[AT] Another trip to Iowa for a wedding June 12th

[Robinson]

Dean VP wrote:

> George:
> 
> Must be some big event in Indianapolis. The hotels in Indy are close
> already!
> 
> Dean A. Van Peursem
> Snohomish, WA 98290
> 



	I'll check into the rate hike. I have never rented a motel 
room in Shelbyville... Not even by the hour.   ;-)
	May gets everything tied up for the Indy 500 but that will 
be long over by then. Maybe some NASCAR event at the track? 
Maybe something at Indiana Downs only 6 miles north west of 
me? I can pretty well guarantee you that it is not because 
of our local clubs show the week before.  :-) I'll try to 
see what the deal is.

	I'm just starting to catch up on my email tonight. I was 
gone much of yesterday then my mother walked down almost 
clutching her chest like Red Foxx. Her natural gas bill has 
been running about $200 to $260 a month for the winter. The 
bill she had in her hand was for $930... We thought maybe it 
was a miss-read of the meter so Diana called them for a 
reading check. They looked at it this morning and not only 
was it right but it was waaay higher just in the last 
week... They shut if off for safety. We called son Scott at 
work to have him bring home a locator with him tonight. He 
located and marked it and its branches in a short time. 
Great device. I called a good friend and neighbor that has 
worked for the gas company for about 40 years and he gave me 
plugs and seals to disconnect the meter and plug the line so 
I could pressure test the line with compressed air. I went 
to the meeting of the local tractor club tonight and when I 
got home he had called and said don't do anything until he 
gets here and we will check it with gas instead. He will 
bring a "sniffer" with him.
	We put those lines in about 40 years ago. My friend with 
the company had done the trenching as a moonlight job, my 
father and I installed the pipe and I backfilled it all 
using a Bolens EK-10 with a front blade. Much of it was in 
places where a big tractor wouldn't fit well.
	Getting almost on topic... I tried very hard to talk my 
parents into putting down a gas well back then (there is gas 
under the farm) but pipeline gas was cheap then. If we had 
put down a well I would have since converted many of the 
tractors and the trucks over to compressed natural gas.
-- 



"farmer"

Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today.


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net