A little more than knitting

When we moved into our new home this past summer, little thought was given to the fireplace. From the inspection, we knew that gas was run to it and that the previous owners had burned real wood in it. Nice wood logs were stacked on the metal grate. As it would be, I found time to actually clean the fireplace out and discovered long cracks in the refractory brick panels. Not to worry, we hunted around for replacements and were told about a product that would seal the cracks up to be good as new.

Fast forward to last weekend:

We have been getting a little cool weather and the draw of an open flame has captured my desire to install some gas logs. I performed a pre-hunt for just the right ones then Hubs went with me to buy them. It took another trip to the hardware store to buy a pipe wrench.

Sidebar: the difference between a pipe wrench and a monkey wrench is that the pipe wrench has teeth on the part which grips whatever you are wrenching (probably not a word, but you glimpse at how my mind works).

Pipe wrench and Hubs were able to remove the old piece of gas thing-a-ma-jig that was there and we surveyed the existing refractory brick that was to have it's crack(s) sealed.

We glimpsed at each other and I began prying out the old brick panels - trust me, we were thinking the same thought. We would never feel comfortable doing this half-butt and just knew that we would have to go purchase replacement panels.

It was Sunday and there were two options for parts. One was closed for inventory and the other had an employee who took the information and promised to "call us Monday after 11A with an estimate". We are still waiting for that call. In the interim, the place who has spotless inventory records, gave a price and is ordering the parts today.

This is a prime example of the typical do-it-yourself project at our home. I am convinced that God is still trying to teach me patience and wonder why he couldn't give me a tad to sample and practice growing.

Will we have a nice flame for Christmas? Probably not and I will learn to deal with it. Hopefully, we will get to use it before the weather gets hot again. I am convinced that the parts will come in fairly quickly, but wonder about what the next hurdle will look like.

Oh, why can't everything in life be plug-and-play?