Standing in Front of the Fireplace

Standing in front of the fireplace was an adventure when we were children. Of course, the big kids always pushed me over to the edge. Most of the heat comes out in front. But when I could get in front, it felt so good after coming in from the farm work. We didn't have the fireplaces for beauty, they were our source of heat, except in the kitchen where the cook stove did the job.

You could stand in front of that fireplace and freeze everywhere except on the back of the legs. I stood there, trying to get warm, until my pants legs smelled like they were about to ignite. The back of the legs would feel all itchy and hot but the rest of the body was still shivering. Those were the good old days. :)

A pop meant you started looking to see where the hot coal went. We didn't have screens, most of the time there were enough kids to stop anything that popped out of the fireplace. But if you heard the pop, you looked. You did not want that hot coal in your pants leg cuff. We always had cuffs so we could wear the pants another year. At night, the pop meant you got up, if you slept in the living room, and grabbed the hot coal and tossed it back in the fireplace. It's a wonder we did not all burn up because I know not all the coals got tossed back, I've seen places on the floor where they burned themselves out.

No wonder we stayed outside all the time in the summer. It probably took the whole summer for us to get warm again and besides we could store up some heat for the next winter.