Yeah, it’s a really bad picture, but I was afraid of getting the critter all excited. But, yes. That is a skunk in our barn. It’s bigger’n a cat. [shudder] Anyone know a good way to get rid of them?
Look what finally got done Saturday. I feel so much better now.
These are for Amie. Her peonies bloomed before mine even got started. I promised to prolong the blooms by sending her pictures of mine. Here ya go.
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.
We’ve had lots of digging with big machines lately. These pictures are from the day they put down new cables for the telephone company. I scared them a bit when I told them to let me know if they find the septic tank because that would save me the money I’d have to pay another company to dig and find it. Much to their relief, they didn’t find it. But they shook the house, rattled the windows and made a big mess. Though I doubted it could be done, they actually cleaned up fairly well afterward.
I put pictures together of the robin’s nest in our window for the kids to take to school. They brought them home, and we looked through them again. They asked if the nest was empty now. I said, yes, it was. About 10 minutes later, one of them came running to me, “Mommy, Mommy, come and see! There are four eggs in the nest!”
What? Are you kidding? Nope.
There are four more eggs in the nest. Here we go again.
I saw the bird first thing in the morning and wondered if he would spend another day in the nest. Next time I looked, I found an empty nest. I was all excited for the little bird. A little sad too.
Both mom and dad birds hover near the nest, chirping away. I imagine they say something like, “Your brothers and sisters all took off, went to school, graduated from college, got jobs and started families of their own, and here you sit. Why don’t you get out there and get a job?”
And he’s all, “Nah. I’m good. Oh, hey, could you bring me another worm while you’re up?”
And they do.
I knew my new town was small, surrounded by farms and, well, in Iowa. I just never thought about *how* small it was until I was waiting at an intersection, zoning out and staring into space when I realized, dang. I live in a town small enough to have a grain elevator in it.
