Friday, February 23, 2007
If This is Friday, I've Got Gas
Which, startlingly enough, is making the house more bearable.
Wednesday night when I got up to go to work, my hubby informed me that the people from the gas company had come by to let us know that some incredibly talented asstrumpet had pranged his backhoe (or maybe his fronthoe, I know little of heavy machinery) through the gas main down the street and that "400 units" were now without a gas supply. Hey, I'd rather they cut off the gas than let the house blow up and I was heading to work anyhow (where it is warm) so I wasn't all that concerned.
We still had electricity so I told him to let the Muppet sleep in his bed that night, and to put the space heater from my (very chilly) studio in his room and they'd be just fine. There was still enough hot water in the tank for me to have a shower so I went to work unsmelly and content in the knowledge that they were working all night and the gas would be back on by morning.
Morning came and upon my return home I found a door-hanger thingie on my front doorknob, informing me that they had come by to relight the applicances but "nobody was home". I rather suspect that lots of people (if two is "lots") were home, but nobody heard them ringing the doorbell which hasn't ever worked since we've lived here.
So I called (at 6:30am) and got them to set up an appointment to come by and relight the furnace and hot water heater. They said they would be there before noon. I then put a piece of duct tape (I keep typing that "duck tape", dammet) on the doorbell so they'd know to knock, had a brief nap and took the kidlet to work. And then I sat down to wait for their arrival.
edit: I took the kidlet to school, not work, thanks for catching that Tamar!
And I sat and sat and it got colder and colder. Fortunately the electricity still worked so I boiled water for a hot water bottle for my feet, wrapped my kid's bright fuschia "Rock Star" fleece blanket around my legs and knat on her soul-sucking blanket for a while. And sat and sat some more. I heated the hot water bottle again and put on my coat and kept knitting in between breaks to warm my hands up enough that I could knit.
And sat and sat.
Finally, in the late afternoon, I saw someone coming down my driveway and flung myself out of the doorway faster than a swiss cuckoo on crack flings itself out of one of those twee little clocks.
He said "I'm from the gas company." I yelled "I LOVE YOU!!!" (Remember I'd been up for an awfully long time by this point and was wondering if I'd have to work last night's shift without any sleep at all.)
My love proved not to be misplaced and the appliances are all now working (apart from the damned dryer but that's not his fault because it's electric and he's not the one that put a 800-lb comforter in it and burned out the element anyhow).
Oh man. One day in 14-ish degree heat (like 57F, hardly Arctic) and I was a blithering, shivering mess.
I'm gonna go knit me some more stuff for the folks in MongoLEEah. I think they might be a little chillier than that.
# posted by Rabbitch @ 8:14 AM 
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Heat is good. Repairmen who show up are good. The kidlet has a job? or is that how you refer to her school?
# posted by 
: 8:49 AM
: 8:49 AM 
Honey, for me, that is arctic. Whine away.
I have gas, too. I'm into solidarity that way. (Could someone open a window for a bit?)
I have gas, too. I'm into solidarity that way. (Could someone open a window for a bit?)
This exact thing happened to us back in November or December, except that we were w/o gas and heat for 4 days. When they went around to turn the gas back on, only 2 houses on our street had people not home (apparently, we live in the 50s). It took them another 3 days to get back to us.
I'll knit some of those squares for the house cozy..hell, we can knit and felt the squares...oh yeah....I love that, asstrumpet...
The night I went into labour with my middle daughter, our furnace packed it in. It was November and bucketing rain. We were all freezing to death while I had wicked awful contractions. In retrospect, my planned homebirth (imagine every fantasy hippie thought to get the visual of it) might have been a lot more unpleasant than the unscheduled c-section (thanks to the little arse being footling breech) since the hospital actually had HEAT. But boy what a story that would have been.
DOES sort of make you wonder how folks in places without heat and electricity survive, doesn't it?
We're supposed to get a snowstorm here in Minnesota this week-end (IF we can remember what one is, as we've had hardly any snow all winter) ... so maybe this is a good week-end to hole in and knit for Mongolia for everyone?
We're supposed to get a snowstorm here in Minnesota this week-end (IF we can remember what one is, as we've had hardly any snow all winter) ... so maybe this is a good week-end to hole in and knit for Mongolia for everyone?
# posted by : 4:15 PM
: 4:15 PM
Have you loved Mercury yet, today? I keep wondering if I died in my (lack of) sleep and woke up in hell and just haven't figured the place out- yet..... Just imagine how the assbucket on the machine feels....no, no, that's not what I meant to say - imagine how you'd LIKE the assmuppet on the plow to feel.....better!
OMG - did I just say 'plow'? With snow coming tomorrow? Fruedian slip deluxe - I meant machine. Honestly!
I work nights and totally related to your events of the day, having to wait for people who simply cannot wrap their minds around someone working at night and, OMG, sleeping all day becasue I have to do what? Go back to work again?
# posted by : 6:02 PM
: 6:02 PM
far better to have the gas turned off!
While it's hard to get the right mix of gas and air to get a big boom, it happened last month to a new house a few miles from me. killed the woman and the gas repair guy :(
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While it's hard to get the right mix of gas and air to get a big boom, it happened last month to a new house a few miles from me. killed the woman and the gas repair guy :(
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