UM....see anything missing in this picture?

Yes! You are right...the stove pipe IS missing. We had a crazy morning.  We had a chimney fire early this morning. Thankfully, it was contained in the stovepipe and no part of the house was damaged. Jay and I had a few worried moments standing by with fire extinguishers. We discovered that one of the older pieces of stove pipe, located in our attic, had a rusted/burned hole in it. We are glad this happened when Jay and I were here. Jay tore out part of the stove pipe. And climbed up on the roof to investigate the pipe up there. 

  Those of you who have seen our house, know that the pitch of the roof is terribly steep. Jay ended up using an extension ladder and then building a 2x4 ladder that would hook over the ridge of the roof. 

                                                        

 There he is up there...

While we were dealing with the stove pipe, our guests from the cabin called us to tell us they had no water in their cabin. What?! We have been working in that cabin for weeks and have had no problems with the water!  Our guest arrived last night and had water...and woke up to no water. 

Oh, and did I mention that Jay was having an allergy/coughing attack the entire morning?! Let me just insert that in there...

So, to make a long morning short,

 The water issue was easily fixed. Troubleshooting revealed that a bit of fluff was touching a connecting hook-up wire to the pump. Removing the random fluff equals running water! 

The exterior end of the stove pipe ended up getting covered with plastic and left standing for now. Jay decided that he didn't have the proper equipment to get the job done and that needed to get help. His wife met that decision with great relief after holding the ladder for him and watching him  trying to get around up on the roof. 

I'd appreciate prayer for Jay- he went from not feeling that great, to being sick and feeling miserable. He has to get up and go to work in a few hours...it would be good if he felt better.

We've got so much to be thankful for on this crazy day...

-An intact house

-The fact that Jay was home while the craziness was happening

-That it was a good day to be working on the roof (no ice and snow!)

-That we didn't loose our source of heat in the middle of winter 

The fact that no matter what happens - God loves us and is with us

Blessings to you all-