19 years ago today

Friday October 2nd, 1998 , found me, a veteran kindergarten teacher, suffering from laryngitis as the school year had recently begun. T had the day off to help her dad with some errands. Late in the afternoon, while T was doing some cleaning upstairs here,  our schnauzer began to bark signaling an intruder in her territory. T saw that it was the oil company doing a first of the season delivery. We were regular customers on an automatic delivery schedule. This company had installed the system for my grandparents when they moved here in 1928. Luckily, we had a very strong oil tank in the basement, it stayed intact, but the expansion joints were taxed as the oil delivery guy added at least 250 gallons when we probably only needed 25 gallons at the most. He was obviously not paying attention and did not react to the emergency whistle signaling that the tank was full. T began to smell oil upstairs and came out as he was finally noticing the situation. It was an old installation and the overfill vent was not beside the fill  as is now done to prevent the delivery person missing this type of accident. The company had inspected the tank a month before, everything was reported in shipshape condition. So, as he was smoking by the truck, hundreds of gallons of oil were pouring out on the other side of the piazza, on the ground, into an old cistern that collected rain water and the old dirt basement. When T came out it had begun to pour out of the fill as well. He claimed it could be cleaned up with kitty litter, T knew better and called the fire department. When I came home we were still under the impression that it would be cleaned up easily, but soon the authorities arrived and sparing you the complicated and nightmare details, it took 11 months. We lived in a 60 foot  mobile home in our driveway. Tons of oily soil and rubble were excavated from around and under the house(which was slightly lifted on I beams). The contents of the  house had to be emptied and unbelievably our furniture was held hostage by a mover without credentials. The insurance company that insured the oil company neglected to verify the guy's license. He took them for a ride hoping for more money in a scam that apparently was in fashion at that time. That was just the beginning of almost a full year of events to difficult to even write about now. My dad had died in the winter of 98, so the months were very hard before the spill. Together, T and I prevailed and saved our house, one very special to me all my life as it was my maternal grandparents' home, just up a short path from my childhood house next door. We changed to gas heat and still cringe if we see Campello Keith Oil trucks on the road.

For the Record.
This day came in bright and cool, very much the same as the beautiful weather back in 1998.

All hands grieving over the horrific loss of life in Las Vegas. We have been there twice, both times as a quick stop off on the way to the magnificent Grand Canyon. When will we change our gun laws is all I can say? How many deaths from these insane automatic weapons must we endure?