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Yard bird.
Pressure testing a residential underground gas line, house next door is using the utility easement as a chicken roost.
At first they scattered, but after about five minutes they were all clucking and circling around me. One really curious one kept pecking at my overalls and my tool tray looking for bugs. 
I've brazed brass fittings onto copper pipes... soft copper can handle brazing?? I didn't complete my apprenticeship in gas, just insulating.
I quite like mechanical insulation. Lighter material, cheap-ass tools, no overtime.
tbh getting hurt was one of the better things to happen to my career. I'm really good at geometry and don't have the work ethic of your average pipe-handler. I breezed through my red seal (journeyperson ticket) to the point of getting mad at my instructor after the exam for how much time I wasted studying.
ngl most plumbers around here are like that and when you say something they give you the ol' "Well my journeyman made me buy his smokes and wouldn't let me wear a jacket" or some other arcane hazing ritual. Bro if you do those things I'm quitting.
I had a really good mentor as my first JP as an insulator and the standards he taught me are what makes every criticism come with a caveat "He likes to kick out early a lot..... but he still [makes it looks really good/gets more done than buddy]"
not sure but context clues make me think... "High density polyethylene" or high density pex? Not confident at all
Oh yeah soft copper will handle it. Depending on type (L,M,K) wall thickness is the same rigid or soft. You can turn rigid copper soft just by heating it cherry red. Makes it easy to have offsets w no joints when you have to run something in an inaccessible spot like an exterior wall corner/stud package.
HDPE is high density polyethylene pipe, correct. I really like using it. Dead simple to fuse/couple and it outlasts anything else we either used to use or use currently whether you have good clean/dry gas or gas heavy in sulphur.
All the plumbers around here are old ball busters regardless of age. It's one of those trades that is definitely steeped in "I suffered for mine so you will too" traditions. I don't treat my apprentices the way I was treated. We are too short of good plumbers in Texas to be hazing folks out of the trade.
I'm the lead plumber due to years worked at the small shop I'm in currently, so I set the tone more or less but I'm not a manager or anything, I just happen to hold enough endorsements and I have a great grasp on code; I'm pursuing my masters license currently but once I get it my plan is to try and get on w the city as a plumbing/mechanical inspector. Im not too old to plumb but I feel it when I kneel down all day, and my back hollers a lot now when it used to not. A change of pace would be nice, I think.