2020 Life Logs, Day 306: Exhaustion
Date: Monday, November 2, 2020
Weather: Mostly Sunny and Windy; High 47, Low 36 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Many Americans are exhausted watching these pre-election days play out. I am one of those Americans. But I find that I simply cannot tear myself away. I just have to know what is happening, play by play. But today I got an unexpected break from that with an issue that needed immediate attention and was even more exhausting. I got up, did a few chores around the house, and prepared to take a shower. So far, so good. But before hopping into the shower, I went ‘potty’, flushed, and then heard an unwelcome gurgle. Uh-oh. The water was filling the toilet and not going down. I watched for a few seconds and then the water went down. Okay, I flushed again to make sure everything was working right, but the same thing happened. I thought if I kept flushing, maybe I could clear whatever was causing the problem. That was the wrong thing to do. On about the fifth flush, I heard some strange water noises, so I went down to the basement to check things out. There was water everywhere. Not a ton, but obviously every time I had flushed, all of that water was just going into the basement. But how? And why? And who should I call? Where exactly is my septic tank? That last question led me to Peter Baranowski. He and Karen lived in this cottage for a year and Peter has been doing basic maintenance for Karen’s Aunt Shirley next door since her husband died. Peter would know what I should do, so I called. Peter came right over and we started calling plumbers and septic tank maintenance businesses in the area. The first plumber didn’t answer, so I left a message. The septic business that deals with Shirley’s septic tank next door couldn’t come for a few days. They put us on the waiting list. Another place apologized and put us on their waiting list. More calls. On the seventh or eighth call, I got an answering machine message giving me the name and cell phone number of someone. I called the cell phone number and left a message. While Peter and I were waiting to hopefully hear back from someone, we decided to do our own investigation. I went to the basement while Peter flushed the toilet, and we found the water was coming out of the overflow pipe. Duh! We used a snake. Nothing. We then decided to try and solve the issue ourselves. Peter asked me if I had followed his advice when I moved in here and left the concrete block that he had placed over the spot where the septic tank is located. Indeed, I had. It is in the wooded area behind my house. While Peter went home to get some tools, I got a call back from one of the messages I had left and a man named Shawn said he could come to pump out the septic tank today. Hurray. I knew that wasn’t going to solve our problem, but it was moving in the right direction. He said he could be here in a couple of hours. In the meantime, Peter returned and raked the leaves away from the area surrounding that concrete block. Then we got our shovels and started digging. About a foot down we hit paydirt. It took awhile to dig all around the septic tank lid and get all of the dirt off the top. Once we swept the top off, Peter used a shovel to try to lift the solid concrete lid, almost three feet in diameter and two to three inches thick. Heavy. But he did it and we discovered that the tank was full, but not above the drain pipe coming in or the drain going out to the drain field. Hmmm. Obviously there was a blockage between the house and the septic tank. But that’s all we could do without a powerful snake to go into the drain pipe. Peter went home and I made more phone calls. The story goes on and on, but the bottom line is that Shawn from Falmouth Cesspool arrived, used the huge suction hose to try and clear the drain pipe from the house, and then emptied the septic tank. After he thought he had cleared the drain pipe, he had me go in the house and flush the toilet. It worked. We had no idea what was blocking the drain pipe, but whatever it was had been sucked into the tank of his pump out truck. If the blockage happens again, I’ll have to call in the ‘big guns’ with the electric snakes with cameras they use for diagnostic purposes. But for now ,things are working. Shawn has to return in two weeks to install a new lid that will make pump out easier in the future. And I still have not cleaned up all the water on the basement floor. I not only have to get rid of the water, but I have to disinfect everything. I was just too exhausted, probably more mentally than physically, to deal with that issue anymore today. I am just so thankful that I didn’t have to live for two or three days without running water in the cottage. Clean up can happen tomorrow. It was 4:30 pm before I had time to take Shadow for a walk and then get to today’s planned job—canning chicken mineral broth. I made the broth yesterday and left it in a huge pot on the back porch overnight as the temp was going to be in the 30’s. For once, I am glad the temp today stayed in the low 40’s so that the broth was fine while I dealt with the septic issue. Tonight I have been busy canning. Starting basement reorganization was also on my list for today. Now that will happen tomorrow by necessity.
Tonight, when it was time to write today’s thankful note on my thankful pumpkin, I had to decide between so many things. I am thankful that I have friends who are willing to drop whatever they are doing to come help me out. I am thankful for the people that answer the phones at some businesses who, when they cannot help you, are willing to spend extra time giving you names and numbers of others who might have the time to help. I am thankful that when a very busy Heather and Jed heard about my ‘issue’, they were willing to drop everything and come to my rescue. Not needed today, but so thoughtful.
I am thankful for a daughter-in-law who took the time to send more photos of their new puppy today. In a picture of Ziggy holding Lenny, Ziggy looked happier than I have ever seen him in a photo. He hates having his picture taken, but it didn’t look like he minded today. And in another photo, it is obvious that Coco will take good care of Lenny. I am thankful that they seem to have found the perfect way to fill the hole in their hearts left by the loss of Alfie. There was so much to be thankful for today, but in the end, what I wrote on my pumpkin was, “I am thankful for friends who I know have got my back.” Maybe it should have been that I am thankful for having so many things to be thankful about.
Now I am going to sit in front of the TV and catch up on the political news of the day while canning the last load of chicken broth. Exhaustion is going to be replaced by anxiety tomorrow as we await the first results from this very consequential election.
