Septic Saga..........Part 2

Well, as much as I hate to say it, Joel did not manage to fix our problem. You know me, I hate to bash my new best friend but if the shoe fits…………don’t flush it.

About two weeks after Joel “snaked the pipes” we started having trouble. It wasn’t as bad this time, no sewage backing up into the tub, but problems none the less. This time the problem seemed to be drainage. For example, if someone took a shower, you couldn’t flush the toilet for at least 30 minutes afterwards in order to let the water drain COMPLETELY out of the pipes. If you did dishes, the time was about 20 minutes until you could flush. So, we had to learn the “combination” to our pipes.

Now, for Honey and I this wasn’t such a big deal but trying to explain to the very children that we’d fussed out 1,000 times to FLUSH THE POTTY…..well that’s a different story. So, everytime that Bug would flush while I was doing dishes, she would panic because the toilet was “freaking out”. Everytime Baby Girl would “forget” and flush before the allotted time, she would try to plunge the toilet and then I would have water all over the floor. My Honey insisted that it was just “an old house and they’ve got to learn”. I insisted that, “I am NOT going to tell the kids NOT to flush and have them leaving presents in other people’s bathrooms”. So, we agreed that it was time to call the plumber back and take advantage of our 30 day warranty.

I called the plumbing company that (Saturday) and they said that they could send someone on Sunday when the “jet truck was available”. I agreed that visit from my friend Joel after church would be lovely and hung up. I told My Honey of the plan and we did a little dance of joy right there in the kitchen.

After church on Sunday, we raced home and waited anxiously on the front porch for the plumbing truck to arrive. My Honey had to leave to take the Bug home so I had to wait alone. I could hardly contain my excitement when I saw that big Mike Williams Plumbing Mecca on wheels pull into the driveway. However, Joel was not the driver, this time, they’d sent Travis (I suppose he was the “Big Gun”) to check out our pipes. Travis walked around the yard, checked the “junction” (because our house and Mam’s house are on the SAME TANK) and decided that he needed to “snake it from the junction”. I shook my head in agreement (I am quickly becoming an expert on this subject) and told him he could pull his truck up in the yard.

After he completed snaking out the pipe (again) he inspected the septic tank and informed us that it was completely shot and that the “laterals” were clogged (whatever the Hell those are). I again shook my head in agreement and made a mental note to look up “laterals” online once he left. By this time, PaPaw had arrived to supervise the snaking of the pipes under the guise of mowing the yard. After he finished mowing, he talked to Honey about the septic issue and he informed Honey that his neighbor was a “septic guy” and he would have him come out and look at it soon. I figured that meant in a week or so…………….WRONG.

To Be Continued…………..