The Propane Blues

Loyal weblog readers will recall the episode earlier this year, detailed here, where I executed a not-so-smooth-or-seamless transition from an Automated Propane Delivery Program to a Call On Demand Program. That resulted in the infamous running-out-of-propane on the coldest weekend of the year debacle.

You might be interested to know that about a month after that, the downstairs gas package system gave up the ghost completely – I awoke one early Monday mid-March morning around 3:00 AM to the strong smell of propane. Contrary to Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, propane, unlike napalm, doesn’t smell like victory in the morning.

The last time I had the system checked a couple of years ago, the service technician went through this litany of everything wrong with it, closing with “I am not even sure if I replace any one of those parts that I will be able to get it back up and running again once I take it apart and put it back together”. Ouch.

1521 Tour: Front Porch

This post is the first in a series of remembrances of various aspects of my childhood home – 1521 Ninth Street in the Fairview neighborhood of Altoona. My home,  as detailed in RIP - 1521 Ninth Street,  was converted into a handful of spaces in a parking lot last year. I realize that the target audience for this sort of post  is pretty limited – can probably be counted on one hand (my brothers and sisters) – but some stories just need to be told.

I think our Front Porch was the most underrated and versatile room in the house. The space had wonderful natural light, surrounded on three sides by rows of curtained windows, which provided a nice balance between openness and privacy. On the side that opened up to the Shannon's at 1523 Ninth Street, there were two sets of tall screened windows that could be unlocked and swung open, exposing the porch to pleasant breezes in the Spring and Summer months or to the sounds of gentle rain showers or violent thunderstorms. The fourth wall featured a pair of French Doors that could open into the Living Room and the “interior” Front Door which led into the Hallway and the base of the Upstairs Steps.

Though it was completely enclosed from the elements, it wasn’t what they today refer to as heated square footage. While this somewhat diminished its utility between the end of October and the middle of March, the Front Porch really took center stage from Spring through Indian Summer.