Fireplace FAIL

So, one of the nice things about having a fireplace is, occasionally, burning wood in it.  (Particularly since the rest of the time it is a large and tempting cat playground full of soot, and therefore must be roped off).

Except that my apartment complex STILL hasn’t had the chimney inspector guy come out to make sure we’re not going to light the place on fire post Hurricane Ike.  Of course – there’s no guarantee that we got any damage (but my neighbor’s chimney got blown clean off her apartment wall).  So they’ve got a blanket “no fires” ban on the entire complex until such time as… uh… well, whenever they feel like calling the chimney guy.

And I want to burn a fire today, since I’m attempting to cheer up by cleaning and putting up holiday stuff.

<grumble>