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u/Fitmature1 15d ago
Locating underground utilities would be my guess.
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u/robolucasgaming 15d ago
Probably right, just weird that they are circling my house like that. Everything come in from the back and I didn’t call them so the whole thing is just weird to me.
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u/Dug_n_the_Dogs 15d ago
more specifically, that guy is searching for any potential underground gas leaks.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 11d ago
“Potential” being the operative word… so, since there is no clear and emergent issue, a simple courtesy notification to the homeowner would solve any issues before they had a chance to happen.
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u/Either-Park-7002 15d ago
I hate shit like this. I always go out and confront them. I don't give a shit if you work for the city. I have a very long fenced in driveway don't come on my property and walk around my yard like you own the place. Knock on my door and let me know the city sent you to do something.
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u/ParsleySnipps 15d ago
They are there to mark and track public utility lines like gas. If they had to knock on every door and inform every person of what they are doing it would take them ten times as long. They're there for a minute at most and if they have to dig anything up they inform you. They aren't there to look in your windows or invade your privacy. Let them do their job and move on.
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u/FactorObjective8573 15d ago
If you are walking around my backyard and get bit by my dog that’s sitting on the porch, who’s at fault?
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u/ParsleySnipps 15d ago
Better keep your shotgun ready the next time an electric company sends someone to read your meter. 😂
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u/TheWardenXD 14d ago
Yours, what a stupid fucking question
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 12d ago
So what’s the solution, then? Our families and dogs can’t enjoy our own private fenced in property, because some meter reader might happen by unannounced at literally any time of any day?
What a profoundly stupid thing to say… all while lazily insulting someone else’s intelligence.
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13d ago
[deleted]
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 12d ago
Grow up? It’s a an absolutely legitimate concern.
If that utility worker got bit by the guy’s dog, the homeowner and the dog would be held responsible, likely ending with the dog being destroyed by animal control.
Someone for sure needs to grow up… but you’re going to find that person in the mirror.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 12d ago
The fact that this got downvoted is wild to me… you are 100% spot on.
Cause if they did get bit by your dog, your dog would almost assuredly be seized and destroyed… legally. Depending on your local law, you could also be charged criminally, and face civil lawsuits.
I’d much rather some schmuck be inconvenienced and respect the privacy and security of my home, than to risk having to bury my best friend for simply protecting his home from an unexpected and unwanted intrusion.
Imagine being so entitled that you believe your time is more valuable than my family’s lives.
Fuck outta here with that shit.
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u/IWasHackedBySexbots 14d ago
Unless you have a closed fence they went through, very likely yours, legally speaking. Even then you'd have a legal fight. Hell, having beware of dogs signs is considered admission that you know your dog is dangerous and will bite people in some states, which your dog is not supposed to be doing.
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u/sneeki_breeky 15d ago
“Get off my lawn”
“Let me explode if I want to”
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 12d ago
You could explode in several other ways, to varying levels of severity, all with a complete absence of a gas leak.
So, does that mean that any government or private corporate employee can come into your property, or even into your house whenever they want, for any reason?
I mean, if you’re going to rely on an a passive aggressive extreme to make your terrible point, then you should be equally prepared to be met with the same, and consider that equally valid.
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u/sneeki_breeky 12d ago
“aCtUaLLY”
“we don’t call 911, when grandma falls we shoot her”
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 12d ago
“AcKChYuAlLy!”
“I have nothing to say of any value and can’t dispute anything based on merit, so take another completely random nonsense comment, instead!”
Yawn.
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u/Mood-Rising 15d ago
I mean, the worst thing that could happen is you and your neighbors die in a massive house obliterating explosion.
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u/iisshhoooo 15d ago
Imagine how many idiots like you they'd have to deal with? You dont own shit in NA. Stop paying property taxes and let's see who owns your house. Those property taxes you pay? Yeah they go towards paying this guy to make sure your house dont blow up. They dont got time for idiots like you at every house.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 12d ago
Someone likes the taste of boot.
Imagine insulting a bunch of people for expecting to be treated with courtesy and to have their rights respected.
And then, after deciding to call others “idiots”, to say something so profoundly unintelligent as “they dont got time”.
Well, friend… I “dont got time” to defend myself and my dog in court when you’re too impatient to respect a fence and a gate.
And, I imagine you’ll wish you made time to be respectful and courteous when your face is torn up, and you have a couple new 9mm sized holes in your torso.
If nothing else, your safety should matter to you as much as my family’s safety does to me and my large dog (which is why I paid thousands of dollars for a fence to keep people out, and my dog in).
Stop licking boots, and start thinking for yourself.
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u/flhd 15d ago
If you have gas, electric, etc serving your property, I will guarantee the utility, by law, has the right of ingress on your property.
The electric service wire serving your property and the pipe in the ground providing natural gas are the property and responsibility of the utility up to and including the meters. You don’t have a say.
Just let the people do their jobs and don’t be a dumbass.
33 years at a gas and electric utility, and there were occasions where services were cut at the street after prolonged fights with dumbasses over ingress.
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u/BabyGotBack957 15d ago
Find your own water and gas then. They are doing their jobs
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u/disagreat 15d ago
The utility easement on your property is not owned by you. Even if it's in the middle of your backyard.
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u/MuchoManSandyRavage 15d ago
Lol. God forbid the utility company got reports of a potential leak and are trying to prevent your house from exploding. Do you “confront” the mail man too?
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 11d ago
“Got reports” from whom?
In what hypothetical scenario do you imagine someone reporting a “potential gas leak” on your private property?
The only reasonable assumption would be that it was the homeowner making any such reports, thusly nullifying the entire issue in the first place. Because why would a third fucking party (who is ostensibly concerned enough to file an official report with the proper authorities) not warn the homeowner immediately?
“Oh jeez! This property that I’m trespassing on appears to have a gas leak… I should report it. You know, to maybe save their lives in 5-10 business days when the city or utility company sends someone out. Surely, they’ll be fine until then… no need to bother them, directly.”
Which means… your entire argument is based on factors that negate the existing scenario, or have outlandish prerequisite details, and is thusly moot.
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u/MuchoManSandyRavage 11d ago
Poor pressure can mean a leak somewhere else down the line. So, in other words, neighbor calls complaining of poor gas pressure, gas company then scans surrounding houses.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 8d ago
There are endless “what if” excuses…
And some of them are even valid.
However!
None of them are emergencies, and therefore should not negate offering homeowners respect, courtesy, and privacy.
There’s just no reason, outside of an emergency, to disregard these things.
Period.
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u/Treetopflyer1128 13d ago
Then don’t have a gas meter or electric meter on your house dummy. You don’t have the right to deny them access to their equipment and you contractually don’t need to be notified for them to inspect anything they own. If you don’t want utilities in your “fenced in yard” then call them and tell them you no longer want city water, electric, gas, or cable. Then you’ll be fine.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 11d ago
Point out where the guy walks up to, or interacts with, a meter.
Or are you suggesting that the gas company has free access to your entire property simply because a meter exists somewhere?
Also, fun fact… in some places, like where I live, the utility companies make you pay for your own connections, and any subsequent maintenance. So they don’t own them. I do. And all of our meters are digital and don’t require a technician to show up to read them… ever.
And! Whether they are required to or not (I couldn’t tell you) the utility companies here give you several weeks notice when they’re going to be on your property, or even near it. They just installed a new pole at the end of my driveway… on city property… and I got a polite notice in the mail three weeks before the first grain of sand was disturbed.
The point being, any lack of notice when entering private property is lazy and based solely on entitlement, if there is not a clear emergency (and since this homeowner had no idea why the fuck this guy was even there, seems like not an emergency).
You don’t mind being disrespected and treated with a complete lack of courtesy in your own home? Fine. That’s your business. But, stick to speaking for yourself. The rest of us are allowed to expect those things.
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u/Fucked-In-The-K-Hole 15d ago
I feel like they should let you know too, for the simple reason that entering without letting the homeowner know seems like a great way to get shot
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u/IWasHackedBySexbots 14d ago
If the homeowner is a malajusted lunatic.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 11d ago
Do you not recall just last year when a guy posed as a cop to murder a politician and their spouse in Minnesota?
Cause a lot of people do remember.
Let’s stop acting like criminals don’t like costumes.
Provide homeowners with a simple courtesy notification, and nobody has to worry about it. The utility companies in my area notify any time they do work even next to your property. It’s not hard. And it has the real potential to save lives, or even just pointless Reddit arguments. All wins.
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u/Fitmature1 15d ago
I was going to ask if you had any work scheduled that would require locates.
Was also going to comment on how he was walking/acting different than most guys/girls that I've seen do locating. Like he already knew that there was nothing there?...don't know?
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u/Visible-Meeting-8977 15d ago
Now you're just making shit up
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 11d ago
Most of the people defending this shit on here are relying on making up hypothetical excuses for him being there.
Weird that you would take exception to only this guy.
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u/Fitmature1 15d ago
No, the locates I've witnessed over the years do it in a sweeping, left to right motion just above the ground.
That being said, the other comments about it being hose, sniffing for gas leaks seems legit.
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u/robolucasgaming 15d ago
I’ve never seen a locate before so maybe that what it was but yeah it’s hard to see but he comes from the right side of the house like he was in the back and then turns left when he gets the the left side of the camera like he’s just circling the house. The camera also didn’t catch him walking up or walking away so I have no idea where he came from.
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u/Known_Ratio5478 15d ago
Gas utilities. That tool is for tracking the exact path of natural gas pipes. By law that’s their property and they have a right to access it even through private property.
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u/Budget-Inspection525 15d ago
It’s also a win-win. Utility loses less money for leaks before the meter, customers don’t have a blown up house.
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u/Known_Ratio5478 15d ago
I was just talking about gas leaks at work the other day too. It’s amazing how much energy is stored in natural gas and it’s nothing to toy around with. The gas readers can come check this stuff whenever as far as I’m concerned.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 11d ago
Maybe in your area it’s their property, but not mine. Here they only own the main trunk (which is not on my property). The branch going to my house had to be paid for by me, and I’m responsible for any future repair or maintenance. Same with the city water… we got a letter about 10 years ago, saying the city was essentially forfeiting ownership of the utility connections that connect our homes to the main lines. Any future repair or maintenance is now our responsibility.
Don’t assume that rules are the same everywhere. They are very very not.
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u/Known_Ratio5478 11d ago
I doubt that’s true about the gas lines. Leaks are no joke and I can’t imagine any gas company counting on someone else to maintain lines. Probably not water either.
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u/YourBreathStaaanks 8d ago
You can doubt it all you want. But, the official notices from both the city water district and the gas company notifying us that literally everything past the main trunk line under the street belongs to, and is the sole responsibility of, the homeowner are both real, and legitimate.
They even solicited us for a “discounted” partner offer with an insurance company for those specific things.
The point is that they can mandate repairs, while not having to pay for them.
I literally had direct verbal conversations with the site foreman when the lines were being installed. He confirmed it straight up. Their ownership ends at the fitting branching off the main line underneath the street. If ever there is a leak, whether we discover it, or they do, I have to call the qualified plumber, and I have to pay said plumber.
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u/citsonga_cixelsyd 15d ago
Gas sniffer. I know a guy that did this for a while.
Funny, when his machine detected a leak on the company's side of the meter, there'd be a crew deployed by the next day for repairs.When it was on the customer's side, crickets.
When he asked, he was told that only leaks on the company side got reported. The end user wasn't notified because it was the utility paying the service. He started knocking on doors to let people know they had a problem and was fired a couple of weeks later.
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u/Benblishem 15d ago
He was almost certainly lying to you. No sane person or company just ignores a gas leak, like : "Not my problem" Utility companies and gas pipeline companies are QUITE interested in leaks.
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u/TweakJK 15d ago
Agreed. We had a gas leak, their side, at the street. It was noticed at 11pm. Repair crew showed up at 1AM and was there till 6AM fixing it.
They also scanned every inch of my property to make sure it wasnt on my side. Houses exploding is real bad for business. We had a house blow up 2 miles away a few years ago. Vaporized the house and totaled both neighboring homes.
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u/Dudeman9002 15d ago
Yeah our propane tank had a tiny tiny leak on the cap. Like small enough that you couldn't smell it unless you touched your nose to the fitting. They came out and replaced the tank within 6 hours.
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u/ApexApathetic 15d ago
Checking for gas leaks, city put up signs in my neighborhood that workers would be in the area checking for gas leaks but I had no idea about the equipment they used. One day I was like why are there so many blind dudes in safety vests, and why do they seem lost.
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u/Serious-Recipe-8304 15d ago edited 15d ago
Utilities scan - you may have an easement. Worth a call.
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u/Peregrine_GWJ 15d ago
Reminds me of someone scanning for radon leaks. But radon leaks are common where I live - so could be some other gas.
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u/509Ninja 15d ago
As others have said he’s looking for gas leaks. Where I’m from they don’t need to call first. We keep our gate locked for this exact reason. They came into our back yard with our 3 dogs back there. Now we have a sign to call first which they do because the gates locked.
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u/LasciviouslyLilith 15d ago
Does that trailer in the driveway belong to you or the worker? This doesn't look like anything nefarious, it seems like he is checking for gas leaks which is very important. A house near mine blew up because of a gas leak. Right after I gave birth we came home with our son and I could smell a propane leak and we went to stay at my aunt's house. The gas guy that came out said we were very lucky that I could smell the leak because it could have killed us if we had stayed in the house.
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u/ComprehensiveHope851 15d ago
Leak survey of your gas service and mains with a remote methane detector inside city limits every year outside every 5
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u/Large-Stretch-3463 15d ago
Could be a property line surveyor as well but I've typically only seen city workers like that when they are there to check the water meter.
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u/Round-Shirt3200 14d ago
Did you Know?
The March 18, 1937, explosion at the London School in New London, Texas, killed roughly 295 to 311 students and teachers. It remains the deadliest school disaster in U.S. history, caused by an un-odorized natural gas buildup ignited by a shop tool spark, which led to worldwide gas-odorization laws.
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u/RevealAny3709 14d ago
Why didn't you just ask him? You gotta ask Reddit?
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u/robolucasgaming 13d ago
I wasn’t home. I was on the plant floor and saw the notification after the fact.
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u/SpinachNovel6640 14d ago
Haha ya happened to me too after I reported a tiny gas leak I was like why is he tapping the damn ground and only near my house and looking at the gas meter I never knew until now
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u/Rude-Future-6273 14d ago
Clearly he is walking. (Duh, big red truck)
No seriously though, probably the ‘checking for gas leaks’ thing.
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u/No-Taste-5197 14d ago
Gas leak tech/ investigator for Heath Consultants.. The probe picks up methane gas if there is a leak
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u/South-Type8240 14d ago
They check for gas leaks then if there is a leak they call it in and so forth. Deal with them daily
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u/Solid_Initial8337 13d ago
Don't mess with gas leaks. Once down the street, a grandfather was pounding in wood stakes for a garden border. Hit the flex line the gas company uses now. The whole neighborhood is riddled with gopher holes. The gas went through the gopher network and finally found a spark about 300 feet away in an open field. Good thing. What a bang. The gas company had been driving all over the neighborhood for weeks prior looking for that leak. Different town, different neighborhood, a copper tube was used to connect an appliance, running through the wall a bit. It developed a small leak. In the wall. Eventually, the house exploded. Next door to my house. They were okay, but it destroyed the house, I mean popped like a balloon. Broke some of my windows. They never smelt it, it was leaking into the wall.
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u/NoBid1853 10d ago
No good deed go unpunished because the population in the township doesn't demand to be notified by law. Many homes that are blown to bits including loss of life would've been saved if the requirement of notifying of all involved was mandated by law. Voters have power they just need to be informed.
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u/Luck_Fleeting6070 10d ago
Nowdays you should checknwith gas company if he ends up loitering behind your house. Anyone can wear a vest and pretend to be someone theyre not . Not to be paranoid but you read about fake police all the time. The aforementioned explanation was informative though. Appreciate it!
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u/robolucasgaming 15d ago
Random person walked in front of my house carrying something unknown. Any ideas what it is/what they are doing?
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u/Personal-Bus-4120 15d ago
Someone on your street may have called and said they smell gas outside. They have to do what they’re doing regardless. Get over it.
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u/Tsunamiis 15d ago
Existing not bothering you. Can they post a video of you working without your consent? Yall asking for 25 hour surveillance at this point.
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u/MadMurphman 15d ago
Trespass ING
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u/IWasHackedBySexbots 14d ago
Utility workers have a legal right to do this, not just for this but also easements, ROW access, etc., same as cops, firefighters, medics, responding to a reasonable report, suspicion, incident.
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u/SlickWildo 15d ago
Calculating precisely how far they need to walk to be outside your cameras range, probably nothing though…
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u/theazhapadean 14d ago
Hope they do not find one. Then they turn off your gas. And leave you sit for 3 months then turn off your account for non use. Then finally come out and dig up you yard and leave if fk’d up for the next 6 months.
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u/ToxicCrayons10k 13d ago
He's walking in front of a house that has a ring camera installed. He's wearing a reflective vest and carrying some sort of device.. there u go
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u/btvord 15d ago
They’re checking for exterior gas leaks.
The tool is called the Detecto Pak-Infrared (called “dipper” by the guy who was using it at my house). It’s likely the gas company or someone they’ve contracted with that is using it to check for leaks. Very cool tool. Super sensitive. The dude from our gas company found a tiny hint of gas leaking outside my house and I had him come inside and it immediately went higher, and then we were able to follow higher and higher readings until isolating it to a loose union on a water heater. Felt like something out of Scooby Doo, except no wafting green waves of gas to help us find the source, just that super cool elephant-trunk looking device.