The RJ Ranch

As many of you know Roger bought a generator to use as backup power for the house during power outages. Not that we’ve had many (one to be exact). You might ask yourself what does this have to do with the photo? I’m getting to that.

Roger’s installation of the gas pipe, started from the fireplace in the living room. From there, the pipe went under the house; up to the attic; across the top of the pool room and down to the generator on the far side of the house. He put pressure on the pipe as he went along to test for leaks…way too much pressure from what the inspector said.

Anyway, the fireplace refused to start once the installation of the pipe was completed. The inspector check the fireplace for any damage to the starting mechanism made a few adjustments and pronounced it be safe to run without fear of blowing ourselves up. Once blessed, we resumed our morning coffee and paper in the living room.

Some days later we began to hear this chattering in the fireplace; much like the sound of vibrating metal in a windstorm. Roger took the lower panel off the fireplace and inspected the connections and could find nothing wrong. We went outside to see if there was loose metal flapping in the breeze (it’s been breezy here) and also found nothing. The intermittent vibrations continued.

Then this morning, after hearing the now annoying chattering again Roger quietly (this time) went outdoors to see what was happening. It appears that this amorous woodpecker is trying to attract a mate. Apparently he feels that the noise he creates from striking the metal on the chimney is much more alluring to the ladies than the noise emanating from his tapping on a tree trunk. Hopefully he will find his lady friend soon or we may be forced to fricassee a woodpecker.