Tanks!

One thing you don't have to worry about living in the city: tanks. When you live on the Outskirts you have 2 tanks to contend with.

One is the LP tank. Which I completely despise! For a few reasons. I HATE having to go check it when it's below zero. I HATE having to go check it when there's 3ft of snow and I have to shovel off the lid and sometimes scrape ice off of it to get it open to see how much LP gas we have left... I hate the feeling I get when I remember I haven't checked it in a while and it's going to be below zero all weekend and I'm just sure we will run out and have to have an emergency delivery. I hate when I go all summer not even thinking about it because it's not cold and then running out because it also gets used by our stove and water heater...

LP gas is expensive! And the things that you find out once you are forced to live with one: only the company that owns the tank (that you rent for a ridiculous fee of $1.50 a year) will fill it. That means you can't call around and get the cheapest rate. No other LP gas company will touch it. They all will deliver a minimum of 200 gallons. So when the LP prices are up to $2 a gallon, that's $400! And that only gets your tank 40% full. We usually have to get it filled about 4-5 times a winter. Suck fest. And when I say filled, I mean the minimum order of 200 gallons. We've only actually gotten it "filled" twice. One year with our tax money in March and the other was with financial help from the energy assistance program (thank god!!).

This past winter, a week or so before my appointment with the EAP, I realized I hadn't checked the LP in a while. Of course it was a Friday night, and we were having -40 degree temps. And we were expecting company on Saturday... I felt especially cold that night going to bed and thought for sure that we were out of LP gas and would all freeze to death in our sleep. Needless to say I got no sleep that night. I bundled up and ran out to check it first thing in the morning (in about the same way you run up the basement steps imagining a monster might get you if you don't). I was so relieved when I saw we had almost 15% of a tank! Then I just had to worry my butt off and check it every few days until that appointment and hope that it would make it! I think we had just reached the red zone when our funds were sent to our LP company.

Now the other tank... the septic. Grrr. Also hate the septic. I will spare you a photo. It's all underground anyway. The basics: you really can't flush anything except for toilet paper. Which means you have to explain that to all of your female guests if you know what I mean. That's just embarrassing. You have to be careful of what kind of toilet paper you get. You really can't even flush those fancy flush-able toilet paper wipes. Which sucks when you are potty training and using flush-able kiddie wipes. And you have to be more carefully about what and how much goes down all the drains.

There is always the possibility of overloading your system. Say for instance if you go washing a bunch of thrift store wool sweaters to make recycled wool soaker diaper covers for your babies... All that wool fiber stuff can probably clog things up a bit. And then it probably doesn't help if you are having rash issues with cloth diapering and suspect that you have a detergent build up and start washing/rinsing the heck out of the cloth diapers daily... Let's just say that I think I helped kill our septic system. Grrrrr. Hate the septic tank.

The Crafty Side of Life

I like to do crafty things. I've been crocheting for a few years, knitting for a few months and always attempting some sewing project. When we moved up here everyone told me that I needed to find a hobby for the winters. That first year I taught myself to crochet. And we ended up having an unusually mild winter. But since that first year the winters have been pretty typical. You get bound up inside either due to streaks of below zero temps or major amounts of snow (or both). And it's not like in the city - because even the most traveled highways around here aren't traveled enough to be free of snow and ice patches.

Until a few months ago I could get pretty much anything I needed and then some at the local Wal-Mart. Then our Wal-Mart decided to remodel and reorganize. Part of that process included ridding themselves of most of their craft department. Fabric = gone. Most other sewing notions are also gone. As well as their yarn selection. They still carry some colors of one weight of about 2 brands of yarn.

There is one craft store in town (which means the town that's almost 30 miles away). But they cater to mostly the higher class and vacationers around here. God forbid you are attempting something you have questions about. They have knowledge, sure, but for some reason they seem to enjoy turning their noses up at me and acting like whatever question I have is moronic. They are snobby and unhelpful. And a few times I've gone in and had questions but didn't get an opportunity to ask because they were on a personal call that was more important than my business.

I've pretty much sworn off the local craft store. (But somehow I still find myself popping in there!)

Aside from taking a 2 hour road trip to somewhere civilized enough to have a real craft store, the choices are a 50mile drive one way for a yarn store, or a 45mile drive in the opposite direction for a sewing store. Both stores are mom and pop operations. And both owners are very friendly, welcome questions, and love to talk about techniques and such. But it's hard to be able to get to either of them...

I have resorted to buying some things online, a few yarns (brands that I know), a few knitting needles and such. But I am very tactile. I like to go to the store and touch and feel what I'm buying when it comes to yarn and fabric. And I like to have someone to ask questions... once I become a little more experienced and knowledgeable, shopping online for these items will be more of an option.