Relocating the propane gas tank

On April 30th, the concrete pad for the propane gas tank was poured. You can see the tank in the background, up close to the house. We will build a privacy fence around it so it won't be so unsightly.

This picture shows that the pad is placed out by the garage, and it is on the west side of it. We couldn't put it on the east side because that's where we have our big regular gas tank. Not a good idea to have two types of gas stored so close together.

On May 13th, the plumber arrived with this cute little baby backhoe and a crew to dig the trench for the gas line so we can have the propane tank moved. The older man in the light blue shirt is the dad. You can see him giving instructions to his son who is driving the backhoe. The younger man working in the ditch doing the manual labor is a nephew.

As Denis said, "they are getting a little bit of dirt out of the trench." Mostly it was rock, and some mighty big ones too. Notice the rock in the bucket of the backhoe in this shot. It's a wonder the backhoe stays on the ground.

Today Denis wasn't the ditch digger, but the supervisor. That's a tiring job too, just watching and worrying.

Like Nigel, I stayed in the house until all the workers were gone. Then I came out to inspect the work and serve as model to show off the biggest of the rocks. This is only half. They left the other half in the ground.

Here are most of the bigger rocks they uncovered. The smaller ones they put back in on top of the gas line. These will be used as filler for the foundation work next week. Nigel and Annie happily served as models for this picture. Annie thinks it's great that all these people come to see her. Nigel doesn't.

And here's the completed, filled in trench from the house to the new pad. The gas company will be here next week to moved the tank and hook up the line. The dogs like the fresh dirt to lay on. That's our tractor in the background, not the backhoe.