by Joe Shear | Feb 10, 2017 | Why Reviews Are Important
When a Broadway show is being previewed, the director and actors – and everyone connected with the production – learn how to work out the kinks. They learn when audiences laugh or cry. Similarly, stand-up comedians change their punchlines based on audience reaction....
by Joe Shear | Jan 26, 2017 | Hiring a Chimney Sweep
Despite popular culture, the chimney sweep you hire does not need to know how to spell “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Nor does your chimney sweep have to know how to sing “Chim Chim Cher-ee” from “Mary Poppins”. More seriously, though, several...
by Joe Shear | Jan 12, 2017 | Chimney Sweeping Log
It’s only human nature to seek the easiest and least costly way of doing something. Such innovations are often, though not always, the mark of progress. Take the case of chimney sweeping, a traditionally dirty job, as any viewer of “Mary Poppins” can attest. Along...
by Joe Shear | Dec 26, 2016 | Chimney Maintenance
Think of your house as a miniature Times Square. Imagine that at midnight the famous ball will slide down your chimney to herald the new year, 2017. It’s admittedly a corny and cheesy notion. It won’t happen, and it won’t be broadcast around the world. Bear with us....
by Joe Shear | Dec 10, 2016 | Fire Awareness
Does Jack Frost nipping at your nose pose a fire hazard? Not likely. Not unless your nose is made of flint or unless Jack is nipping with a fire starter. To be less far-fetched but staying with the holiday theme, what about chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Can it...
by Joe Shear | Nov 25, 2016 | Fireplace Maintenance
Is your fireplace just another episode of “That ‘70s Show”? (Choose your decade of the past, as needed. Eighties? Nineties? Fifties? Tell us when your fireplace was built, or last remodeled.) In other words, does your fireplace facing give off a tired and worn vibe?...
by Joe Shear | Nov 5, 2016 | Chimney Maintenance
You know that old saying about closing the barn door after the horse has bolted? Well, let’s play with a few wintry variations of the phrase. “Don’t shovel the snow after the snow has melted.” No, that doesn’t quite make sense. How about: “Don’t look for chimney leaks...
by Joe Shear | Oct 29, 2016 | Chimney Maintenance
You’ve heard of the CIA. Perhaps you know a CPA. Maybe you know someone who is in the CSEA. But what do you know about the CSIA? The Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) certifies technicians so that they have the skills and tools to clean your chimney properly....
by Joe Shear | Oct 15, 2016 | Chimney Maintenance
Perhaps you’ve seen them in coffee shops or libraries or maybe even in your own home. Students intensely reviewing huge books devoted to detailed depictions of the human body. “Gray’s Anatomy” is the classic textbook. (The TV drama employs a different spelling.)...
by Joe Shear | Sep 29, 2016 | Chimney Maintenance
Picture you and your family sitting peacefully by your fireplace on a December evening. You look like a pioneer family, knitting or smoking a pipe. Well, not exactly. Maybe a football game is on the big-screen television. Without obvious warning, your fireplace starts...
