Pitch Black Follow-up & Getting Hot Water

Bart and his girlfriend came and helped us fix our hot water heater (that is a long story*) so we went and helped them stack wood. It was great exercise. OK, so it wasn't fun, but we were happy to help out. Besides, they are way cool.

Any way, on the way home, at twilight I noticed that the long dark road that felt 10 miles long was actually 2 miles long and had quite a few houses on the road. Glad I was able to get a better perspective. Still wouldn't want to have car trouble there in the middle of the night...


*Living in a rural area requires quite a bit of adjustments. Actually moving to a new community is always an adjustment. When I moved into a condo back in CT, we had just had a major snow storm. It was cold. I adjusted the thremostat so we could warm up. Although the blower came on, it was blowing cold air. I called the previous owners who said they had no problem with the heat. The husband even came over to make sure I was using the thermostat correctly. Guess what, I never called the gas company. Previously, heat and hot water were included in the rent, who knew I had to call someone for heat and hot water!!! Of course the gas company didn't consider it an emergency. Fortunately I had a place to take a shower and had a portable heater so the bedroom was toasty because the earliest appointment I could get was two days later between 6pm and midnight. Guess who showed up at 11:55pm, the gas company! I was tired and irritable.

Fast forward several years later when we run out of kerosene. We have kerosene for the water heater, gas for the heat and cooking, and electricity for everything else. So guess what, no hot water. It's a pain to lug pots full of hot water to fill up the tub so you can take a warm bath. And guess what, the oil companies don't consider it an emergency. If you want them to deviate from their normal route, its an additional $100!!! Plus, the minimum is approximately $300 worth of fuel!!! (so you can't have them come out for $50 worth...) Thank goodness it's not yet the dead of winter. Thank goodness it was just the hot water. Thank goodness we resolved the issue quickly!