Dad and his oilfield take-homes...

Dad was surprisingly handy with some tasks, and not with others. For example, he and Mom built the forms and poured a concrete edging strip around the lawn in the backyard; he put up a tether ball pole for us in the backyard (that doubled as a pole for the clothesline). I think they put the sprinkler system in front and back, and Dad planted a wonderful hybrid bermuda lawn, like the kind used for golf greens; the lawn was like a carpet, and wonderful to play on...

This beautiful hybrid bermuda grass required a special lawnmower that would mow extra low. Dad would periodically bring home things from the oilfield; in this case a particularly clear and lovely crude oil that was such high grade that it would need little refining... I remember it looked like dark honey and smelled lovely. So Dad ran out of oil for the lawn mower and used that instead. It worked fo a couple of months before the engine gummed up sufficiently to require a full rebuild.

I believe he added a hose bib in the front yard, or moved it. At any rate, he used some oil field pipe to do the work, attaching it to existing house copper piping... I remember this distinctly because the weight of the steel pipes attached to the softer copper pipes caused the copper pipe to break, causing a fountain of water next the the front porch on a holiday weekend while one of us kids was running a high fever; Mom made Dad call in a plumber regardless of the cost (who can be without water with a sick kid?).

This is maybe why I'm so distrustful of Scott's home improvements, which, incidentally, have never caused a problem...