Secret Thing in the Fireplace reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine about the ashes in my fireplace. She wasn't related to me, but considered herself part of the family, so when I would be away from home, she'd inform me that she was 'coming to the cabin for the weekend.' No invite, just coming. So once here, she'd let me know that I left ashes in my fireplace, and there wasn't a nice big stack of wood handy outside the back door. I finally told her that cleaning out the fireplace all the time is not exactly high on my list of priorities, and if she wants firewood, she can go get it off the big woodpile.

It always seemed like a strange thing to have to apologize for, especially since it's my house, so I decided to do whatever I wanted about it, and she could stay home if she didn't like it.

There was another friend who also had all kinds of opinions about fireplace management, and yet another couple who stayed here let while I was gone let me know that he figured out exactly what to prop open where and how to pile the wood on the grate in order to have the perfect fire. My gosh, you'd think it was important.

When my road from the highway is snowpacked, and if I'm in the mood to deal with the fireplace, I often sprinkle the ashes on the snow to accelerate melting because it's dark and absorbs heat from the sun.

But mostly I don't use the fireplace very often.