too) many books on grief and your shared understanding is one of my favorites! I'm glad Snoots got his message across and hope the inevitable future mayhem he brings from the other side is a little less intense. :) Also, love the tattoo!
Lewann I wanted to tell you how moved I was by your piece in Outside this month. I read it last week and just wanted to smother you with love. I tried to find it online — do you know if it's available digitally?
Hi!! Oh, that's so cool that you recognized that I wrote it! 🥰 Thank you. It's not out digitally yet, but should be in the next week or two. They tend to space out their long reads a bit. Which I'm honestly really grateful for, so folks could have that fun experience of opening the print version to see the amazing artwork of Leo. 🥹🥹🥹😭😭😭 Print is just so special these days. Thanks for the love! Leo is a total cat person, (he loved our calico kitty, Dotti, before she died from an undiagnosed brain tumor in early 2020), and I can see him getting into mischief with your Snoots. 🐈⬛👼
Well said! And the tattoo is an extraordinarily accurate depiction of Snoots.
Thanks Dad :)
Oh sister. Sending love and light (the not flammable kind). Our house burned down in 2012. I feel you.
Oof, what a horrible loss. Appreciate you 💛
Jesus Christ!!! when it rains it pours ... ash and fire and snow and leaks and avalanches (oh my). The fact that you found levity in all this is fucking courageous, but I guess it’s a testament to what an ace mischief-maker Snoots continues to be 🖤🤍🫶 sending warm-ass thoughts and vibes.
So sorry to hear about Snoots, but he was definitely involved in the chimney drama, albeit from afar!
Hoping you are now water tight and warm and dry. You have a great support there with your neighbours, so important whether you are rural or urban. Love reading your newsletter, from the chilly North of England xx
We couldn't get through it without community support. I wish more people had that.
Oh my gosh- reading this I was so afraid for your home- especially during such a tender time of your life. Glad it all ended ok and with that awesome community you’ve made. I remember not so long ago you looking for friends and Bam! You’ve done it! I lost my pug just over 4 years ago and even now thinking of my Wheezy brings tears to my eyes. I love her so much. Hugs
WHEEZY, I love her with you already. It's such a special pain.
You went through so much trauma of the most personal kind and I am so very sorry. Glad that you have good friends and neighbors who could help you with the chimney fire (that damned creosote…that happened to us in our wood stove/metal chimney and SO GLAD it was put out before the roof was damaged). So many hugs to you thinking about dear Snoots and love the memorial.
Such a pretty word for such a big problem. 😂
It's honestly a reminder that we need to look at our chimney again!
absolutely gorgeous writing about such an unimaginable thing. you’re amazing ♥️
thank you for this 💛💛💛
no freakin way. I just kept reading and thinking no freaking way!!! woa lady. sending you all heaps and heaps of love and warm thoughts.
This is also what I was thinking lol
OMGGGG what a cascade of ... events. Snoots was sure shaking things up. Hope the pipe-fixing and chimney repair go well. Grateful you are OK and the house is still standing!
Me too. Our little mischief maker really keeping us on our toes.