A Close Call

(The house before the snow)


I saw my life flash before my eyes... Okay, so it wasn't that close of a call. But I did wonder what it would be like to blow up.

Tuesday night after our Youth activities at the church, Ryan and I drove up to our Woodland Hills house, which we'd been away from since Sunday night. As soon as we pulled into the garage we heard a sound as of "rushing wind," and smelled that dangerous smell. Natural Gas. We quickly discovered the source of the sound and smell--the gas meter. It was smashed and broken. Who would do such a horrendous deed? Old Man Winter.

Let me start by saying we still have several feet of snow on the ground up there. The snow built up on the roof, melted slowly to form a thick layer of ice (topped with more snow), and finally slid off the roof landing on the gas meter. We expect there must have been some acrobatics involved, judging by the location of the landing.

Upon the discovery of the source, we immediately called the gas company. They told us we could shut it off with a wrench, so we shut it off, opened all the windows in the house (avoiding turning on any lights or doing anything that might cause a spark), and waited outside in the cold for 45 minutes. Finally the gas man came and replaced the meter. We created a shelter to prevent another incident with the gas meter, and closed up the house. And FYI, the gas man does relight your pilot lights for you (so we knew it was safe).

In the end it all turned out fine (minus the hefty gas bill we will soon recieve--and the hundreds of dollars we will be charged for the meter replacement and visit). But we kept thinking of the house in Saratoga Springs that blew up from a gas problem last year. We were grateful for the uneventful outcome that we were blessed with.