Mushrooms and earthworms, fancy stuff to eat
June 9, 2009 | Iowa,Stuff
Then there’s the digging that will cost me money. A lot of money. I haven’t gotten the bill yet, but I’m dreading it. I’m so tired of this whole process. Nobody has done sh*t with the septic tank for this house in 35 years. How do I know? NOBODY knew where it was. For one brief brain-splattering moment, we thought it might be UNDER THE GARAGE. Turns out it wasn’t, but it was close.
Anyway. For almost a whole dang year now, I’ve been trying to get the stupid thing pumped / serviced. I’m a fanatic about preventive care. As painful as the whole process has been, I’d do it again over having the septic tank back up and ruin the house in, say, the middle of January.
It took me months just to figure out who does septic stuff here. By the time I talked to him, it was the middle of winter, and he suggested I call back in the spring. Which I did. Only to have him ask, “Do you know where it is?” Uh. No.
So then I had to track down a construction company to poke and dig around to find the thing. Before that happened, the telephone company had to come out and spray orange paint where all the underground lines were. Then the construction company was here here several times, probing the back yard, shoving plumbing snakes down pipes, getting nowhere, then pulling a toilet (which, by the way, they can’t PUT BACK because they’re not plumbers), then getting a plumber (who bills separately, natch) involved … and finally getting the backhoe guys here.
Now? We know where it is. We have access. And they made it sound like we found it in the nick of time. Which kinda, sorta makes me feel a little better for being so crazy-compulsive about the whole thing. But … can I get the septic tank guy to return my calls?
Guess.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:00 am
After it is cleaned, keep monthly boxes of rid-X flowing to the septic tank. Buy a dozen at a time, label them July, August, etc. Then put a big * on your calendar the same day every month to remind you that it is time again. Keep the ritual up each year. SMILE, YOU ARE ON AN ATTACK MISSION!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
The cap was buried that far under the surface? No wonder you couldn’t find it. And is that concrete slab they’re cutting through the driveway it was under? It would take one heck of a frost to heave that one! All I can say is good luck!