I noticed on Friday around 5 o'clock that it was about time to call for an oil delivery, but it was too late then so I called first thing Monday morning. Of course we had the mother of all snowstorms on Monday and I shovelled all day long so that if the oil truck came, it would be able to get into the driveway. Tuesday morning I shovelled some more, had the plow come by while I was doing it and shift a couple of feet of snow and ice across the previously clear entrance to my driveway, and then I shovelled some more. By Tuesday afternoon, the oil still hadn't come, so I called again and said I was afraid we were going to run out and when should I expect a delivery. The person who answers the phone had no idea, but said she would tell the drivers. About an hour later I had a knock at the door, it's the oil man, he says he can't get into the driveway. I couldn't believe it - I was sure that it was just as wide as it had always been and they had gotten in before. I called the oil company back and asked if I could get or pick up a small amount of oil to hold me over. She says that she will have to charge me $60 to do that. I asked if there is someplace I can pick some up and then and only then she revealed the secret of the universe to me: KEROSENE. You can go to the freakin' GAS STATION and buy kerosene to put into your oil tank. Why the hell didn't someone tell me this before so I could sleep at night? We've had two nights of kerosene heat. I even splurged and took a bath last night. We got a plow to widen the driveway yesterday afternoon and I called right away for another delivery. She said they'll probably get to us by Friday. Thank Maude for kerosene.

Aidan had been all over this oil saga. On Monday evening as we were getting ready to bed, "mom, the oyel man didn't come." Then, when the oyel man couldn't get into the driveway, it was the first thing he told everyone he saw, "the oyel man knocked on the door and his truck wouldn't fit in the driveway". He's definitely picked up on my anxiety about the whole thing.

I went to a wood stove showroom yesterday morning. I thought if I could get a wood stove for about the cost of a tank of oil ($350) it might be worth it to buy one and move it when we move. We have one working stove now but it is inefficient and has cracks that leak smoke. It never gets really hot like it should. The new stoves started at $1000, so I think that I am just going to hope that spring comes soon.

I can hardly imagine a more expensive place to spend a really harsh winter than a 4,000sq ft barn with leaky windows and doors. We had a pile of snow that came right under our front door on Monday.