Saturday, July 30, 2011

Backlogged Again

Somebody please shoot me.

Last night as we were headed to bed, Brett noticed a funny sound in the mud room bathroom.  He tried to flush the toilet.  No go.  He checked the cleanouts and they were all full of water again.

So, it was back to the barn for toilet use and back in the pool for a shower.  Needless to say, neither of us slept. 

We were down at the barn for morning chores (and toilet use) by 6 am.  We took advantage of the early cool morning air and rode the horses around the ranch on the bridle paths before breakfast.  Jackson was happy to be out and made it the whole way without coming up lame or picking up a stone.  Success!  I hosed him off so he would be clean for Liz who came to do his acupressure and muscle work at 9:30.

I called the plumber who came up two days ago, but he didn't return our call.  Maybe he doesn't work on Saturdays.  Maybe he didn't want to deal with our wierd plumbing.  Fortunately, Brett found a different plumber who came up this afternoon.

The guys that came up this afternoon were goooooood.  They cleared the lines in half the time, or less, than its taken anyone else.


Then they ran a camera through the line to see where the hang up was. If you've ever had a horse scoped for ulcers, you can easily picture this.  There was a camera on the end of a long line, connected to a video screen.


After verifying that the camera was working, he fed it down into the line and we watched it's progress on the screen.



Everything went smoothly until the camera got about four feet from the septic tank.  The pipe was full of water there and not draining. 












Four feet from the septic tank is right under the brick pathway through my vegetable garden.  Fortunately, it is not under any of the raised planters.  It will be relatively easy and not excessively disruptive to dig under the pathway (the bricks are just set in the dirt, no cement), fix the pipe, install a two-way cleanout, install risers on the septic tanks, and close it all back up. 

They will be back on Monday to do the job. 

It's only money, right?  (cough, hack, sputter)

9 comments:

  1. Dear Annette,

    I so happy I found your blog,you are my "Hero".Your farm it's my dream,the background it's brilliant,your animals so cute,and horses and dressage.....I used to do show jumping and a bit of dressage,but I quit. I can't afforded any more.But I'll loved to have a donkey as a pet in future.
    The garden it's also great,oooh.. as I told you,what you have it's my dream!! Congratulations and enjoy it as much as you can.I'll be following you.

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  2. Good grief!!! I bet you are saying "enough already"! Hoping it gets finished Monday!

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  3. What a pain! Glad it can be fixed. Smart move, using that camera.

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  4. So, what is blocking it? Can't tell until the dig? Be sure to post : )

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  5. What a pain!!! At least you know what the problem is and can get it fixed. It could be worse right? Wish I'd been out riding early this morning. Guess tomorrow morning will have to do.

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  6. At least it will be fixed once and for all. Love your blog. I'm your newest follower.

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  7. Ugh. The last thing you want to spend money on, that's for sure. Hope it gets fixed for good this time.

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  8. a great big UGH to you!!! lordy, i hope they can fix this for you!

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  9. Oh wow that sucks! At least they found the problem and it can be fixed relatively easily. Better than just continuing to pay to have your lines unblocked. You're definitely going the cheaper/smarter route. Good luck!

    Oh and I'm happy Jackson did so well. :D

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Thanks so much for commenting!