Fire. Good.

I decided to put the last firescreen, the lesser of three evils, together after MPW and I collectively came to the conclusion that since the only thing wrong with this last one was the left door, I could just take one off the other units and replace it myself.

So guess what was also broken on the other two?

Oh, well. I'll just have a new left door sent instead of sending me a whole new (fourth!) unit. Putting it together was a bit of a chore, as I noticed that one of the legs was broken (good thing I had four more in the garage!). But when I called the company and asked for a new left door, they said they couldn't do that since it would negate the warranty and they could only send another firescreen.

Okay, I explained, I just spent 30 minutes putting this one together, and the door just slides off a hinge, it's not like the integrity of The System is going to be damaged. I asked them to at least check with the warehouse.

Warehouse can do it, but not until Dec 17th.

Or. They could send me a new unit.

No.

Dec 17th, fine.

Saturday I noticed that the right door didn't work too well, either, sticking as it opened (good thing I had two more in the garage!).

That night, for the first time in two years, I built a fire, lovely and aromatic against the cold 39-degree evening.

And apart from the burning eyeballs from all the smoke, it was an altogether pleasurable experience.