The Kitchen: Date with a chimney

There's nothing like a good game of catch-the-brick to test the quality and strength of Trust in your marriage.

This afternoon, the boys went off to see Soul Surfer with friends, and then UberDad and I got intimate with an old chimney to work.

I held the flashlight while he chinked out a rough curve in the bottom of the chimney, which ends just above the space in those studs in the picture, about 7 feet above the floor. We suspect the hole originally led to a fireplace, furnace, or wood stove in the dining room, where the rubber trash bin is in the photo.

Once the bottom was cleared, I held the extension ladder, and Scott braved the 130-degree attic. Then I donned my respirator, took my place at the bottom of the chimney hole, and waited for the bricks to fall.

We were hoping they'd land in the trash bin, and many of them did -- except when they flew too far, bounced backward, or got stuck in the curve. Then I had to use a mallet to nudge out the brick before he could drop another. We got into a nice routine of mating calls... "Clear!" "Incoming!" "Hold on, it's stuck! ...Clear!" "Incoming!"

We were both sweaty and breathing hard through our respirators by the time we carried the last bricks out to the dumpster. Not your typical date. But certainly a trust-building one. Lucky us, we get to do it again tomorrow.