I woke up Sunday morning and I was cold. Our furnace is set to run at 70 degrees during the day, then switch to “night mode” where the thermostat goes to 64 degrees.

#dangareyounuts

I grew up in a house where we had a wood-burning stove, so we tried our hardest not to use the furnace. It would get downright chilly at night, so we’d joke about either throwing another blanket on the bed or another cat on the bed, either one would work. Fast forward to 2020, the same basic principle is in our home. If you are cold, we have plenty of blankets.

#pennypinchingatitsfinest

As it is, I woke up Sunday morning thinking to myself, “Damn, it’s cold in here.” The cat was on the bed, my wife snuggled up next to me, and still, I was cold. So, I investigated. We had our furnace replaced a number of years ago, got good tax credits, but it’s been kind of a bust. Every other year, we need something, so that’s where I started first, and sure enough, a little green light that was not to be flashing was, in fact, flashing.

#profanity

So, I did what few tricks I knew and got the blower running, but no warmth upstairs. Well, crap. Covid-19 and no furnace? This could be a problem. True, it wasn’t a blizzard, but the forecast was for cool weather for the week. Ugh. I gather all the space heaters and set them up on the main floor, then checked one more place. The propane tank.

#uhoh

I’d looked at our fuel level a few weeks previous and it was at 25%, a little low, but by no means alarming. We have a high-efficiency furnace, winter was almost over, AND we are on a program with our co-op where they will top off the tank on a regular basis. Again, it hadn’t happened since December, but 25%, they’ll figure it out. As I went outside and looked at the fuel gauge, they had not. 0%

#lotsofprofanity

I called the office and left an angry voice mail, I email the main office a rather angry note, and was in the process of tracking down someone, ANYONE, to call when in pulls the fuel truck.

#what

Apparently, the office manager is able to listen to voice mails at home, so she called our delivery man and there he was. He was very apologetic, saying he was training a new guy who “misread” the gauge. Really? He misread a gauge that had to have been 10% or less? Do you think this new guy is a good hire?

Either way, our driver left us with a tank filled with fuel and life when back to our new (not school for a month) reality, not our new (no school), new (no heat) reality.

The moral of this story, check your tank and question things. I kicked myself in the rear for not calling when I noticed it at 25%. Rest assured, it won’t happen again.

Because waking up cold is never, EVER a good thing.

Especially on the second day of spring! 🙂