Propane
Thursday, February 3, 2011 by Amy
We ran out of propane on Monday. No heat. No hot water. No cooking gas. It sucked. The propane people only deliver to South Portland on Tuesdays, and I noticed that we were low over the weekend. In addition, with the storm coming, people who probably didn't really need propane panicked and ordered a delivery for Tuesday, so the company had to double-up on deliveries. Yay. This means that our propane guy who normally visits in the morning couldn't get to us until the afternoon. Once I get a better idea on our usage, I can make sure that we don't run out again. Like, how am I supposed to know how long 20 gallons will last us? Or 10 gallons. I mean, we were at 50 percent last time I checked, so I was surprised to find us hovering around zero over the weekend. Yikes!
Of course, Monday night I had a dinner of pork and sauerkraut planned (and no alternatives), which needs to cook on the stove for two hours. So, being on zero with propane, I had to cook it in the microwave. Yuck. I'm not a fan of microwave cooking. Our microwave is generally just a glorified coffee warmer. Sometime the girls let their tea get cold, and I'll nuke it a little, but that's pretty much it. It wasn't too bad, but some of the pork was done before others, so I had to rotate a lot and it obviously wasn't as fall-off-the-bone tender as cooking low and slow on the stove. Lesson learned.
The propane finally gave out Monday night, and we had enough heat in the house to go to bed comfortably (thanks in part to my weather-proofing skills!), but woke up to a freezing cold house. It was in the single digits when we woke up. Riley was thankful to go to school where it was warm, and Avery, Lola, and me cuddled on the chair with layers of covers, trying to stay warm. Fun. Lola sure gives off heat! The hilarious thing was, Lola heard the propane guy coming and as soon as I turned the heaters back on, she dragged her doggy bed over and basked in the warmth.
Gosh, I don't even know how much snow we have any more. On Tuesday we got about 8 inches, and then about another 10 on Wednesday. Seriously, where are we supposed to put it? Riley was out of school on Wednesday, and I though for sure that school would at least be delayed today, but no dice. I'm not sure how snow days work here. We've had two snow days and one no-power day, but the February school vacation seems to be going on as planned, and I thought that that week was for built-in snow days. Maybe only if we go over some allotted amount, I guess.
As far as I can tell, we have about 3 feet of snow on the ground right now. That's doesn't account for the snow that has melted or disappeared between storms. Yikes, that's a lot of snow!
Of course, Monday night I had a dinner of pork and sauerkraut planned (and no alternatives), which needs to cook on the stove for two hours. So, being on zero with propane, I had to cook it in the microwave. Yuck. I'm not a fan of microwave cooking. Our microwave is generally just a glorified coffee warmer. Sometime the girls let their tea get cold, and I'll nuke it a little, but that's pretty much it. It wasn't too bad, but some of the pork was done before others, so I had to rotate a lot and it obviously wasn't as fall-off-the-bone tender as cooking low and slow on the stove. Lesson learned.
The propane finally gave out Monday night, and we had enough heat in the house to go to bed comfortably (thanks in part to my weather-proofing skills!), but woke up to a freezing cold house. It was in the single digits when we woke up. Riley was thankful to go to school where it was warm, and Avery, Lola, and me cuddled on the chair with layers of covers, trying to stay warm. Fun. Lola sure gives off heat! The hilarious thing was, Lola heard the propane guy coming and as soon as I turned the heaters back on, she dragged her doggy bed over and basked in the warmth.
Gosh, I don't even know how much snow we have any more. On Tuesday we got about 8 inches, and then about another 10 on Wednesday. Seriously, where are we supposed to put it? Riley was out of school on Wednesday, and I though for sure that school would at least be delayed today, but no dice. I'm not sure how snow days work here. We've had two snow days and one no-power day, but the February school vacation seems to be going on as planned, and I thought that that week was for built-in snow days. Maybe only if we go over some allotted amount, I guess.
As far as I can tell, we have about 3 feet of snow on the ground right now. That's doesn't account for the snow that has melted or disappeared between storms. Yikes, that's a lot of snow!
