day two of the cold

it's not snowing here like it is in erie. i have to confess we're a little jealous of that. i mean, most of us can survive pretty well snowed in for a few days because a) that happens sometimes and b) we have a lot more places to put snow.

and a lot more things we need snow for.

dude. a snow like that would keep the ski industry afloat for another year based on a late season alone.

uh, anyway. it's cold here. like 12 below zero in full sun cold. and this morning as i was lying in bed i was thinking about heating oil.

true fact: in some cold months i pay more for heating oil than i do for my mortgage.

this year my HOA switched from our old heating oil provider. this made me happy, because those guys were kings of mismanagement, if not malfeasance or downright embezzlement.

they used to do things like send a delivery truck to fill a tank for one building at a time, and you'd better bet all that extra milage was part of the rate.

plus they'd do things like not bother to read your meter for four months and then send you a bill all at once for the four months RIGHT NOW which included late fees for the three months you hadn't been billed.

skip forward. we no do our business with bourne, who is a vermont company and they treat us like neighbors. plus the oil is cheaper.

this morning i was lying in bed thinking about how much heating oil we're burning out here and trying to remember the last time our tanks were filled and how much it would suck to run out and so it's making me happy to hear the sound of the truck in the driveway right now.

happier still, the truck is filling multiple tanks all in one trip instead of filling one and then coming again tomorrow to do another.

i love the oil man so much right now, standing out in below zero cold with his filling hose, making sure we have heat.