A few observations and a funny story. I saw a couch on the side of the highway on the way to work Monday. I’m pretty sure that couch doesn’t belong there and didn’t accidently fall out of the back of somebody’s truck.
So, if you are missing your couch, please go back and get it. If, by chance, you really don’t know where you lost your couch then please get in touch with me here at the office and I’ll direct you to it. Thanks in advance.
On a different subject, these pandemic times are affecting just about everything. A couple of weeks ago when one of the now regularly scheduled Friday cold snaps was headed our way I thought it best to check the levels in the propane tank. We were at 20 percent, which is the point that I typically order a refill, so I did. That is usually plenty of time since it is a 320 gallon tank.
The on-line order form was completed and the receipt said it would be delivered by February 1. That was two weeks away and when it got down in the twenties that weekend the heaters sucked 10 percent of that gas out of that tank in no time. At that point I began to worry just a little bit as the gas man had yet to arrive.
A week went by — fortunately it wasn’t too cold — but we began to conserve and make do with a couple of space heaters.
A few more days went by and we were down to five percent since we have a propane stove as well as our heaters, so we began to conserve a little harder, and used a hot plate to cook on, and cranked up the electric blanket on the bed at night.
Monday, January 31st, one day before the promised February 1st, our propane delivery arrived. Whew, we’ve got the twenties coming back by the end of the week, I hear.
Word to the wise, if you don’t have regularly scheduled delivery of your propane, you might want to check your levels and get your order in a little earlier. Seems they are running a bit behind the schedule they usually run.
I plan to keep a closer watch on ours.
I did have our two dogs in a kennel in the back of the office on Monday, since it was chilly in the house, and the racket they made howling and barking reinforced the idea that I should keep a closer watch on those propane levels. Our office manager even commented that you would think “somebody was killing them back there.”
And then this on the time flies front.
Twenty-nine years ago yesterday, February 1, our daughter Rachel-Johanna was born. That year we had left some colored lights from Christmas on a Wisteria bush outside our kitchen window. I promised the then young neighbor girl — who spent a great deal of time at our house entertaining us and asking tons of questions about how she would know when the baby was born — that when she saw the lights in that bush back on that would mean our daughter was home.
I stuck to my word, and Sunday that little girl’s mother, in wishing a happy birthday to my little girl, wrote on social media, “...my baby girl waited for you to be born, she kept watching the tree...” Every year since we have left some Christmas lights burning somewhere at our house from the holidays through the first day of February in commemoration of “Birthday Season.”
Fast forward 29 years and some of Rachel-Johanna’s friends hosted a birthday party for her Saturday night in Jackson and a group of 13 went out to dinner together. My wife Danny, and I, were invited to tag along. Two old folks and a bunch of young folks, I said.
We were happy to get the invite and quickly accepted the challenge. For the first time in our lives we all got to ride together in a fancy stretch limousine. It was a fun evening and as dinner was winding down, I was honored to welcome all those young people as official new members of our family.
And now the funny story. That little neighbor girl, Anna, around the same time that she was concerned about when the baby would be born, she was also helping me plant some flower bulbs. “What we planting,” she asked. “Tulips,” I replied. “Oh,” she said. “Are we going to plant some three lips and four lips next?!!!”
Sweet memories right there.
Oh, and don’t forget to go get your couch!
