Sunday, it was very cold and very windy here in Richmond, VA. I was having one of my barometric headaches, or is it a sinus headache? In any case, I was lying about all day waiting for it to go away. About 430 in the afternoon, I heard a loud, dull crash, thud, which shook the house. I thought maybe Chuck dropped a bunch of artwork in his studio. He came into the little room I was in, thinking I'd fallen off the couch. (Wait a minute, I wouldn't have made such a thud or shake!!) We couldn't find anything wrong. I said that the wind probably blew our chimney down, ha ha ha. About an hour and a half later, the house felt really cold, like no heat. I got under the covers. Chuck went down to make something, came up to tell me that he smelled gas and the stove wouldn't light. I said "Call the gas company." He did. He came back and said "We have to leave the house." Out into the cold we went with the dog. Police came, a firetruck came, all very loud, sirens blaring. Five firefighters with an axe went into the house. In the end, it turned out the the wind had blown an old pipe off the side of the house and it crashed into the gas meter, knocking the gas pipe off. So we had no gas coming into the house. We were without heat until 11 a.m. Monday on the coldest night we've had in a long time. 18 degrees F. Could have been worse. The house could have blown up! See the big, old, heavy pipe, see the new gas meter. Today, we have a new pipe, it's plastic.
