November 24, 2015 at 08:48AM by advodna_dave

I'd set a reminder for this morning that our propane would probably be getting low, but as we went to sleep with temps in the 20's, it occurred to me that we'd probably been burning a bit more than even our cold weather standard of about a gallon a day or 14 days for the two tanks (note: we also cook and bake a lot!). Well, sure enough, when Mae had a late night wake up, I found the furnace refusing to light and the outside temperature down to 18. No problem, I'd just turn up the electric space heater we keep in the kids' room and open their curtain to let some heat into the kitchen area for the pipes. Anyway, we'd be warm under our down comforter. In the morning, Ann got up with the kids and set the electric heater on the dinette for them to huddle around while they dribbled milk from spoons that only sometimes successfully transferred cereal from their bowls to their mouths. A minute later I heard a thud and a muffled swear word followed by the distinct burning smell the heater gets when it fries up some dust (or usually hair, eww). After the heater was righted from its fall from the table, I heard switches being turned in vain but no sound of the blower fan, confirmation that it hadn't survived the drop. Us in fleeces and the kids in footie fleece pajamas over the pajamas they'd slept in, we waited out the last hour before I could crunch out onto the frozen ground to detach the tanks and drive them into town just as the hardware store opened. #brrr #shiverriveted #liveriveted #airstream #myrivetedlife