Turning on the gas

1. [15-Sep-13] In Colorado. Decided to move the gas dryer and buy a gas stove
2. 16-Oct-13] Arrived in San Benito, Texas
3. [16-Oct-13 to 27-Oct-13] Dealt with some immediate urgent house issues
4. [28-Oct-13] Called gas company (Texas Gas Service)
1. They said I needed to call the City and get the line certified
5. Called the City
1. They said I needed to call a plumber and he would request certification
6. Called around to various plumbers
1. Found one I liked
7. By the way (I asked them) can you convert the dryer back to natural gas (from propane)?
1. no, they said, the gas company will do that.
8. (Back to the gas service) The line had a leak
1. The guy crawled around under the house
1. he asked where I was going to need gas
2. I said just the dryer and stove (laundry room and kitchen)
2. He cut and capped the line going further into the house
1. still had a leak
2. Well, he said, it must be between the alley and the house. The gas company will put the meter at the house.
3. He cut the line from the alley
1. still had a leak
2. he crawled around some more
3. It must be in the kitchen wall, he said
9. [8-Nov-13]At this point I figured I should invoke my Home Warranty Policy
10. I called Old Republic (what a worthless crap pile they are!)
11. They won't cover any expenses incurred. They'll call their own contractor.
12. [12-Nov-13] Their contractor came ($60 Technical Service Call fee)
1. He was nice enough.
2. His solution was to excavate from the alley to under the house and put in a new line altogether.
3. Old Republic said I had to get the excavation done (the plumber figured that would be ~$500) on my own account and then they would pay (minus another $60 TSC fee) for the new line.
13. [18-Nov-13] Back to my original guys
1. OK- go into the wall
2. 5 minutes later, the line going upstairs (for gas lighting?) cut and capped
14. No leak!
15. Called the city
1. [18-Nov-13] They came out and certified the line.
16. Called Texas Gas Service
1. No, they don't do appliance conversions
2. And oh, by the way, the conversion has to be done before they'll turn on the service.
1. Why? It doesn't make any sense. I'll still have an unused gas nozzle.
2. That's the rule
17. Called Sears (it's a Kenmore dryer)
1. They don't/can't/won't do it
18. Finally found an appliance repair shop in Brownsville that would do it
1. They had to order the part 
19. [6-Dec-13] When they showed up (2 weeks later - there was Thanksgiving in there somewhere) they had the wrong part). They got it done later that afternoon.
20. Called the gas company.
21. [10-Dec-13] The guy from Texas Gas Service came out. "Yes" agreed, they would put the meter at the house but it might take some time before they can run the line.

So, just to re-cap. In order to get gas service to the house, I needed to get certified. It took a while for the plumbers to find a leak and fix it. Then, in order to get gas service to the house, I needed to get my dryer re-converted to natural gas. Then, in order to get gas service to the house, the gas company needs to run the service line ( ~10 feet) to my house.

[23-Dec-13] My buddy from TGS came back (I called to remind him I was still gasless) and put in a temporary line. It's a high pressure hose from the alley gas feed to the house's gas line. So now we have gas and they can take their sweet time making the line permanent.

Merry Christmas!

[8-Jan-14] The gas company connected the feed to my house with a permanent underground pipe. Habemos gas!