Today we learned what a great invention the chimney was. For the first time in probably a year, we decided to heat the sauna. In retrospect, prior to lighting the stove, an examination of the spaces within the sauna stones might have been a good idea. It seems some mice had carried about a dozen of Franco’s dog food pellets into the sauna and stashed them under some handy stones. The odor as the cooking began was not unpleasant, but as they burned black, the acrid smoke really filled up our little room.
Now we had a couple of problems. The stove was hot and drawing like a banshee. The stones were too hot to touch. On the plus side, the acrid smoke pouring out of the rocks made it obvious where the dog food was. We gathered a poker, shovel, and some eager hands together, and slowly moved the stones out of the way, picked up the charcoal dog food pellets, and tossed them into the fire. We missed a few kibbles, which merrily smoked away after we’d dug out all we could find. So Steve tossed on enough water to wash out the organic matter, and dash any hopes of a sauna this evening. Frankly, the smell in the sauna precluded a relaxing sauna anyway.
I kind of doubt I’ll look through the sauna rocks before I start another fire… it would take too long. But I’ll probably poke around in there in the future. Smoke should go up the chimney.