I can't wait to go to Stowe (which will be a definite destination when I visit Nick this weekend)!! Fresh powder... hmmm.. I also got new snow boats (much needed as I was going to wear completely inappropriate sneakers) - they are currently in LOUISVILLE after traveling through Illinois and Indiana. Somehow they are scheduled for delivery to me tomorrow - UPS tracker is amazing! As for Stowe, look here and here to see what I am looking forward too.

This morning was really quite entertaining. I woke up fairly early for me (about 6:45) and went outside to play a little bit of fetch with Apache before I got ready and noticed this pipe sticking up out of my ground in one of Apache's holes (I'm working on getting her to stop digging up my yard..).

The saga

The pipe was weird 'cause it was kind of bent out of shape and brittle, and had a fitting at the end like it was supposed to attach to something. It was hollow - meaning it could be for gas or water. I figured it was construction debris, and went to dig the rest of it out, but about 6 inches away from the hole, the pipe was connected to a GOOD pipe, one that was in good shape, strong, and, as I continued digging (I dug about 4 feet of the length of the pipe up) was going in the direction of my house. Uh oh.

(Picture this, here I am, with the shovel my mom just mailed me as a Christmas gift, in the backyard, digging up pipe, in MY BATHROBE -thank god for six foot privacy fences - and my dog was watching me with a "what the hell are you doing" look, at 7 a.m. I felt like I was reliving a scene from the movie The 'Burbs, and I was the crazy neighbor burying bodies in my backyard.)

Now, I get worried, this is actually a good pipe, and judging by the fittings, should be attached to something. Did Apache unattach it? So I enlarged my lovely hole even MORE in the other direction to try to figure out what it should be attached to. No luck. In a panic, I spoke to Mom, Mom's boyfriend David, and my father. No ideas there. Finally, I called the utility company (which as a public service, apparently, inspects things like this for free), and came to work. (All the time, trying not to be annoyed by repeating the mantra "I love my house, I love my house, I love my house" and hoping that it was a non-exploding water line rather than an exploding gas line!)

The Punchline

So, I was telling my co-workers about my morning adventure. Matt laughed at me and said I should just put a match on Apache's coller and send her digging and see what catches on fire. Then, wise George, said "It has a fitting on the end? Hm. I bet you its right next to the concrete patio slab?" Yes, it is, George, how did you know that? "Silly Becca, its a gas line for a built-in gas grill!" This is where Gavin chirps in "That's a really common option in new houses here!"

The Conslusion

Now, why didn't I think of that? First of all, WHO, in the realm of normal people, HAS A BUILT-IN GAS GRILL IN THEIR BACKYARD? Apparently its a "very common option" in the hobunk land that is Houston, Texas. Now I'm wrestling with the desire to say "well, now that I know I have a line, I NEED to get a built-in grill". That is, for all the meat I eat :). I am also kicking myself for not figuring this whole thing out ahead of time -- on my disclosure the Sellers checked "Yes" to the Built-In grill question, since there obviously was no grill in the backyard, I asked my realtor to call and see what they meant, and they didn't know. So this means they pretty much copied the disclosure from the people who owned the house before them (they only lived there 1 year), who were the ones who opted to build in a gas line for the grill. I also think its funny that, for all the patio slab, Apache decided to dig a hole in the one place that the grill line was -- it must've smelled like meat or other good people-food or something.