If today’s headline doesn’t make you smile, or if it simply doesn’t make sense, that’s okay. It’s a Boomer thing.
I seem to remember hearing Bob Hope say “now you’re cookin’ with gas” in a comedy routine. The phrase was picked up by the “Happy Days” TV series, set in the ’50s. And on and on. It was still being used in the ’70s.
The slogan goes back to a post-Depression-era ad campaign by the natural-gas industry.
I rolled up to Miller Hardware shortly before 7:30am yesterday morning to find the doors already open and a half-dozen customers inside. Exchanging the bad parts was a breeze. I dashed back home, hoping to get everything buttoned up before storms rolled in.
I pulled out the tools I needed, assembled the regulated gas line on the kitchen table, hooked it up and checked for leaks. (To do that, I sprayed soapy water on all the joints and looked for bubbles.) I found just one — it was downstream from the parts I replaced, which was a good sign.
With everything tightened up, I turned the knob for the right-front burner to LITE — and it lit. I repeated the process for the other four burners, as well as the oven/broiler.
Nice blue flames. Success!
The last step was to adjust the simmer setting for each range burner as low as possible, then check the air shutter for the oven burner. That was easy enough. I may play around with it more as I gain experience with the stove.
Finally, I ducked into the camper and plucked the baking stone from the floor of its small oven. A stone is an old trick to even-out heat distribution in gas ovens, which are notorious for hot spots.
I gave it a light scrub (just water) and set it out to dry. It now has a new home in the cabin’s oven.
Getting this stove up and running is a big deal to me. It feels like a big step. I’m pretty thrilled.
As much as I wanted to break-in the new stove last night — even if it was only frozen pizza — I was focused on the weather. It was the sort of ominous all-hazards threat I could’ve foreshadowed here for days, like I have before.
The National Weather Service put The Mountain at “moderate” risk of severe weather, level four of five. Serious business, and the worst was predicted to hit after nightfall.
On top of that, all of Ozarkansas was placed under a flood watch. My neighbors and I were staring down the barrel of three or four inches of rain in a very short time.
Rain showers started around 5pm. Then the forecast did its customary dance — onset, duration, and expected severity kept changing. The NWS issued a tornado watch running ’til 2am CDT.
The inevitable tornado warning came down at 8:19pm. It was supposed to be in effect through 9pm but was lifted early in favor of a “special weather statement” about strong thunderstorms.
Heavy rain and strong wind lashed The Mountain for hours. Power got knocked out before midnight.
When I woke up around 3:15am, it was back on and the rain had stopped. Radar showed that one more round of storms would hit before dawn.
It’ll be interesting to see how much rain actually fell overnight, and if there was any wind damage to speak of.
So ends an eventful 24 hours on The Mountain. It’s great to be here.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable