69 PR 109 - Then There's The Fireplace Thing

The other day Amber, Beaux Bo and I drove from Burleson to Lake Merritt to meet a chimney sweep. I was all set to pay a few hundred dollars to get the old fireplace cleaned, inspected and get a cap placed on the chimney to prevent future Mud Swallow infestation. The chimney dude showed up right on time, starting the trip out on the right foot. 

The chimney dude, a very nice fellow, went right to his task, spread his drop cloth in front of the fireplace, plugged in his drop light, stooped over and peeked into the fireplace and  ten seconds into his inspection said, "Uh oh!"

I immediately reached for my drugs, then I remember I don't do drugs, so I hollered to Amber, "Bring me a beer!"

To which she said, " You don't have any beer!"

So completely sober and without any relief by drugs, I turned back to the chimney dude and said, "What the heck do you mean by uh oh?"

That's when the trip took a turn for the worse. "Well, you see these here loose bricks in the back of your firebox...." He went on and on and on about how firebox bricks were about $5 a piece and it was going to take about two hundred of them....bla, bla,bla. (He didn't actually say bla bla bla, I just stopped paying attention to his words.)

So, this little quick couple of hundred dollar job just turned into a several thousand dollar three day job. He was very polite during the whole castration process, did I mention he was a very nice fellow.

I was so upset, I hauled off two truckloads of brush. Here's what I learned from this day: 

1. I need to stop getting upset because this    hauling brush is killing me.

2. If I can't stop getting upset, I need to start on some kind of a drug régime, or...

3. Start keeping beer a little closer to the source of agitation.