Liquid gold

Propane shortages across the Midwest have reached the crisis stage, and it’s hitting home at Loveless. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency last weekend, which means that National Guard troops can knock on doors to make sure people aren’t in danger.

It's seriously scary. In news reports, people are turning their thermostats way down to conserve what little is left in their tanks, and are using electric blankets and space heaters to make it through the below-zero nights. About 250,000 rural Wisconsin residents rely on propane to heat their houses.

Prices now top $5 a gallon. When I filled my tank last March, I paid $1.53. I read somewhere that's the equivalent of paying $13 a gallon to fill up your car's gas tank. 

The shortage is caused by a colder-than-normal winter, the shutdown of a key supply pipeline and heavy use of propane by farmers to dry out their grain last fall, experts say.

This is my first full year using an LP tank and, like everything else about this Loveless experience of mine, I’m proving my creds as a damn clueless city chick. I have no earthly idea how long a tank of liquid propane lasts.

The last time I was at the lake I failed to trudge through the thigh-high snow to check the gauge. Now I’m kicking myself. But I’m part of the elite. When I go up this weekend, I’m checking on my year-round neighbors.