Good thing I’m a weak and twiggy old bald fart with barely enough strength to lift a glass of red wine and not a mighty young-country tree-chopper and oxen-handler or I might have done some real damage.
Still I need the exercise, and the challenge was unmistakable: Man vs. Plant.
My dream of destroying a 100-year old Zinfandel vine out of sheer cussedness in search of gold was also (thankfully) dashed by the evidence uncovered.
My idea of fun does not usually involve raising a drenching sweat before 8:00AM, but then in far-off Cubicle-land the temperature is always the same, an even 78-degrees, not affected by the early scorching hot sun of the lower Western Slope.
So I got the new shovel and dug the flush-cut stumps of something vaguely vine-like with gnarly roots, perhaps a grape?
Fortunately I did not dig far enough or with heavy-equipment to cause serious damage, but now I need one of those caution signs for the yard: “Warning, Do Not Dig” – one is white and the other is yellow.
Not Clauswitz 
So I want to hear more about this grapevine. Any chance it will produce grapes and you can take up a new hobby?
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There were too and they were flush-cut off at the base, I wouldn’t have found them but I tripped over them. I think there are better vines to plant, the “certified” ones come from UC Davis so you can be assured they are Zin, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Barbera – or whatever – not some mystery-Mission or Welch’s 🙂
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Is the yellow a plastic or metal item? I’m thinking a metal detector might be a useful and fun thing to have out there. If buried fresh, you can mark it with metallic tape(?-designed for the job) to make tracking it later an easier/safer job.
Damn things are never routed where you would think they should be. The original lay-out logic may not be applicable later on.
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It’s plastic. With the recent age of the house, I’m surprised someone decided to plant grapes right on top – then somebody cut down the grapes and planted plum trees, worst case scenario (and nasty trees) that I can think of.
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Ohhhh, That was close! If I were you I’d get them to come out and mark the feeds/conduits/pipes so you have some clue where they are!
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Since we’re on a propane tank and not city gas or PG&E it could be anywhere and it’s my own responsibility! The yellow (gas/propane) must take a left and head to the house just after where I found it.
The electrical panel is on the corner, coming through a big cable off a pole – is not under-grounded. I think the white pipe might be drip-line.
The flip-side and good news is PG&E can’t blow-torch my neighborhood like the did San Bruno, then try to pass-off the cost of repairs and lawsuits onto me anymore.
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