Some of the hollow "boulders" made to go over things like this are better looking than others, so they are definitely worth looking into. They are heavy enough not to blow away but light enough that two guys can pick even the large one up easily to pump out the tank. Listen to bodica about the care and feeding of the "pet septic tank", and if you don't have a pump-failure/back-up alarm GET ONE. Luckily our septic cap was a dark greeny-black and flush to the ground to where we could let the soil come over the edge about an inch and let the grass grow - when we had it checked or pumped we just used a trowel to push back the dirt at the edge of the cover and pop it up, but we made sure to leave the middle of the cap bare so we knew where it was. Unattractive as it may have been we stuck a marker next to the cap in the winter so we could find it under snow if necessary. We had the level checked annually - the septic company would stop by sometime when they were in the neighborhood so it didn't cost us anything to have them take a quick peek - because the number of people in the household and the amount of water and solids that enter the system are really much more important than the actual size of the tank. A family of five with a WOH parent, a SAH parent and three kids who are home all day who all shower/bathe daily, run the dishwasher frequently, do lots of laundry and use the toilet many times a day will need much more frequent pumping than a family of two working adults who are both away from home all the day and dry-clean half their wardrobe, even though they have the same size tank.

I am beginning to think really subtle camo - using the Dijon mustard tone for the top, and for the "face" that faces the road. No need to repaint everything! (Just about everyone on FB wants me to go Yellow Submarine -- and while that has a charm, it might just be a bit too cliched...) Adding little bits of creative interest in the camo parts at the bottom of either side of the tank is something I'm mentally toying with... AND, playing with the bushes, shrubbery and trellis will work there. For those who wonder, the yard does not yet have much in the way of whimsy -- right now the house is in the final stages of construction, so a lot of potential in several directions. I have several attractive rocks (New England!) the builders unearthed to set around while the equipment to move these is available. There is also an old abandoned rusty wagon wheel that I want to put somewhere. I can't move it myself, and it IS sitting in a patch of poison ivy. There will eventually be a chicken house and a chicken tractor. So, decor will also be "farm".

OK, finally decided to boil some water. My largest regular sauce pan is 3qt. I didn't fill it so it probably started with 2.5 qt of hot tap water; I was interested in maintaining a rolling boil, not the total time. I did notice that it took ~10 min. to bring that water to the rolling boil on my largest burner that is listed as 13000BTU on propane. I then added a cup or so cold water and reheated on my 11000btu burner with good rolling boil. I then moved to my lower 7000BTU burner (didn't add more water) and it went back to a boil, but not really rolling boil, but more than a simmer. So yes, I guess you have a problem. Back to orifice sizes: (while this may not help since the biggest orifice in use doesn't do the job) but you could probably do a simple check of whether a larger orifice would help with what you already have, at least assuming that you have a little kit of tools including a small socket set of metric sockets. The orifices usually use 7 or 8mm sockets for removal or insertion (I forget which). My suggestion would be to remove the largest burner's orifice and place it in the next smaller burner. If that medium burner does not have big yellow flames ('though it probably will: watch your arms) but still shows mostly or all blue, then you know that your burners probably all needed larger orifices. If that test medium burner now boils water, you would assume that it now had a better and hotter gas/air mixture that even overcame the burner being smaller. As I suggested at the paragraph top, that is unlikely, but you might learn something. If you try this, you might want to put a dab of butter or something in the little socket to hold the orifice in the socket while removing and reinserting (no butter in the actual hole!).

Hey all! The little tree frog just loves my mini pond. Can you spot him? Today, he was funny. I placed him on the land while I did a water change. I noticed a red lady bug on one of the plants in the pond. He was tilting his head and then splash, he jumped into the water but also had ate the lady bug! LOL! At least I know he's well fed for now. Mike, that worm is ick ick ewwwwwwwy lol too much like a tape worm. A good way to get a girl to run away, haha. Zoom zoom. If it were an earth worm, no problem I often help them when they get stranded on pavement. Yeah so going to be so cold tonight ~40F, I'll place some light blankets over some plants and probably bring in a few too. Ugg hate the change of seasons. I've seem some maple trees that have start turning orange and yellow, at least they are pretty. Brian your Var Calamondin is beyond gorgeous. My brother had one and I loved the pattern and size of the leaves, it got too dry and died. All this drink and bbq talk makes me want pulled pork or sticky ribs, and a tropical drink. I have some mango juice to finish, and some mango rum to add to it, maybe later when I watch TV. Sunshine, wow you are so talented! I love your drawings, especially the fish, he's so darn cute :)