Fire Place Memories
Posted on Dec 01, 2009 under Home | No CommentWhat’s your earliest memory of fire? With any luck, it’s of camp fires or logs crackling in fire places. My father happened to be a forest fighter, protecting Native American timber in the Great Northwest, and so I recall both: camping around fires in the woods of California, Oregon, and Washington, as well as building fires in a number of homes, as we moved from state to state, along with the job. Most of the fire places we had were of an older variety, hearty brick and stone affairs, with a grate and iron tools. Today, it’s been years since I’ve lived in a home with a fire place, and I’ll confess I miss them, and, in talking with friends, was surprised to find how much fire places have changed over the years.
People who want to safely have a fire in their homes have a great many choices. There’s gas fireplaces and wood-pellet stoves and (if you’re too leery to have one inside) there’s outdoor fire pits.
Of late, folks have been concerned about how the fuel costs have been rising and this is bringing back the wood-pellet stove and wood-burning inserts. When the price of fuel drops, then people seem to want gas logs and inserts, too.
Gas logs and inserts are popular in part because there’s no worry about ash or the smell that might be part and parcel of a wood-burning fire place; however, the ash and smell for me were a welcome part of the bargain in a wood burning fire place. There’s nothing like watching the orange and yellow flames rising up out of the logs as they burn away into white ash.
Cleaning the fireplace, sweeping it up, seems like a part of the deal, but apparently, some people prefer the ease of a remote control for the flame and one for the blower.
The brick and stone look is gone for some, too – with many fire places offered in marble or granite. Still, I like a plain brick wood burning fire place, like the ones my parents had.
Related posts: