Fireplaces? Why?

We're considering selling our house and moving back into town, into a smaller house. Looking on the interwebs, it seems that every damn house around here has a fireplace. This is the central coast of California. Nobody needs a fireplace, and I've never known anyone to use one they have. My last two houses have had fireplaces and I've never used them. They just eat up a wall, reducing usable space, and limit the layout of the room.

Why do all these houses have unneeded, unused fireplaces?

In your neck of the woods, maybe not.

Up here in the rainy PNW I use my two gas fireplaces extensively during 6 months of the year. They were wood-burning when I bought the place, but neither one drew very well and I ended up with a roomful of smoke one too many times.

Same reason why upper middle class and rich kids still wear jeans. It's "rustic".   

NoCoPilot wrote:

In your neck of the woods, maybe not.

Well, yeah, but that's the point. Why have that feature in homes built there.

It certainly gets cold enough here that everyone needs heat in the house. But why bother with a fireplace in a house that has central heating?

If I lived in one of those silly states that get extremely cold in the winter, I would have a old-fashioned, wood-burning fireplace, just in case the gas and/or electricity goes out.

The fireplace in my current house is gas with an electric valve and igniter: you just flip a switch on the wall and the thing fires up. It is useless for heating; it's just for decoration. Completely useless.

Mine heat their respective rooms -- living room, rec room -- quite admirably. Cheaper than central air, when we're not inhabiting every room.

It may be cheaper than central heating up there, but I doubt that would be the case here. The cost of living in this area is 65% higher than the national average (not including housing, which has a median price 2.5 times the national).

I wouldn't be surprised if having someone deliver a few cords of firewood would be greater than the seasonal cost of gas heating.

When I write shit like this, it makes me want to move away, but what the hell, I've been here since FDR was president; might as well finish up here.

Quote :

When looking out to the beginning of the next century,

Chances of my being there are quite small.

NoCoPilot wrote:

You'll all end up here eventually.

Yup.   

NoCoPilot wrote:

You'll all end up here eventually.

So it was said in 1971 by Badfinger.

Day after day, more people come to L.A.
Ssh! Don't you tell anybody the whole place is slipping away.
Where can we go when there's no San Francisco?
Ssh! Better get ready to tie up the boat in Idaho.

The song you quote is by a group called Shango (I have the LP -- I turned it into a CDR.)

The song by Badfinger is an entirely different song:

Quote :

DAY AFTER DAY
(Pete Ham)
Badfinger


I remember finding out about you
Every day my mind is all around you
Looking out from my lonely room, day after day
Bring it home, maybe someday soon
I give my love to you
I remember holding you while you sleep
Every day I feel the tears the tears that you weep
Looking out of my lonely gloom, day after day
Bring it home, maybe someday soon
I give my love to you ......
Looking out of my lonely room, day after day
Bring it home, maybe someday soon
I give my love to you
I remembert finding out about you
Every day my mind is all around you
Looking out from my lonely room, day after day
Bring it home, maybe someday soon
I give my love to you

Mea culpa.

I have no idea why I thought that was a Badfinger song. I am familiar with their song called Day After Day. Don't know why I did that (but in 10 days, I am going to start calling every one of my fuckups a senior moment, and you will be required to overlook them).

Happy un-belated birthday.  8/29?

Good god, man. Don't rush it!

70 is just a number.

Closer to infinity than zero.

NoCoPilot wrote:

70 is just a number.

Say that again in ten years.

I don't expect to be able to.

Didn't your parents live quite long lives?

Yes. But none of my dogs did.

They say genetics has a lot to do with your life span. A lot.
If that's the case 85 is my upper limit. Even the healthy people in my family never live past 85 and I imagine that even if I lose the weight a lot of damage has been done already. I'd love to go all the way to 85 but I think 70 is more realistic.   

I never meant to make it to 40.

Oh me neither. But now at almost 40, 60 doesn't look scary. I see that while my body changes I am still me, so it's less scary than it was at say 16. I was scared I'd change, that they'd break me, wear me down. But I'm still me. Smarter, sharper, more focused, but still me.

Jenni wrote:

I was scared I'd change, that they'd break me, wear me down. But I'm still me. Smarter, sharper, more focused, but still me.  

I figured they DID break me.

I'm nearing the end of my life and never done anything interesting. I spent my whole life just working to pay the bills. I never got ahead of the game until the past couple of years -- when I've been too old & crippled to do anything.

I'm happily married. That's my only saving grace.

Many studies have shown that genetics is the major determinant in your expected life span. For those of us with progenitors who die relatively young, that is not good news; NoCo certainly has more to look forward to on that basis.

At least I have had an interesting life - maybe not always a good one, but interesting nonetheless. And I'm not talking about interesting in the same way that tourists do. I find them boring as hell.