What Are You Doing For Excitement Today?

[W. Gray]

In the early 80s one could not easily sell a home in the Denver area that did not have a wood burning fireplace. Everyone wanted one to help save on rising fuel costs. They were a big selling point.

Then came pollution restrictions in the 90s. Wood burning fireplaces could only be burned on days when the pollution count (smog level) was below a certain level and those days were few and far between. the pollution count was a major factor of the nightly weather report. It then became more difficult to sell those homes that had a wood burner. A complete switch.

We converted to a wood burning insert that burned cleaner, hotter, and more efficiently but it was still messy bringing the logs from outside inside, particularly on a wet or snowy day. But we still had to abide by the pollution warnings since the insert was not a high efficiency, low pollution type. We finally gave up on burning wood altogether. The high efficiency inserts are really expensive and many burn pellets rather than wood.

Nowadays, most new homes in the Denver area coming with a fire place have the gas insert and there is no chimney because they vent directly through the outside wall. They are for romanticism only as they usually do not put out much heat, even with a blower.

[larryJ]

A high percentage of homes in SoCal have fireplaces.  All of them in my neighborhood tract (134) have them.  I am aware that many of them are hardly used.  In the wintertime, of course, more are used.  This, in the smog capital of the country.  When I went on oxygen therapy, we quit our random use of the fireplace.  We used to buy a half-cord every year and almost always shared with a neighbor.  Now, there is a gas log in the fireplace which is smokeless and gives off a lot of heat and would probably even give off more if we were to invest in a heat shield.  But, we don't use it that much so I don't really want to get a heat shield.  However, having bought a big screen for that room to be mounted above the fireplace, it might see more use. 

I can remember back in the early sixties when driving from Greeley (college) south through Denver in the twilight, the pall of smog in the early evening lights.  That was well before I moved to California and met the real stuff.

Larryj

[Ms Bear]

I remember L A smog, flying in to the Corona area from Arizona was a rude awakening to how bad it really was.  And that was in the 70's.  Remember the smog alerts when we lived in Norwalk, some days we could barely see the houses across the street.

When we were heating just with the fireplace here we usually burned at least three cord a winter and we don't have much winter, can't imagine how much it would take in Howard.

[larryJ]

Legislation and better practices have reduced the smog from what it was in the '70's.  When we moved into our house in 1975, we had a rare glimpse of the mountains ten miles to the north of us.  I remember how beautiful it was when we had a rainstorm and that cleared the air and we could see the moutains.  Today, the mountains are visible and clear almost every day.  On days like today when the temp gets up there, it looks a little yucky, but it is far better than it was then.

Larryj

[Ms Bear]

I haven't been back since the late 70's but glad to hear they have cleaned it up.  Houston was a little slow to start thinking about air polution but it is better than it was when I moved here in the 80's.

[Diane Amberg]

The insert we are getting does vent up the one story chimney because it's there, (it could go out the back too) and draws it's air from the outside, not from the house. It's 38,000 BTU I think, so it is a heater as well as nice to look at, and also has the blowers. It has a red brick- looking liner that matches the fireplace front.  Many years ago Al made a nice simple mahogany mantle so we'll keep that.
  Our family room is right on the north side, so now when we are in there we can drop the rest of the house down and still be comfortable. Our boat neighbor has a row of full grown Blue Spruce right there that breaks the wind, which helps a lot. It's a big investment ,but since it's supposed to be very efficient, it won't hurt our heating bill too much.

[patyrn]

Oklahoma City has another wildlife burning with extremely dry conditions and high wind levels today!  It's in a woodsy area in northeast OKC and east of Edmond, but there has been much residential building on huge lots in the area in the past decade.  So far no injuries,  but lots of vegetative loss and structure loss.  Prayers for those families and all the firefighters/emergency workers who are trying to get control of the situation. 

[Diane Amberg]

Ohmy, again? That's a shame. Here we are with still more water than anybody needs and you all are suffering so.  Prayers for all for sure. Stay safe!

[patyrn]

We're in no danger - we live probably 15 miles west  of the site and winds are blowing the fire from south to north.  It's certainly been a long day for all those involved!

[Wilma]

Such excitement here.  I watched a turtle circling my yard.  I first saw him entering a flower bed on the north side of the house.  Minutes later he was on the east side of the yard headed for the peony patch.  I watched until he disappeared into the peonies.  A few minutes later I spotted him south of the peonies and headed for the honeysuckle bush.  I watched until he disappeared again.  Since there are no windows on the south side of the house that I can see out easily, I will just have to presume that he reached his destination, wherever that may have been.