Septic Woes 181215

      This post is not topical, with Christmas coming on, but I have to write them when I remember them. My mind is like a steel trap, not much new gets in but on occasion something old leaks out. By the way, check out those seventies bell bottom trousers.

      I was just out of the navy and a few months later we bought a place in the country to have some open space around us. We were just moved in when two months later the septic backed up. I called "the guy" to pump it out. He did and after I paid him, he said there's nothing wrong with the tank, but your lateral line is clogged up. You need to dig it up and find the blockage. I was cash poor at the time, so I decided to do the job myself. I dug down at the back edge of the tank to see what direction the lateral was running. Once I had that it was time to dig and follow the line. It was clogged at the very end of course. The last two sections were solid waste material (from the previous owners.) Somehow that made the whole concept worse than dealing with my own crap. I had to lift them out of the ground, get the garden hose and use it to wash out the lines. The summer heat was horrific and when hands are filthy there is no way to wipe the sweat from ones brow. It was definitely a two six pack job. It turned out whomever had installed the line left the end of the lateral line open, so when the effluent reached the end and soaked the ground there the dirt was slipping in and blocked the end of the line, allowing the last two sections to fill solid over time.
      The elderly couple we bought the place from bought a small trailer house and asked if they could park it in our driveway until they could get a space in a trailer park to move it. Now I always try to be a nice guy, so I said "okay". There's a fine line between being a good Joe and a schmo. After a month, I ended up being a schmo. I had to tell them they needed to move the trailer. They had no intention of leaving until I insisted. I helped them move the trailer and get it set up in a park about two miles away. I thought I was pretty nice with the whole thing. I found out later the old man was well known in the area and he went all over telling everyone what an asshole I was running them off their property. Sometimes it does not pay to be nice.
      
      Copyright Bill Weber 2018 and beyond.