Oh, Sewage

As I was walking from the living room to the kitchen last night I kept smelling something icky.

At one point I even thought perhaps Hubby had gas. But then I smelled it even after he went upstairs to bed.

Then it occurred to me that the heat vent is next to the big couch and that must be a bad sign. With a sinking heart I went down to the basement.

Our house is on the down side of a hill, which places us below street level. We have this contraption in the basement that ejects the sewage back up to the street.

And there it sat in the corner with water trickling out of it.

I went shrieking up to the second floor, because I wasn't dealing with a nasty situation like that directly.

Oh. Shit.
Well, not really. Fortunately, it was all just liquid seeping out.

Hubby got the shop vac and started sucking up the liquid and I scrambled around being useless trying to find information about the pump online, seeing if any of my friends could recommend a plumber, and shutting off the upstairs toilets to prevent flushing.

Hubby said he could hear the motor humming, but nothing wooshing. We debated unplugging it, but didn't. (That would have been the right decision.)

He got the water to stop seeping and set an abandoned garbage can under it to catch any drips, then we went to bed.

It was 11 pm by then and we opted not to call an emergency plumber since it would probably cost more and things were relatively under control.

Balancing Act?
We figured this turn of events was either God laughing at us, or karma re-balancing itself. Although you would think things have been so rough all over that we need good stuff to happen to balance things out.

But not in our case. Hubby got a little windfall we thought we could use for bills and I got a bonus day off at work from trooping in during that snow storm last week—and now they are both gone.

Putting a positive spin on the situation, at least we had the extra money to pay for the repairs.

The Biggest Ad
This morning I called Master Plumbing out of Stratford because they had a local number and their ad in the phone book said "ejectors."

Hubby asked, "Why did you choose that company?"

I said, "Because they had the biggest ad."

The plumber got here around 10 am. I locked Samson and Baru in our bedroom. Boy, were they pissed about that, missing all the action.

Dude took the pump apart, which stunk to high heavens. He'd asked if we flushed anything inappropriate—paper towels, feminine products, toys, etc. I said, no, no, no. Then I said, oh we used to use those flushable wet wipes.

He said, oh, those are real bad. Those will gum things right up.

So the moral of the story is not to flush inappropriate things or use those so called "flushable" wipes.

I wonder if plumbers enjoy calling you down to the stinky basement to see the nasty thing they pull out of your pipes? Well, I guess it's only fair, they are dealing with the nastiness more directly.

He informed me that, unfortunately, the motor was burned out and we'd need a new one. Which was the $900 fix rather than the $200 fix. Figures. He said that unplugging may or may not have saved it since we don't know how long it was plugged. But he did say he was at one house were it was still plugged in for a long time and the motor got so hot the water was practically boiling.

gag.

Anyway, he finished around 12:30 and cleaned up nicely after himself.

Of course, there is still clean up to be done, with a little water still on the floor and the carpet wet.

At least the stink is greatly dissipated. I've had every scented candle I can get my hands on lit for most of the day.

A Mop? for Me?
Hubby was not able to participate in all this fun because he had to go to school. I was keeping him updated by e-mail and phone.

He called me while he was driving home and bemoaned us not owning a "real" mop. As opposed to?

He wanted a string mop instead of the sponge mop I had. I retorted that if he felt so strongly about it he should buy a new mop. I need a new sponge head anyway and can't locate one.

And he did.

I don't like this new mop. Not my style and it's hard to wring out. Not to mention it's already filthafied from the little clean up I've attempted to do.

I'm not doing anything else until Hubby comes home from his errand. I can't pull the carpet back any further. I'm worried about spilling the mop water, which needs to be changed. And the shop vac might have to come into play again.

Yes, I've dealt with this enough on my own. pout.

Not a Princess
Oh, and as though I haven't been capable enough already all day, I also shoveled the driveway from that wee bit of snow we had overnight.

Ok, well, it was fairly soft and fluffy so really I just pushed it off to the side. But still, the driveway looks awesome now since it was kind of a warm day.

Samson wants you to know he helped with the driveway. Supervising is hard work. As soon as I picked up the shovel he started barking his head off and I had to let him out with me.

Good thing I bought that new yarn last week because I won't be buying any more yarn any time soon.

And how was your day?