Published on the patch

So I finally got so frustrated about our heating oil prices here that I wrote a blog and it was published on the new canaan patch. You can read it there http://newcanaan.patch.com/blog_posts/spindletop-new-canaan-style or I will paste it below.

Spindletop New Canaan Style

I love summer-- the blue skies, the long sunny days, the smell of freshly cut grass.  Summer is wearing shorts, sitting outside, sipping lemonade.  And I am ready for it.   Last Monday (April 16th), with our temperatures here in New Canaan approaching 85 degrees, I was in heaven.  There was a hint of humidity in the air (which for me-- originally from Houston, TX felt right at home) that made the heat penetrate right through you.  While I played with my youngest boys outside, the perspiration on their foreheads made me smile.  And when my girls got home from school, they ran barefoot through the grass making their way to the trampoline.  Earlier in the day I had written (what will hopefully be) the last check of the season made out to my heating oil provider. 

I gleefully walked to the thermostats in the house and ceremoniously switched the heat off knowing I would NEVER need it again this spring.  I then busied myself swapping out the seasonal clothes (and with 5 kids -- this is no small task).  I put away the sweaters, the jeans, the boots, the coats, the mittens, the hats, the scarves, and more.  There just simply isn't room in the kids closets to house 2 seasons worth of clothing.  I have several hanging racks where all the winter clothes get hung up to wait in the storage room.  I had to go shopping for my oldest daughter (age 11) and oldest son (age 5) who have grown so much this past winter that none of their clothes from last summer fit them. 

And I LOVED every minute of it.  I am committed to summer.  Apparantly though my relationship with summer is a little lopsided.  I thought we were happily wedded.  But it turns out our little marital bliss is not quite what I thought it to be.  Summer has cut and run. 

I have had to walk repeatedly down to the basement to find the weather appropriate clothing that is not in any of the closets.  I have added extra layers and tried to ignore the dropping indoor temperature. 

But, finally it could be denied no longer and I did what I had to. 

I turned on the heat. 

I tried not to, really I did.  We all wore sweatshirts and I set out blankets on all the couches.  But it was feeling miserable.  I feel abandoned by summer. 

And I'll be honest, the largest part of my resentment is quite simply the PRICE OF HEATING OIL.  While I contemplate whether burning dollar bills would provide a more cost efficient heating output, I am always reminded of this . . . the natural gas line running right under New Canaan and our Waveny Park.  (a part of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline)

To think that nearly the whole rest of the country has access to cheap and affordable heating that runs UNDER our town while we watch all the delivery trucks inefficiently drive from house to house is kind of crazy to me. 

Perhaps it's the Texas in me?  But isn't it time for a spindletop of our own?