ON NOT BEING RED-CARDED OUT OF MY HOME

I know now that I will not be getting gas service back to my house for weeks, maybe longer.  Back when this started, my street has a large gas leak, and my old apartment two houses over had a fire in the basement.  I am very lucky to be in my house; my neighbors are very unlucky to be red-carded out of theirs.

Now come the adjustments.

The gas company, which I will call out by name because they're assholes - Columbia Gas Company - has been remarkably silent throughout this entire thing.  I know, they don't want to open their mouths or make any kind of statement due to liability.  However, they are doing assholey stuff like setting up meetings with town and city residents then no-showing.  I don't care what liability you're worried about; this behavior makes you a fiend of the lowest sort.

Many people are worried about cooking and heating their homes and taking showers.  First of all, I rent; I do not own my townhouse.  Plus, I rent it by the month, so I am free to flee in any given thirty to sixty days.  That being said, I've been here for over fifteen years.  I'm not going anywhere yet.  (When my youngest moves out, then I'm fleeing this over-sized homestead.)  Owner or not, though, I've been through a few episodes with my furnace over the years and with my hot water heaters (iron in the water + hot water heaters = lots of leaks and repairs and replacements).

I understand preventative preparation.

Now that I have power back, everything is relative.  Instead of cooking gas, I have a grill (with two back-up canisters of gas), a toaster oven that cooks steak tips better than any full-sized broiler, and two crockpots.  Yes, I invested in my own countertop electric burners for forty dollars rather than wait in line for something free that the town deems acceptable.

I don't want to make do; I want to make food!

Instead of heat, I have an electric fireplace that is lightweight, mobile, and heats up a room in about four minutes.  I decided to invest in a second small electric fireplace so that I don't have to move the other one around if my son is watching television in the living room and I want to warm up the bathroom three rooms away or the bedrooms upstairs.

Again, I could wait for the town to provide a solution, or I could make my own solution to the specs that suit me.  I'm kind of a stickler that way.

Hot water is a bit of an issue, though.  I have, however, perfected the fine art of filling the tub with warm water for a bath.  It takes about thirty minutes, but it's worth it.  I keep multiple ceramic bowls of water going in the microwave, run two full pots of water through the coffee maker, and now I have my electric tea kettle from work plus my counter cooktop burners.  I also can boil larger pots of water on the grill.

Sure, sure -- I can also shower in the faculty locker room at work or at the Y or at the showers set up at the local pond, which is great, except that these options don't solve the most important issues: How to wash on MY time, and how to be prepped for when my son arrives home late at night from lacrosse after the volunteer local showers have closed.

Right now my biggest problems are inconvenience and a small expense.  I know people are filing claims against Columbia No-Show Assholey Gas Company and contacting their insurance agents.  I'm not completely stupid.  I've started a file, just in case.  But really.  I barely lost any food, I've only invested about $400, and I'm feeling damn lucky compared to some of my friends and neighbors.

Small expenses, small adjustments, and the freedom to flee whenever I please, if I so choose to do so (which, at least right now, I don't ... but I will eventually, when I'm ready).  Of course, having gas service back would be super-dee-dooper, too, but one disaster at a time.