Don't Go Down-Cellar Alone

Texas can't have basements because of soggy ground and other stuff, I'm told. But virtually all the houses in New England have basements. Some people call them cellars. Our landlord, when speaking of the basement, will say, "Well, you know, I can't go down-cellar anymore. I can't drag the oxygen tank down with me." He's 85. And he's right - he has no business going "down-cellar."

You know that part in "Home Alone" when Kevin goes down to the basement to do laundry because he's being responsible? And it's dark and quiet and all kinds of creepy? Then the furnace kicks in and scares the living daylights out of him so he runs upstairs just as fast as his legs will carry him? Yeah, our basement is that kind of scary. I also know better than to go down there by myself at night. I take that back. I don't EVER go down there at night, period.

I thought I might give you an idea of what our basement looks like. It's been partitioned off so we have half and our landlord has the other. It would be very large if it weren't for the fence/wall in the middle. The first picture is of the stairs leading down - with no handrails mind you. The second is of our half. Down there is a 200 gallon tank used to hold oil since much of Maine is on top of granite. Granite is too hard to drill through, which means none of the houses have gas. It also means that we have to check the oil level in the tank every few months so we don't run on sludge. The last picture is of the furnace. And let me tell you, that thing will definitely have you screaming like Macaulay Culkin if you're not expecting it when it kicks in. I've been known to high tail it out of there on a hand full of occasions.