Chilly, but Not...

We woke up to a chilly morning inside and outside the house. The thermostats read 59 degrees though they were set for 68!

"Maybe we're just out of propane," said my wiser half.

"Not likely, we're on automatic delivery," I replied.

Living in New England, you learn that relying on just one source of heat can be problematic when something goes wrong, so like many others, we are blessed to have a backup heat source. I lit the pellet stove right away, went downstairs and saw that the power to the boiler was off. 

Any good troubleshooter knows the first thing you check is the power source, so I bundled up, grabbed my shovel, and trudged outside. All the melting and refreezing of the snow we've had makes the hill going down to the propane tanks a bit treacherous. And yes, we try to keep a path clear for the delivery folks, but the path is from the road, not from where I was coming from so it was a slippery slide. I used my shovel blade as an ice hold and slowly side-stepped down the way. Sure enough, both propane tanks were empty, proving my better half right (again). 

Good for the propane company for putting a sticker with their emergency number on the side of the tank. Even better that they have a 24x7 answering service. I received an immediate callback and was assured that someone would be out shortly both to refill the tanks and restart our pilots.

Within an hour, a very nice gal from the propane company had us back up and running again.

I'll attribute this little mishap to us being new owners of the house and the propane company underestimating our usage, but it's a good reminder of how blessed and fortunate we are to have heat in the first place when so many slept out in the cold last night. #GratefulForHeat