Bruce, did you travel back in time? 
That was my first thought as well .... must have been Bruce's earlier incarnation.
It would be downright daunting to try using the burner with the wiring right out the firebox door like that. With the heater rod inside the boiler, there would be no reason to pug off the vent holes in the sides of the firebox either really, so I'm not sure what the reasoning behind that was anyway.
Still, it is rather well done, thus I suspect Uncle Cletus had some skills .... so it's probably best that it wasn't Uncle Bubba that did the work!