In the heat of it...I kept my cool ;-)

Well, heat was restored to my humble hang out, but not before I was mildly annoyed.

The furnace guy came just as I was leaving to go to work. I told him how to get in the house and all other pertinent info relating to my sudden heat loss. As I was leaving Casey's to get water, hubby calls on my cell phone. The furnace guy is reporting there is nary a thing wrong with the furnace and upon further inspection - we are out of propane. Nothing mechanical, merely an absence of the invisible nectar that makes our life happy and warm.

Well, "HOW THE HECK CAN THAT BE?" I not so calmly asked my husband. We are on an even pay program, meaning, they come in and top off the tank each month and we pay a flat fee until June. Then they assess the usage and it starts all over again the following winter. Under this operating "theory" - one should not every experience a shortage of fuel. Heh, heh!

I called the main office of the company that delivers to us, gave the lady the above synopsis, give or take - and after an annoying degree of silence, she spouts off, "Huh - yer right - I wunder why yer out........................." [add more silence here] Well, "I know why we're out. No one delivered propane." I couldn't help myself and felt I used HUGE restraint because I wanted to add, "And, yet yer taking the money from my checking account each month without hesitation and here I sit with a cold house and you have my money - jig is up there sunshine!!!" But, hey it's Christmas. I asked her how we fix the conundrum instead.

She pushed me again. She told me it was not "her" problem and the driver of the fuel truck is the one who holds the key to my happiness, apparently. "Each driver has their own route and they are responsible for topping off the tanks each month. " Breathe deeply. So, little miss sunshine gives me the drivers cell number and then proceeds to tell me that because the tank is bone dry, they will now have to bleed the lines and someone has to be at my house to turn the furnace back on. So, the "driver" who is becoming more God like as this conversation proceeds, has the power to fill his truck with propane, drive it to my house (if he so chooses), fill the tank next to my house (granting my heat request) but he can't go in and turn on the furnace if I tell him how to get in?

So- long story short here - the DRIVER came, my neighbor came over and did the furnace part - and the driver called me about 6:30 that night (I was still at work). I had to give him a little credit, though. I was so annoyed in dealing with his office and this pass the buck mentality, so I asked him why we ran out since we were on "the program". After a short silence, he confessed it was his fault. He misfiled our card and because he had switched to another route briefly to help another guy, he never caught it right away.

I so appreciated his honesty that I thanked him for getting it taken care of and wished him a Merry Christmas. I'm sure he expected a huge butt chewing - because I literally heard a sigh of relief on the other end as he thanked me, again.

Now... I wonder who is going to pay for the service call on the furnace? It won't be ME! *mwaHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHA!!!*

Neat Snow!!!

Well, well, well! Mother Nature did not disappoint this past few days! I must agree with SuzieQ - the number of people complaining about the winter weather in IOWA this WINTER is exhausting!

I was in Waterloo for Mark's work Christmas party Friday night and I would venture to say that EVERY person I talked to, known and unknown, rattled off some complaint about the weather.

Are people really surprised at the white stuff coming from the sky - this time of the year -and in this state of the union? Las Vegas - yeah - I might be miffed if SNOW screwed up my plans - but then again - its so pretty in the big scheme. In the big picture. Life is full of these little wonderment's. (I am thinking that's a word.)

A little snow sculpture managed to reach across our front gate over night Saturday! And another drift to the left of that is as tall as I am (second pic)! Aside from the fact it can be time consuming to shovel - I just really have no complaints!

This will likely be a snow cave by winters end! We made a lot of them one year. For what - I really don't know. Maybe just to say that we CAN!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

Well, I am fairly certain I am going to be home all day tomorrow! It's been freezing rain here all afternoon and Joe Winters (how ironic he is a weather guy with a season for a last name!) says it is going to be nasty. Then again - all the hype usually jinxes any kind of real storm.

I went to the grocery store and couldn't believe the crowds. It amuses me that people always go grocery shopping in midst of a winter storm. I wonder in this day and age if anyone would ever really be snowed in for more than a few days and really ever need a season full of groceries to get by on? I must be banking on that notion because all I bought was my 1lb of radishes, a good supply of fresh cucumbers, misc friut and a jar of Claussen pickles. And Mendota Water. These have become my staples.

My thought for today:

I think that blogspot should also have an instant message feature. I can see some serious internet time in my future tomorrow. How fun to be able to know who is online and just share a little chit chat and post at the same time.

Anyway - in honor of tonights storm - here is a little trip down memory lane from last year:

What picket fence?????

It took hours to get through this and get the sidewalk open. By winters end there was enough snow the dogs could stand on top (lean DOWN) and lick you in the face while you walked down the sidewalk. It was like a hallway!

Trying to find the driveway.

The road in front of our house after the plow finally got through a couple days later.

We get through eventually!

Meet Jack, our greeter!

Fun stuff!