Pictures

 It looks like there was a drip from the ceiling over the lamp.

 The deer came right up to the door and ate all the leaves from the holly and the rhododendron.

 This is the day before SPRING, for heaven's sake!

Look at the piles of snow from plowing!

• Oil delivered: 499 gallons! 
• Mike says he drove his oil truck up and BACKED down
• road solid for now, not muddy: 16 degrees last night, will be cold rest of week
• basement thermometer read 37 degrees
• Mike turned furnace on
• Mike says dining room ceiling in no danger of falling: gypsum is firmly attached, paper coating has come loose, but will need work.
• toilet water upstairs still liquid, no evidence of it freezing up there.
• Mike suggested that before water turned on, check all traps to see if plastic piping split
• power had been off maybe 6 hours at some point. reset kitchen clocks, 2 light timers
• moved little rug by basement door outside: soaking wet
• Connie and David propped up dining room rug: I left there
• damage upstairs bedroom north wall: pink blanket on floor under window: soaking: moved it outside: hung on railing of porch
• deer came right to door: droppings on stone step!
• all rhododendrons and holly denuded
• closed dining room window since heat is on
• left living room door and back stairs' door open to dining room (curtain to kitchen closed) for air circulation/drying
• living room north wall also damaged/lampshade on phone stand stained from drip from ceiling
• Pictures to follow!

oil delivered

I am meeting Mike Jordan at the house tomorrow morning 9:30 to make sure the oil/furnace turns on properly. He called this morning to say he had delivered the oil. I'll try to remember to take pictures and update before we go to warm Hilton Head for a visit with Bob's folks!

Connie and David (T) went down to Thicut this morning and called me with a report to share:

• They went in the morning: road was pretty solid from cold night, but later in the day will be muddy again.
• Water damage from leaking: rug in dining room soaked, ceiling bulging, walls discolored
•  still more snow/ice on roof over dining room
• Connie and David closed and moved the dining room table over by the fireplace, and propped up the rug to help it dry.
• They cracked a window to let some fresh air in and smell out.
• Oil is out, basement thermometer read 39 degrees, so inside house is above freezing.
• There is not room to turn an oil truck around at the top of the driveway safely (still snowy).
• Connie talked to Rene, he is willing to meet me and add some diesel fuel to the tank if we want. I told Connie to tell him that we'd wait until the oil can be delivered. Hope that's okay.
• Connie brought water and watered the inside plants. We'll see if they revive.

oil continued

Mike from T&S called this morning. He checked out the driveway yesterday in his 4wheel truck and said he would be able to get up in his oil truck but wouldn't be able to turn around. He really didn't want to back down the hill! or back up the hill. It still had ice. I told him I'd check with Rene.
I then called Rene. He said he'd try to get down to clear out the turnaround (top of the hill towards the knoll).
He just now called back to say, there's not ice on the hill but MUD. He got stuck twice: once on the hill and once trying to clear the turnaround. 2 feet of mud he said (?). He made some ruts trying to get out, almost had to call his partner to bring chains, but managed to free himself. He's worried about the oil being out and said he could meet us there to get some diesel fuel in the tanks (Bob and I did that several years ago when the oil couldn't get delivered), but I told him that now that the temp is above freezing we'd just wait a bit for the road to dry out.
I called Mike back to tell him NOT to try to go down in his truck.
We're supposed to get lots of rain/sleet/etc this weekend, so I think we'll just have to wait til later next week.

Received a call from Rene (who said he'd call Eric as well) from the house. He'd spent the morning into early afternoon, Sunday, clearing the driveway. He brought in his back hoe! He said he'd clear a path to the oil intake pipes. He was concerned about the water pipes freezing: I told him we'd turned off the water and that I'd call Mike. A very nice man.
I called Mike at T&S heating and he said he'd get the oil delivered.
We've had above freezing weather the last several days so the snow is finally melting! The birds have begun their incessant (and beautiful to hear) spring singing. Yay, I can sense spring in the air.

I just got a call from Mike at T&S Heating. He 'investigated' the road to deliver oil today and said it wasn't plowed: there was a pile of ice at the bottom of the hill. He said to let him know when the road was passable and he'd get over there to put some more oil in. I told him I'd let you all know.