I asked if I could borrow it, but they didn't think that was a good idea:
This is the gas company digging for the 'curb box.' A Curb Box is not a box at all, but a small round access to a shut-off valve. It's an added security to prevent gas leaks. Of course, the gas is turned off to the building because there is no meter; there's a cap on the line. The curb box allows the gas company to shut off the gas going from the main line to where the meter should be. Because we have to replace the line from the meter hook-up to the curb box, the gas company had to actually find the curb box. Theoretically, the metal detector should have found the round cover of the curb box, but after unearthing a spark plug and other miscellaneous items buried just a few inches down, it was time to try something else. So, after several attempts with different tools (that I didn't really understand, but they were designed to trace the pipes running underground) -over the course of several days- it couldn't be located. That's why the backhoe is here today. They actually had to dig up a pretty wide area (as you can see from the picture) to find it. I think they had to extend the pipe by a foot or two also -to get it up to ground level- but I missed that part; I just got here as they were finishing up today.
Even if I could use the backhoe to dig the trench for the new line, it would have only been useful for about half of it. The rest of the line, as the hillside drops down toward the building, gets pretty steep and at the rear of the building it wouldn't have fit at all; there's a rock wall -apparently it used to be a part of an oven (I'll get into this more later as I start filling in the history of the 123)- that creates a tier in half of the backyard.
Here's the northeast corner where the gas meter used to sit (actually two gas meters: one for the first floor dentist office and one for the second floor insurance agency, but we only need one):
You can see the jungle greenery already starting again. The lighter color brick at the upper right corner of the picture is -or was- a window. It was bricked in probably about the same time as the first floor was redone for the dentist office - about 1969.
As for digging in the new gas line: if we use machinery at all, it'll have to be a very small trench digger. Or perhaps just shovels and elbow grease. And sweat. Fortunately, if what the backhoe was digging up is any indication, the ground is not too hard and the dirt is very pretty from all the years of jungle-growth.
And, speaking of the pretty soil... (
Click here to read about the jungle, including mulberry trees.)
Here is a picture of a new leaf that is growing out of the mulberry-tree stump:
All the leaves are not shaped like this, but it's the most interesting shape of them all. I googled images for mulberry trees and I am pretty sure that's what this is, though I didn't spend enough time to figure out which species.
While I was outside taking pictures of the gas company dig, I saw this:
This is a volunteer sunflower at the northwest corner. It's up on the hillside on top of the first rock wall. The pipe to the left of it is the gutter drain. You can see the old screen door that I left open when I came out the back, although I am actually down in the parking lot to snap this picture.
I was tempted to leave out this next picture, a wider angle, just because this one shows some duct work in the parking lot:
But, I suppose duct work as a temporary parking lot accessory is not such a bad thing; we're not finished gutting the first floor yet, either, so there will probably be even weirder things in the parking lot before we're through.
And one more:
The fellows from the gas company are on the upper street just finishing up. I'm still standing in the parking lot. You can barely see the little yellow head of the sunflower between the drain pipe and the duct pipes, but this picture starts to give you an idea of the hillside/rock wall tiers of the back lot.
Enough for now....
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