Nothing Like a False Alarm to Scare the Pants Off You!

Went out to the garage this morning and smelled GAS.....We usually go through the questioning process first, so that's what we did...I called Eldy out to the garage...But first, I opened up the garage door (that was dumb, it's electrical and could cause a spark to ignite gas). I wanted it to air out....

"Eldy, I smell gas in the garage. C'mere...Do you smell something?"
"No, I don't smell anything."
"Are you sure???? You don't smell that?"
"Nope." He goes back inside. I shut the garage door..... If he doesn't smell anything it might just be my imagination or super sensitive nose to any kind of odors, or that the open garage door dissipated the smell... He goes back out in a few minutes...
"I do smell something now... Better call the gas company."

They came out within the hour...the guy said he smelled something, but it smelled like fertilizer, he said. He checked the in ground propane tank that our home USED to use for its fuel system but had been converted over to natural gas. There was a slight leak there. Apparently, the old tank buried in the ground was so old, it might be starting to rust. There was a little propane in it he said, enough to make his $5,000.00 sniff-a-meter go off. Nothing to alarm in the level, he said. But he didn't think that was causing the smell in the garage, the tank is not connected to the house and is quite a few yards from it. After lots more investigating, checking the pipes, the water heater, the lines, he said the smell is probably coming off the golf course! With all the rains we've been having, the golf course is having to adjust their fertilizing schedules, changing the PH of the greens, etc., and new applications of fertilizers are wafting through the neighborhood with the up tick of the winds blowing now that slightly cooler air has moved into the area. They've had five "smell gas" calls in the last two days from people living in homes on the golf courses in the area. So the fertilizer smell was the smell we were smelling! Whew!

It turns out that in our neighborhood, built in the 1990's, many of the homes still use propane. We are one of the lucky houses in the area that has already converted over to natural gas for heating. But the propane storage tank is still in the ground with a very small amount of propane in it. The gas company guy said to make it totally safe, we should call a propane company or heating company to come out and do a "burn off"....haven't had a campfire in so long, that might be kinda cool to see that!  :-) Have to find out the cost first.

What else is new? Finished my witch's hat to sell in my Etsy shop, JeanBeanGifts. Lots of hand embroidery on it and I had a lot of fun making it. If it doesn't sell, it's our hall table decoration for the month of October.

Made another item, but not to sell...This is a counted cross stitch pillow, and it's now hanging on the guest bedroom doorknob.

Found a lovely crocheted table runner or "dresser scarf" as my mom used to call these...for 3.00 at an estate sale. It looks just like my grandma's that she used to crochet! And, it fits the hall table we got at another estate sale (75.00) perfectly!

I'm running out of decorating and painting projects for inside the house! Time to make a tooth fairy pillow for my grandson and get back to working on my daughter's running tee shirts quilt. Bye for now...