Black Gold, Texas Tea

 We had struck oil!

In the front yard.
The house had an in ground oil tank firing the heating system that had been in constant use since the houses' construction 80 years earlier. Prior to closing these tanks must be removed by the seller with proof of no soil contamination. By the time the back hoe had been delivered we had been under contract for three weeks and the clock was ticking on the rental and mortgage rates. This needed to get done. But, we waited, and waited (three weeks than four) and no tank pull. To placate us we were assured it would be a clean pull. The top soil test was clean. The tank could come out on Monday we could close on Friday.
Monday rolls around, the yard is full of witnesses to the event. The city, the oil company's insurance man, the oil tank recovery contractor, All American Oil Recovery. Digging commences and at 12' feet below the surface the oil tank appeared. And it is a mother... 12' long, 4' diameter, 1000 gallon 1/4" thick steal (prices per barrel of crude in 1930 were approx.$1.50/barrel equivalent to $10.00 in today's dollars verses $118.00/ barrel today.) Fun filling up that baby, get your check book ready. The house burns 250 gallons a month.

Lets cut this baby open and see what's what...All American Oil Recovery handles these tank pulls with a synchronicity Esther Williams would have approved of.  Truck, tools and contractors arrive and depart seamlessly. The tank top having been exposed was cut open, drained of the 500 gallons still inside and then Jim, a man of approx. 6' 3" height  hopped right on in and scrubbed the inside of that thing. All parties thought "Hey, this just might be a good one".

Oh man... A series of 1" holes across the bottom of the tank. Everyone scatters.  I stand on the the side of the road staring at my future home that has just become an environmental hazard site complete with orange fencing. Two weeks later an even larger cadre of people descend, and more digging starts. One full day into digging (the original hole had to be filled in after the tank pull) the soil is still very contaminated.  The leaks had developed shortly after the house was built, men in the know were saying, and had been leaking for at least 60 plus years. I stare at the now 15' deep hole defeated   Bless Jim and his crew at All American Oil Recovery , "Mrs.Falls, we have seen worse and we have cleaned up worse, this will be fine". Hiding tears behind sun glasses. I drive home, we have no options. The rental lease is almost up. There are no other houses to buy, game over.

 At 2 in the afternoon the following day I finally man up enough to go over. 25' down and 160 tons of contaminated dirt later we hit clean dirt. One week to spare before mortgage rates reset and our rental lease ends we close. A photo finish.
And this is just the beginning.