Smokin'...

Last night, David and I decided to have our romantic fire in the fireplace. I've been excited about this wood burning fireplace since we moved in. Growing up, my dad would build fires in our fireplace just about every weekend in the winter. It's a family tradition for me. So, Dad had brought me some firewood chopped at home on the farm, and I'd been hoarding it. David built the fire and opened the flue, and I was practically gleeful. He lit it, and for a few minutes, we sat in the dark on the couch and enjoyed the crackling flames.

Then, the smoke detector went off. It didn't wake the baby, thank God, but in the process of cutting it off and turning on the lights, we noticed that the room was starting to get hazy. Bad. Very bad. David pulled the logs apart to kill the fire, and we opened up some windows and doors for a while. Way to kill a romantic evening. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. We thought this episode was over, and maybe we could figure out if there was something we'd done wrong and try again.

This morning, I woke up, and I could barely breathe because the smell of smoke was so strong. We opened every window and door in the house. We left them open all day long, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. David killed the one poor bug that made it in. And the living room still smells like smoke. It's better, much better, but it's hard for to believe that a few minutes of smoke in the house could make it smell so strong. I will never try this again. It's just not worth it. My fireplace will now be a place for pillar candles... What if the weather had been really cold, and it'd been miserable when we opened everything up?

So... anybody have any good ideas for getting the smoky smell out that don't involve me leaving open all the windows and doors again?

Oh, yeah, and for the person who asked what camera I use, it's a Nikon D50 digital SLR. I LOVE it. Maybe one of these days, I'll learn how to take pictures on it on something other than Auto. =)