More On My Oil Tank

This post was prompted by yesterday's oil delivery, when I went out this morning to secure the tank.

Ever since the first term of The Jackass Obummer, when home heating oil hit its all time high of $4.19 per gallon, I have had a locking cap on my oil tank. Since diesel and heating oil is the same fuel, just taxed differently, people were stealing it from unsecured tanks. Homes, schools, businesses, and municipalities lost lots of fuel to thieves sucking it right out of the tanks at night. My issue is living a mile down a back country road, and the view to my house is obscured by woods and a steep hill. Even during the middle of the day, a truck parked in the driveway sucking my tank dry would probably go unnoticed and unseen. So, since the winter of 2008-2009 my tank has been locked in the following manner.

The open locking cap on my fill pipe

The cap screws on to the threads where the original cap was, and is secured from removal by a pair of set screws. While this will not stop a determined thief, the whole idea is to make the run of the mill scumbag look elsewhere for an easy score.

Closed and you can see where the padlock goes

This is the padlock I use. No exposed shackle means bolt cutters are useless.

I have three of these locks from back when I had three 10'x30' storage units that held my stuff while we had our house built. 

Closed and locked until next delivery

I had never heard any stories of oil being stolen from homes, but I try to think like a criminal. Follow the oil truck around for the day and take note who has a nice full tank, then go after the easy pickings. Same thing with my generator being chained to the deck during a long outage. All you have to do is drive around and listen to where one is running and grab it. I try to make things difficult.

"FUCK JOE BIDEN!!"

I am getting a delivery of home heating oil today. I am not on automatic delivery. I know how much we use and keep an eye on the tank gauge, and call for a delivery when the gauge goes below 1/4. When oil was less than $2 per gallon, a fill up cost not quite $400. I have a 330 gallon tank, which can only hold 300 gallons, so when I call for a delivery it's 200+ gallons.

So I called the oil company yesterday and was told the price per gallon is $3.49/gallon cash or pay in 7 days price. The minimum delivery is 150 gallons or you pay a $15 surcharge. So I ordered a minimum delivery which is going to cost me a whopping $523.50! You wanna tell me again how shutting down pipelines, drilling, fracking, coal mines, and other means of energy independence by executive order on day one of (p)Resident* Gropey Joey's administration isn't the cause? DELUSIONAL FUCKING LIARS!

Never mind the fact that a fill up on my truck that was $40 prior to 1-20-21 is now $75. Is it any wonder gas station attendants can't scrape these off the pumps fast enough?

 

Bleah!

As a real American Patriot, I normally don't give a rats ass about the British monarchy. It is just background noise. That said, all over the news the past few days is the statement from Queen Elizabeth, that upon her demise when her eldest son ascends to the throne, Charles' wife shall be called "Queen Consort." They just did a segmant about it on Newsmax. Gross.

That jackass divorced one of the world's most gorgeous women, to marry his fucking horse.

Eagles!

 I left my house this morning just before 10:30 to go on a solo shopping trip. Advance Auto Parts, Staples, Lowe's, Agway, BJ's, and finally some lunch. I got home and put everything away before composing this post.

I live a mile from the main road. As I got down near the intersection, I see my neighbor that lives down that end standing in the middle of the road, using a pair of binoculars, and looking up in the sky to the north. I pull up to him and ask what he's looking at. He has a big smile on his face, and he says, "Not one, but TWO Eagles!" I park my truck right there and hop out for a look myself.

If you have never seen American Bald Eagles in the wild, you are deprived of a fantastic sight. I have seen so many over the years within 25 miles of my house in many different settings. Most of the time they are in flight, and they are easy to spot. First, they are huge birds, with a wingspan of 6-8'. Their body and wings are dark brown while the head and tail is brilliant white. Very contrasting, especially against a bright blue sky. Other ways I've seen them is perched in trees, on the ground in someone's while yard returning to town with the ambulance, on the shore of a lake eating a fish, and flying from tree to tree down a river staying ahead of us in our kayaks. We got really close to the one on shore as we drifted along in our canoe. He flew off with his fish as we slid past and got behind him. Must have made him nervous.

For the most part, the two eagles today were soaring near each other but in independent circles. Then all of a sudden they had a brief aerial tussle but no loss of altitude. I read that is supposed to be a territorial thing for breeding season. However, after only a few seconds of battle, they began soaring together in formation about 10 feet apart. They continued to fly this way until I left a minute or two later. Of course, when I came home a few hours later, they were gone.

There are plenty of bodies of water and waterways in town, so I am sure I will be seeing them again as the weather warms up.

This Is How I Know Its Been Cold

Besides the fact that spending any amount of time outside doing anything not properly covered up and have the beginnings of frostbite. We have had multiple days in the teens and twenties, with single digits and below zero at night. One early morning last week, my truck outside temperature read -6 F as I pulled into the firehouse.

My house has a 12'x18' all wood outdoor deck that is completely open to the elements. I rehabbed it last spring in this post. When it is this cold out, it makes all kinds of noise expanding in sunlight and contracting in the dark. Pops and bangs so loud, it sounds like someone hitting the deck just outside the door with a large hammer. It freaks out my female standard poodle, my other dogs not so much. I try to keep it shoveled and clear, since it is a means of escape from a fire or other emergency. Right now it is covered with the icy crust we received the other day, but not enough to shovel and it will be gone in the next couple of days. Easy enough to open the door and walk out.