The events that influenced us to grill in heavy rain tonight started 2 weeks ago. We decided to fence in a small area behind out garage to allow our puppy Luxie and her occasional friend Kaz (our daughter’s Boston Terrier) some space to run freely as we enjoy the occasional bonfire. We hired Affordable Fencing Solutions (not a sponsor) and called 811 to mark all the underground stuff. 811 indicated the only thing in the area was our propane line from an underground tank and that the propane company would have to mark that for us. We called them, and a few days later they arrived to show us where not to dig.
I’m not familiar with the instrument they used to find the propane line but it didn’t seem to work very well. The technician could not identify exactly where the line ran and after making enough dots to play twister on believed it was one of the three possibilities he marked. One area was a fairly large span so we decided that was a great place for the gate! With the line marked, the fencing crew started their project and were digging one of the last post holes when we found where the propane line really was (when they heard and smelled the propane). It wasn’t their fault, they were no where near any of the marks, and fortunately nothing bad happened. We quickly turned off the propane tank, notified the propane company, and then had to redo our fence line to avoid where we now knew the line traveled.
The fence was then completed without any other incident, but the saga doesn’t end there. I called the propane company to inform them that all of their markings were wrong and that a repair was needed. Knowing that I had safely secured the tank they informed me that they could schedule the repair in 8 days, but would try to get here sooner.
The finished fence is awesome and we enjoyed a bon fire last evening while Luxie explored her new domain on her own. But here we are with no heat or stove and will probably move into the RV for a few days. Until then we are leveraging the grill and the microwave (or the delivery option) to prepare our meals. Tonight we are “cast iron braising” on the grill. Unfortunately it’s a very rainy day but hey, life is an adventure, right?
