Remember the winter wonderland? The awe at the snow, beauty, trees loaded with white stuff and the nice feeling when you snuggled up with a fire and watched the white stuff pour down?
Well, not anymore.
The multiple reruns of winter wonderland have one thinking…Why? The weather has not warmed up much here at home, but in Boone? Not at all. This weekend was the crowning blow.
The harbinger of our weekend appeared as we drove past one of the Baptist Churches while approaching Boone.
It had been cold when we left Boone, but the temperature dropped precipitously as we entered Watauga County. Banks of clouds hovered over us as the truck climbed through Boone and out towards the cabin. We were pleased to see that Larry had plowed our road, even past the switchback and the truck ground its way to the top for the first time since Thanksgiving. But, when I entered the house with the kitty, I could see my breath and knew that all was not right.
We had no heat. Not only did we have no heat but we had no heat in our oven or stove. The propane was gone. John’s last call to the gas company had been reassuring. On February 15th, we had 80% of our tank full. I was skeptical, but willing to accept such news. However, clearly, the news was erroneous for some reason, and here we were with no heat. We quickly started a fire and John called the company. My indoor thermometer read just under 40 degrees and falling. “Roger” came out to the house and together John and he read the grim news from the tank. “0”%. Roger looked at John and solemnly told him that there was no way the propane truck could get up the mountain. John equally solemnly told Roger that they would get propane up the mountain.
I believe that everyone has to cherish moments for what they are. We did not freeze to death thank goodness, as we did have our fire, and we had many blankets. We could see our breath in every room of the house, and we worried about our pipes all night. But we were warm under our down comforters and in our long underwear. Roger arrived around noon with a small propane tank. After multiple hours, the house warmed to 62, and we felt toasty warm. This tank should last one week.
As we left Boone for the low lands, we looked at the small lonely tank of propane and prayed for better weather, some melting of snow, and a way for the propane truck to grind its way up our mountain. Ray’s weather calls for one day of sun, and one day of temperatures above freezing. He is seldom wrong, but maybe this time. Just maybe.
