In times past, most people heated their houses using fireplaces, stoves and coal furnaces. Some people still do. It makes no difference which of these forms of heating one uses, there are always ashes or clinkers to get out of the house and hauled away without leaving a mess behind.

As a boy growing up, it was my job to take out the leftovers from the furnace. I had to put the ashes and clinkers in a large trash can and lug them up the basement stairs and out to the back alley, whether it was raining or snowing, where someone came by and hauled them away. And my mother and father always reminded me not to make dust that went throughout the house. It was a tedious and tiresome job.

The point I’m making here is that it is not always easy to get rid of the useless remnants of living, in this case, the left-over ashes. Read more…