Slight Detour: Barbecued Bats, Wetness, Et. Al.

Back when during the heavy rains this past summer, we started hearing a steady "splat, splat, splat" in an area above the living room ceiling and near the stove.

The area was inaccessible, unless we wanted to saw out part of the ceiling.

Eventually, we concluded that the water must be coming from our chimney.

And, sure enough a few days later when Kalen and his partner from All About Chimneys came by and scaled their ladders to the chimney, Kalen found the problem.

The shield around the chimney top had rusted out. So, he measured and promised a new shield along with a chimney cleaning.

Well, it turns out the day someone was supposed to come to replace the shield several weeks ago, an illness on staff forced them to reschedule.

All About Chimney's is a busy enterprise because they're known for doing excellent work.

At the time of the postponement and rescheduling clear into October, we weren't too concerned because a long stretch of dry summer weather was upon us.

Our moods changed over the past couple of days with dryness replaced by abundant wetness.

They aren't coming any too soon, I said to Bill when the ominous and continued splat sound above the ceiling returned as hours of pitter patter from a multitude of serious raindrops could be heard on our roof top.

With each splat, I felt the urge to cringe, wondering what that moisture was doing to the inaccessible area above our heads.

Cringing transitioned to all-out concern yesterday morning about half an hour before the crew was scheduled to arrive.

Splat! Splat! Suddenly a definite accompaniment added to the rainy chorus.

Hearing "drip . . .drip . . .drip somewhere INSIDE the living room, I searched for a minute or two and finally found a shoe next to the stove with a soaking wet inner sole.

Seems the splat splat had formed a lake and then a tiny stream that needed some place to go. My shoe served as the repository.

Hope they come really soon, I thought.

Well, they were a little late but the sound of that truck coming into the driveway was music to our ears, even with the splat, splat, drip, drip.

Soon, the rainy rhythm section emanating from our chimney would be retired.

We had met Kalen before, but not Ryan.

A few questions later, I learned that Ryan had worked as a professional competitive snowboarder, traveling all over the world, after graduating from Sandpoint High in 2005, same class as Kalen.

The two wasted no time going about their respective duties with Ryan working at the stove as Kalen swept the chimney.

That's when we learned about the bat.

Seems that sometime a bat had gotten into the chimney, and apparently during a hot time.

When Kalen was doing his sweeping, the barbecued bat fell to the stove top below. Happily, Ryan disposed of the creature.

We had more than enough rainfall yesterday to test the efficiency of their work: no splats, no drips. Mission accomplished along with a clean, bat-free chimney.

Twas a pleasure and a relief to have these two come by and fix our problem.

Today, maintenance continues as Bill takes the Subaru in for a scheduled "fix" which comes with its periodic checkups.

As always, we really appreciate the professionals whose skills and experience make our lives easier. We also enjoyed visiting with them.

Thanks, Kalen and Ryan. We'll definitely appreciate the safe warmth from the wood stove and the welcome silence of staying dry inside our home.

My brother Jim, aka James W. Tibbs, architect, whose cartoons inspired my blog title nearly 16 years ago, recently redid one of his paintings in a different size and with a different medium.

Using acryllics, he painted a scene from The Zocalo (main square) in Mexico City. That's our sister-in-law Mary on the right.

Mike and Mary were living in Mexico City in 1988 when Jim graduated from the University of Idaho. Jim's visit was a graduation gift from his big brother.