This time of year has always been hibernation time for me.  In chimney world, the busy season is over.

The phone doesn't ring much.

Yesterday, for example, all I did was one dryer vent service job.  Today I have no jobs on the schedule.

The dryer vent job took me about two and a half hours, working by myself.  I took my time.  There was snow all over the roof, and a nice sheen of ice outside of the hot-tub.

The job was to clean a clogged dryer vent and replaced a crushed, torn, disconnected transition duct with a periscope transition (for dryers with not enough room behind them for a traditional aluminum transition from dryer to vent.)  More on dryer vents later--they deserve their own blog post.

It's been really, really cold lately.  Instead of moisture and water droplets on the insides of the windows (and I have double-paned, good windows) there is actual ice around the bottom and the edges of the glass in the morning when I pull the curtains aside.

I wipe off the liquid condensation with a towel and make some coffee.  The cat gets fed.

Yesterday it was negative 15 at my house when the sun came up, negative 30 in some outlying areas, negative 35 in the ski valley.  That means people are using their chimneys a lot and the phone will start ringing soon when chimneys start clogging up.

But for now I am enjoying some down time after a hectic busy season.  Sleeping till 8 a.m. is a luxury.  Taking the time to write this blog is nice, and now on day five (that means its January 5th today) its starting to seem a little bit like a routine.

I realize there will be plenty of days this year when I do not feel like writing the daily blog post.  Today was one of those.