If I had a space for titles on my posts, I'd call this one "I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried".

Back when we moved to France in July, there was no hot water in the house. The heater wasn't working, even though the fuel gauge said that we had nearly 1000 litres in the tank. But I suspected that the gauge was broken, as it and the tank are both very, very old - ancient artifacts that belong in a museum and not my cellar. So, I went ahead and ordered a fuel delivery.

But it turned out that the gage wasn't broken. Mr. Fuel Delivery Guy told me that he could barely stuff in 3000 litres, rather than the 4000 I had ordered.

Hence, gauge not broken.

In fact, the problem was simply that the burner needed to be cleaned.

Fast forward to last night: I had been crazy busy all day, tackling another one of my epic projects. I was just finishing up when JP came up to me and said that he thought the heat was off. I hadn't noticed it getting cooler in the house, as I had been so active. But he was right.

And then Alexa called down from the bathroom that her shower was COLD!

No good could come from any of this.

JP said "I think we're out of fuel."

I said "Nonsense. the guage says we have over 1000 litres left. I just checked."

"I think it's broken" he countered.

"What are you? The Psychic Friends Network? It's NOT broken. The Fuel Guy just told me in July that the thing is FINE." and I charged off to the cellar in a huff.

I checked the gauge. Yes, it read well over 1000.

Then I checked the furnace. The distress light on the burner was on. I tried to restart it. No go.

I went back upstairs, where JP said "Out of fuel, huh?"

But I wasn't having any of it.

"No we're NOT. Call the repairman."

The repairman arrived about an hour later. He fussed around a bit in the cellar and then came up to inform us that...we were out of fuel.

Yep. JP was right. My husband apparently has a psychic link with our fuel tank. Who knew?

The next step was to call for a delivery. But nobody would come out in the night, so we'd have to wait until morning. We put a space heater in the twins' room and filled hot water bottles for everyone. Sleeping under down quilts, we'd all be fine.

Just as we fell asleep, the last thing I heard JP say was "At least it's not cold.."

Of course, we woke up to a HUGE snowstorm and the house was freezing. JP got the fireplace going early in the morning. A bit later I got the woodstove fired up, as well.

Just as I got it going, the fuel delivery guys called. They couldn't come quickly because of the storm - maybe TOMORROW morning...

I kind of feel like I'm living in an episode of Frontier House. I've had to keep the fires going all day and boil gallons of water for washing. All I need are a few cows to milk...