Pennsylvania Leatherwing Beetle on Tansy

Chimney sweeps Hythe and Jason arrived a little after 8 a.m.  My fireplace hadn't been cleaned since it was installed over 10 years ago.  Hythe walked in, stopped, and said they had never worked on a fireplace like this one.  Not a problem.  I had all of the installation specs and instructions that came w/ the fireplace on the kitchen counter for reference purposes. Cleaning and inspection went fast and the only fix they made was to reapply a silicon bead to the chimney's storm collar.  As they were about to leave I asked when I should have the fireplace cleaned again.  Jason started a speech about all of the agencies they were certified by.  I realized that he was obligated to give the official line of 'clean your fireplace yearly.'  "All of that said", he smiled, "you have a great fireplace.  Simple design.  Super efficient.  The only soot we found was a powder coating."  I got it.  I could probably wait a few years before I needed to get it 'reswept'.

When the sweeps had first arrived I hustled Indy into her run and placed the kittens in their utility room.  I barricaded their access door w/ books.  The sweeps had just begun their work when I noticed Dunder peeking around the corner.  Blitzen was right behind him.  I put the kittens back in their room and checked the books.  Those kittens had muscled right past them.  I added my 3 volume complete set of Shakespeare's works to the book stack.  "Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd" but they couldn't get past the bard!