The Arrival of Fall

Fall has finally come to the Midwest, though not necessarly in as bright and cheery a manner as this picture would seem to suggest. The past two days have been rainy and unseasonably cold, a prelude, I fear, of things to come. Given the rising cost of gas bills, I find myself entering the winter season with a genuine sense of foreboding.

My wife and I rent an older house in a historic section of the city. It didn’t take long for us to realize that there were real drawbacks to living in an older home. When we met with our landlord in September to sign our lease, he showed us pictures of the house as it had existed when he and his wife first moved into it. One photograph, taken in midwinter, showed frost on the baseboards in the living room. At the time I assumed that the problem had been resolved. While the water in our dogs' bowl never actually froze, I'm not sure I could say our situation was a comfortable one. The countless gaps in the windows and door casings often made it seem as if we were living outside. In fact, there were evenings when we chose to take walks in the cold so that, having returned home, we could momentarily enjoy the sensation of being in a heated home.

Though we set the furnace to sixty-nine degrees, we were seldom able to heat the downstairs above sixty-three (we gave up on the upstairs which was akin to the Arctic Tundra). Recognizing the futility of our situation, we finally chose to abandon the cause and set the furnace to sixty-three. Doing only caused the temperature to fall further. Desperate for heat, we purchased a small ceramic heater which we carried with us from room to room. This year we intend to upgrade to actual space heaters.

In an absurd way, I find myself in a battle with the gas company, one I’m not sure that I can win. In my single days, I would have gladly walked around the house wearing a ski jacket and pants prior to paying an outrageous bill. As a married man, however, I am required to make certain concessions, one of which may include my turning on the gas.