Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

...but the fire is so delightful. Well, it's not actually snowing in town, but we hit the freezing mark yesterday and there's ice on the sidewalks and roads where there was standing water before. The air is crisp and clear and my wool sweaters are keeping me cozy and snug. I'm loving it. Inki, well, not so much, but at least I get to be useful and keep her warm.
Speaking of keeping Inki warm...the fireplace we ordered is being installed tomorrow, and we're both very much looking forward to getting the new one. The one we have is functional but showing its age and hard to keep a fire going in. The new one has windows on three sides so we can enjoy watching the fire as we sit all snug in the living room. There's even a hutch underneath that is intended for firewood but will certainly be claimed by our cats. It's both a) a box they can curl up in, and b) cozy warm. If it were also c) high enough to be a good vantage point for observing all comings and goings in the room we'd have to put their food and the litter box in there as well because they'd never leave it.
With the fireplace in heavy rotation, I'm glad I took the time to salvage the wood 2x4s that were under the sheet rock in the walls I tore out doing construction work earlier. We've got a garage full of very stackable and handy wood and I'm sure we're going to use a lot of it.