Then The Chimney Fell Over

Just to stay honest about the timeline here, the following incident occurred almost exactly a year ago, in September of 2017. We had gone up to the farm, but didn't have much time to work on things... and we discovered this:

Santa's not getting down THAT chimney...

This was especially not good because of all the chimneys you see here, the one that fell over is the only one that actually gets USED. The one to its right isn't even attached to anything; the one to its left is still kind of an unknown quantity. But this chimney belongs to the wood stove that keeps us from fully turning into icicles when we're working at the farm during the winter.

Unfortunately, we really didn't have time to deal with the chimney, so we stuffed rags down the hole to keep out critters and went home to make a plan and gather supplies.

The good news with this project was that nothing substantial was actually broken. The chimney had a number of guy-wires stabilizing it, and those wires were not even remotely an appropriate strength. After many years of service, they'd just given out, and without the extra stability, the chimney blew over. While a few tiles got a bit cracked, there wasn't even much damage to the roof.

The bad news with this project is that chimneys are heavy and tall, and there was absolutely no way that puny humans standing on the lean-to roof were going to have the strength or leverage to lift the chimney back into position. Fortunately, these puny humans have a bucket van, and we were able to get a strap around the upper part of the chimney, attach the strap to the bucket, and then maneuver the bucket to lift and position the chimney. A bit hair raising? Yes. Ultimately successful? Also yes.

Standing tall

With the help of some new -- much more substantial -- guy-wires, the chimney got secured back in its place, where it will hopefully stay for years to come.