Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Propane and Posts of the Week

Watch him try.
He's so spry.
Brings me my....
Propane.
(With apologies to the late J. J. Cale and to Eric Clapton.)


One morning, earlier this month, Benny started grrruffing - that combination of growls and barks which Jack Russell Terriers do so well. This meant one of the following:
a) someone was at the door
b) someone was snowmobiling across the lake
c) someone was coming down our driveway
d) a deer was wandering the property
e) a squirrel was on the deck
f) a mouse was in the basement
g) a cat was in the litter box
h) something of JRT urgency needed to be expressed
i) an icicle fell into the soft snow within a half mile radius of our place
j) someone was murmuring quietly in their own home, three houses away
k) a snowflake fell within a quarter mile radius of our place
l) it had already been a whole five minutes since the last grrrruffing espisode
... now you're beginning to get the picture of how quirky this dog is.

Anyway, in this particular instance, someone was indeed making their way down our driveway - the local propane delivery guy - here to help keep us warm through the winter.

He is amazingly adept at getting himself and a heavy hose through fairly deep snow, across our yard and around the side of the house where the tank is located. I thought you needed to see that so I snapped a few photos on this grrrruffable day. Hopefully you can handle all the excitement.

propane
After the truck backed up and "eep, eep, eep"ed its way into position, the Kelly's Fuel guy made his way out of the driver's seat to start the process.



propane2
He approached the back of the truck and he opened the latch to gain access to the hose. Can you feel the tension mounting? That big blob of snow in the foreground of the image is the accumulation on the table out on our front deck.




propane3
Here's where we begin to feel sorry for our hero. He has to clomp and trudge his way up over the snowbank in order to begin his pilgrimage across the yard. He did assure Frank that this was just par for the course for him and that it's not an especially difficult trek. That helps to alleviate any guilt we might have been feeling about not shoveling a path for him - which would take a pretty long time - every time it snowed. We further assuaged our guilt but not allowing the crazy Benny out there with him, lest he bark incessantly at him and try to eat the hose. Still, I think we've just established that since the delivery guy is the hero in this story, surely all this snow on our yard must make us the villains. Feel free to boo and hiss, if it pleases you.




propane4
Did I mention that he's a nice guy who surely must love his work? Just look at that smile on his face. Okay, maybe it's a grimace.





propane5
Are you still with me on this thrilling journey through propane delivery day?




propane6
Oh yeah, it's a grimace, alright. And he's not even halfway to the tank yet.



propane7
He was directly outside my kitchen window at this point and only had a few more kilometres to go until he reached the propane tank and filled it up before making the long trip back to his truck. He was probably thinking that he just doesn't get paid enough for this. You're probably thinking that this is the most exciting blog post you've ever seen!


propane8
Well he might not get paid enough but the fuel company sure does - just about every winter month.

Life out here in the country is thrilling. Now you know at least one of the reasons why.

She don't lie. She don't lie. She don't lie... Propane.




❀    ❀    ❀



And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if your blog post is named as a POTW.









PHOTOGRAPHY

Lonesome Tree
by Andy
at Eye Candy

Cold, Cloudy Sky
by Linda
at The View From Squirrel Ridge

A Sky-featuring Tree
by Theresa
at The Run-A-Round Ranch Report

One Last Look Back in Time
by Jake via Ruth
at Ruth's Photo Blog

  ***
A GOOD READ

Separation of Church & State // This ain't on the standardized test but---
by Brian
at waystationone

Just Last Spring
by Tabor
at Room Without Walls


***
JUST PLAIN ALL AROUND GOOD

America's Best Neighbours
by Michael
at Michael Manning.TV™

 
***

INSPIRING

How Blogging Changed My Lifeby Birdie
at Ditching the Black Dog

 
***

IT TOUCHES THE HEART
 
Hope
by MessyMimi
at MessyMimi's Meanderings

One Night in December
by Bone
at If You Only Read One Blog...

  
***
THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

Snow Angel
by Jim
at Suldog
***

READERS' CHOICE

Recommended by: TexWisGirl
Sundog
by Brk Trt (I'm guessing it means Brook Trout)
at Small Stream Reflections.

***
Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.
 
Thank you

51 comments:

Bossy Betty said...

A man after my own heart! He seems to know what he is doing. Thank you for stopping by my blog this morning and for your very kind comments.

Cloudia said...

Hooray for our heroes (Benny and propane man)



ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
<3

Frank Baron said...

Cute. :)

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

I'd rather have your propane bill than the bill for natural gas & electricity that comes to my office each winter month. (Luckily, I do not personally write the check for $2,000 to $3,000... I just sign it.)
With your pictures and writing, I can actually hear Benny rrrrruffing and almost hear the grunts of your propane delivery man.
Off to read some great blog posts!
Thank you, Hilary.

Barbara said...

Benny's gggruffing makes me laugh. Belle will scare the pants off of us every once in awhile with her gggruff. She doesn't do it often, but it could be for any of the reasons you mentioned (except the snowflake!) Congrats to the POTW!

Anonymous said...

We've got the same gruffing, barking, running amok guard dog in our house as well. All for practically the same reasons. (except for the snowflakes). :-) You live in some "ruff" country!

Andy said...

So you have a man that gives you gas. I get mine free from the food I eat. ;)) Nice to see he is so dedicated.
PS: Thanks for including me in your Post Of The Week.

Suldog said...

I'm a POTW again! Yay! And THANK YOU!

Man, some jobs become incredibly worse during winter. God bless him. And God bless you for the good photography and the empathy.

Out on the prairie said...

I guess you need to like the challenge and see this as playing in the snow. I make a path in my backyard for my pups. I try not to spoil them.

Brian Miller said...

smiles....thank you again for the inclusion...i know i am in good company...will be checking a few out throughout the day....

lol...i imagine the gas man is quite thrilling...smiles.

Betsy Brock said...

Haha...cute post. If he only knew there was paparazzi hiding in the house!

Leah J. Utas said...

A fine photo story for an everyday hero.

stephen Hayes said...

I've never heated a house with propane and don't know how long this delivery will last you. All very interesting, and I'll be sure to check out your blog selections. Hope you're keeping warm.

TexWisGirl said...

LOVED your run-down of possible reasons benny was grrruffing. :) and the play-by-play of the propane (accompanied by such classic music) was perfect! laughing all the way...

and thanks for the POTW!! and for calling out brktrt's cool creation, too!

OmaLindasOldeBaggsandStuftShirts said...

One of St. Bernard's was like that too. Always had a comment for all occasions. Tee Hee.
I always love your recommendations. More good reads for the afternoon break from "regular" stuff. Thanks and an early Happy Valentoonie Day sweet lady.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

Ouch. I'll never complain about a 130 electric bill in August again.

William Kendall said...

My parents had the same sort of arrangement- the fuel truck would show up three times or so over the winter, depending on the severity of the winter, and refill the tank. The guy would have no problem getting through the snow to wherever he needed to refuel.

DJan said...

In the first one, I was sure he was smiling, but no... it definitely is a grimace. Now that's a lot of snow, and a lot of moola. :-)

Linda said...

Wow, our oil guy really has it easy. He only hauls the hose about 30 feet and there's no snow to boot. I love to go walking in the snow (when we actually get some), but if I had to do it day in day out in freezing temps...nah, I'd be grimacing too.

Your "alarm system" is very sensitive. Gotta love Benny!

Ruth Hiebert said...

Ok,seriously,I read through all the photos and descriptions. That guy is a dedicated worker.Thanks for the POTW.

Bob Bushell said...

It's a hard life, we all can get with a hit by the bills for heating, it should be free.

Red said...

You know how to tell a story. I was waiting for the propane to explode,but the bill was a big surprise ending.

Unknown said...

What a difficult job that has to be! Growing up, there was a tiny house across a boulevard from me that had propane. But I see that you and Frank are out in a beautiful area, where it's necessary. Warmth is a God-send in that weather, and Benny always makes me laugh. I am very grateful for the POTW and just awoke up to it. Thank you, Hilary! :)

L. D. said...

In town, we watch our meeter readers, sneaking around, hoping not to disturb anyone as they know they are the creator of the next bill that comes in the mail. You have high taxes also.

Rita said...

I'm sure he's used to tromping through the snow, but what a job! Benny cracks me up. ;)

goatman said...

Hi,

He may charge by feet of snow to trudge through . . .
How long do you suppose this charge of propane will last?

Daryl said...

wow … i needed to sit back and try to relax after the excitement of your propane delivery…

congrats to the POTW winners!!!

yaya said...

I got tired just looking at that poor guy! Well, it's better and cheaper (for him) than going to a gym to keep in shape! We heat with wood and that's no easy task either, except it's cheaper and keeps Jack in shape! I blogged once about getting our septic tank cleaned out...same scenario, big truck, long hose...only no snow and it was removing instead of filling!

Birdie said...

Thank you for the link. xo

messymimi said...

He sure does earn whatever it is he makes.

Thank you for the POTW!

Linda said...

Thanks for the mention!

Your story reminded me of the days when I had oil heat. It was comforting to see that big truck roll up with the promise of warmth!

Tabor said...

You would do these posts when I am stuck on travel and have PC access only at the end of rather long days. I want to read these POTW...but will have to wait a few days more. Thanks again!

Linda said...

Oh, I saw your comment on Run-around-Ranch about emails bouncing. This is caused by AOL and Yahoo adopting the DMARC policy last spring. See this explanation: r-blog.aol.com/2014/04/22/aol-mail-updates-dmarc-policy-to-reject/

The result is that AOL and Yahoo users comments are not forwarded! Blogger will publish them but AOL and Yahoo will not send the email to you. As an AOL user, I get a message saying that my message was undeliverable. I get a bunch of these every day. I don't think Blogger can do anything about this.

Gary's third pottery blog said...

A bit snowy at your house too, i see :) My heat bill is not small this time of year either, but since we aren't vacationing in flippin' Jamaica or anything...well, you can't freeze, right? So you gotta.... look forward to checking the POTW!

A Cuban In London said...

A hero in my eyes! :-) Top geezer. :-)

Greetings from London.

Kerry said...

My gosh, you have a ton of snow! And that's a hefty amount to pay each month. At the moment we are heating with wood because our furnace just died. I guess we'll save on fuel bills this month!

Anonymous said...

What a hero coming out in all that snow! Lovely shots.

Betty Manousos said...

gosh, that's a lot of snow!
that guy is such a dedicated worker.
and thanks for the potw-congrats to all the winners!


happy valentine's day! xoxo

Jenn Jilks said...

This is hilarious, your puppy tails!
We have this type of delivery, too. I am always so grateful to see our guy. I usually tromp down a path for them with my snowshoes. Though, unlike the letter carrier, they can't refuse to show up if it's too messy!
We supplement with firewood, but can't do it all the time. It's so well worth it!

EG CameraGirl said...

He really is a hero! The taxmen got paid very well for his efforts, I see. ;)

Merisi said...

*smile*
Well, Benny would have had good reason to jump up and down and bark, all at the same time! that was really quite an event, unfolding out there.

Bone said...

You are so kind to do these posts of the week, Hilary. Thank you much!

I will be visiting the others this weekend.

Mage said...

Just delightful. I'm left grinning and gruffling.

Glo said...

Good gggrrruffing, Benny! Funny list of triggers to get him going ;) Gosh, that propane fellow has a job and a half. You'd think he'd run out of gas himself, expending all that energy. Thanks for another great list of POTW! Any sign of crocuses? (she titters in the section of the country with no snow)

photowannabe said...

The Propane excitement was almost more than I could stand...(:0)

Love your story telling ability Hilary.
Its so much fun to go through your posts.

Anonymous said...

haven't been in in awhile,still tire easily...but I have lots of good reads ahead of me, thank you Hilary
Sandi

Shammickite said...

I hope you gave him a hot cuppa tea and some biccies before he left!
The propane man, not Benny....

Anvilcloud said...

That's a heckuva bill.

My in-laws discovered their furnace had quit while they were away. The result was a repair to the furnace, plumbing work, and a new toilet -- which was already new.

Indrani said...

He is a hero!
Great action pics.

Jinksy said...

Your Snow Table sure is IMPRESSIVE! Haha xx

Jenn Jilks said...

I tromped a path through the snow with my snowshoes a couple of days ago. It was a good thing, as we had a propane delivery shortly thereafter! I thought of your post!