Quest For Fire

I just realized that I'd failed to document our Friday visit by the fireplace contractors. Why did I realize it now? Because I just got off the phone with Jean, who was reporting on the visit by the city inspector. He's convinced we won't all die from CO poisoning or gas asphyxiation. We just need to get the contractors to seal one entry point with 'fire caulk' when they come to hook it up (they aren't allowed to do the final connections until the inspection has been completed).

So working backwards from the successful inspection...

Friday was a pain. I have most of this second-hand, since Jean dealt with it for most of the day. The contractors arrived around 11am and dragged Jean around the house while they examined the setup and decided how they were going to do the job. Jean tells me it took them two hours just to decide it was possible, and then they needed a decision on whether they should continue, since there were some irregularities which would complicate the job.

I got a call from the contractors' office just before I had to go into a big work meeting. I listened to all the hoo-hah, and hung up. Jean called right on their heels, and asked me to help her decide what to do. But as I had a truly important meeting, I asked Jean to decide. I'm afraid I was a bit testy (more on this later). Time passed...

When I got home that evening, it was clear that Jean had told them to go ahead, as they were working on it. All told, they were working on the insert until about 9:30 pm. I think Allen, the main contractor, wanted to complete the job in one day because he had another on Saturday. We picked up in the basement family room and went to bed.

Saturday when driving to get groceries, Jean and I had a heart to heart talk, and she let me know how much work she had to do (how much time she had to sacrifice from her studies, really) to get this insert in. I apologized for being testy at work, and thanked her for all the time sacrificed. Kelly got to see first hand that grown-up partners can have disagreements, and talk them out reasonably, as she was in the carseat behind us during this discussion.

So flashing forward to the present, we are hoping that the contractors can come by today to finish the hookup. Jean is going to call me to let me know if I have to cover for her while she gets Kelly from school this afternoon, in which case I'll race home, then back to work for a late day. Updates later.