Chimney cleaning

Monday I performed my annual chimney cleaning.  Nothing like waiting for a hot day to clean the chimney and the pipes that run from the wood stove to the chimney. Part of why I wait till mid summer is that I clean the wood stove pipes in a pasture and, now that the horses have eaten down the grass, I have shorter grass while I do the cleaning.

Cleaning the chimney is not so bad as I have a chimney brush to clean it.  I also use a scraper on what I can reach from the top and from the bottom in order to really clean things.  Cleaning the wood stove pipe is the harder thing to do.  I take the pipe apart and, using wire brushes and a scraper, scrub the sections of pipe clean.

Naturally I get filthy.  I went for a swim in the river to clean off.  Nice to do on a hot day.

Here is a view from the house roof of the willow tree I trimmed earlier this year.  I found a photo of the willow tree taken a  few years ago to get a before-and-after view.

View east from the house roof.