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...

A Bowling Ball, A Coat Rack and Me

One of my favorite things to do now that we've settled down is to go check out garage and estate sales on the weekends. Being directionally challenged like I am, I have to have Eldy navigate. Well, I COULD do the GPS thing, but Eldy really is getting to know his way around, and he has a built in directional system in his genes, so it's just easier if he drives. Besides, I really need someone to say, sometimes, "What are you going to do with THAT?" Notice, he DOESN'T say, "What do you need THAT for?" or "Why do you keep buying all this junk?" If he DID say those things, he'd be staying home!

He likes to check these sales out almost as much as I do. He never buys anything, but I sure do! Never spend very much, but week after week, I guess it adds up! So far, I've bought things like an assortment of silver flatware, tiny forks, spoons...gonna make a wind chime with beads and odds and ends of metal and glass...at least that's what I think I"m going to do!

Bought a bowling ball, shoes and a bag for five bucks. Not to go bowling, but to make the bowling ball into a mosaic address ball or just a mosaic gazing ball to plunk down in the yard. Here's some similar ideas behind that one....

Then I saw this coat rack for 15.00. I'd been eyeing similar ones for more than that price, but they were damaged and this one was perfect! Going to refinish it eventually. For now, I put it in the master bathroom for hanging towels and clothing...

We don't have any place next to the shower to hang a towel, except for a towel rack INSIDE the shower! Isn't that crazy? What were they thinking? I know, we need some kind of shelf where the shampoo sits. Haven't decided yet how to handle that without it looking tacky. The other two sides of the shower stall are glass so whatever we decide to do, it will show as soon as you walk into the bathroom. I'm thinking you can't get the towel bar off the tile without ripping the tiles out?

The next project is the MASTER BEDROOM. I say that in caps, because it's a BIG bedroom! Starting peeling the wallpaper off just to see if it's going to come off any easier than the bathroom paper. Once I got started, I couldn't help myself! I started peeling the paper off in sheets. Yee-hah! It comes off a LOT easier. So now I have just the brown paper to spray with water and shave off with a putty knife. Oh, boy....Might as well get some paint chips to see what color family I want to go with. Kinda went overboard, ya think?

Choices, choices...I'm thinking a nice teal color...OR a nice bronzy, tan color...Yet we have a lot of tan and copper and butterscotch in the house now...so leaning towards the teal family. Bedroom furniture is sort of a pecan color, rug is a very neutral cream color, bedspread colors are olive, khaki, tan, teal and the bathroom leading off the bedroom is a deep butterscotch......We'll see...Eldy has to weigh in first.....He'll be overwhelmed with all the color choices, and I bet he says, "Um-m-mm...I don't know, what are you thinking?" and I'll say...."Oh, probably one of the teal colors"...And maybe it will be as easy as that!  HA! Didn't think so...he says he likes the pinkish brown family of colors. Guess I will be painting the walls in sample colors, the neutral color on one wall, and the teal color on another, and then we'll take another vote...

Gotta get working'...It's Labor Day!