End of the summer… I begin teaching again tomorrow: first year Greek at 6:35 AM! I didn’t accomplish nearly enough this summer and I’m way behind on my writing schedule. Here’s a glimpse of the last project that I almost finished before heading back to the classroom.
The stone work is finished. All I need to do is install a shallow mantle and add the trim around the hearth (which is all cut and fit).
You can see the earlier part of the project at the top—I installed a chimney earlier this summer. (That’s the drip sleeve hanging down in the picture.) When it’s finished and the stove is in place, I’ll post another picture.
The purpose of this project, BTW, is not just decoration. With the price of propane, it’s my attempt to make heat affordable this winter. I’ve been cutting firewood since last spring. The wood shed is full to the brim (an earlier project this year) and I have a good start on next year’s wood (and one of the best woods to burn, locust–thanks to the convenient work of the power company trimming our electric lines and felling about 30 locust trees on our property!).
And yes, for those of you with very sharp eyes, that is Hebrew text on the front of my shirt in the first picture above! 
Wow, that turned out REALLY nice! Did you put a sealer on the slate? Now you need a fancy humidifier for your stove top:
http://www.lehmans.com/