Yesterday was a nightmare!
Let me start off by saying that we are thoroughly enjoying having our best friends here for Christmas and New Years. The boys have made a HUGE dent in the disaster that we called a shop.With everything going on for the past 6-9 months, it became so overwhelmingly out of control I had to wonder how on earth we'd ever get a handle on it. Fortunately I didn't have to worry.
Jeremiah and I started on the insulation and plywood a couple of weeks ago but that was put on hold when the house went up for rent and we spent pretty much every waking minute showing it to perspective tenants. I'm happy to report we have new tenants in but that hasn't come without its fair share of work. Not on their part, just last minute things we needed to get done that turned out to take a bit longer than anticipated. We found a leak in the roof due to the cold cedar shingle shifting. We had considered replacing the leaking part with new cedar shingles but the insurance company much prefers to see asphalt shingles and while the cedar does look nice, in the end it's cheaper and more leak resistant to go with good quality asphalt shingles. The downfall is that this is NOT the time of year to be roofing! Jeremiah spent a Saturday installing about a 100 square foot section to cover the leaking portion and it should be good to go until spring when we can get back up there and do the remaining. It will also be a good time to re-stain the shop as well and I think having some gravel dumped wouldn't be a bad thing either!
So, back to yesterday's fiasco. Well even before that. The tenant moved in a week ago Friday and the shower head upstairs suddenly wanted to spit and do nothing more so he used the downstairs shower until we could get a replacement (next day) but then the valve on the downstairs shower went kaput and was allowing water to flow out of the shower head. Fortunately one whole unit was able to fix both since the shower head downstairs was a really nice rainfall type and all it needed was a new valve and the shower head in the kit replaced the shower head upstairs. Super!
Wednesday I was out grocery shopping for the Christmas meal and Jeremiah and Frank had taken off for Lowes I think. I got back to hear the tenant had called saying the downstairs toilet was overflowing. Jeremiah rushed over there as soon as he heard, pulled the toilet and figured there was a clog in the line. The tenant told him to go home andit could be dealt with on Friday after Christmas. I figured we'd call out a plumber to snake the line to save us the trouble but figured one wouldn't be able to arrive until later in the day being busy after Christmas. Jeremiah scheduled the plumber for afternoon but called to find out if that would be suitable only to learn now everything was backing up including the downstairs shower. We rushed out to buy a snake thinking it may very well likely be roots in the line and could potentially be near the septic.
It turned out to be a bit more complicated than that. we were at Lowes first thing to buy a mechanical snake and new wax ring for the downstairs toilet that Jeremiah pulled and a new valve since it was leaking too apparently. We checked the clean out to see if there was standing water and sure enough, there was a lot! So that meant a clog somewhere from the leach lines forward. We pulled the cover to the septic, it was at a good level and no overflowing which ruled out the leach lines. Dug up the inlet and the main septic line from the house, unhooked it from the septic and sure enough, roots were clogging the inlet to the septic. Jeremiah got that cleared which allowed all the backed up water in the line to flow which we had hoped was the issue. We went back inside to reset the toilet (and I cleaned the bathroom thoroughly with bleach) except we had bought the wrong valve so I had to go back to Lowes for the right one, while I did that Jeremiah installed another receptacle in the laundry. There was just a stacked washer/dryer unit it it before and only one receptacle was necessary. They had a set. When I got back, we reset the toilet, fixed the valve and while the toilet started out flushing a little sluggish, it seemed to pick up after a couple flushes until we were satisfied all was good.
Jeremiah headed upstairs to see what may be the issue up there (if any) and came back with not so great news. That toilet wasn't flushing well at all and the drain in the upstairs shower was slow too. We decided that maybe with everything backing up, there was a clog and it may be best to pull the toilet and snake that line but that meant a new wax ring would be required which meant I needed to head to Lowes...again. By the time I got back, Jeremiah said the snake was stuck which was not music to my ears. After 20 minutes struggling with the thing he was able to get it unstuck but up with it came about a 5 lb. root ball! Not good!! We reset the toilet not wanting to chance sending the snake back down for fear of it getting stuck again, cleaned up and headed back outside to see if he couldn't feed it up through the main line clean out. It meant digging back some on the plumbing to take off the angled portion that pointed toward the septic. We needed to go in the direction of the house. I had to head home to do chores and got back in time to hear that another root ball had been removed, not as big as what came out upstairs but that the toilets were flowing super well now and he was confident everything was good. We got some copper sulfate down the line to help kill any more roots and I hope that takes care of that.
The tenants were in Wichita all day and got home just as we were finishing up, merciful as ever saying it wasn't a big deal. I cannot say I'd be nearly as forgiving given that the whole entire houses plumbing was completely unusable and with 4 boys under 13 including a toddler, that's just not my idea of "no big deal". A major peace offering is in order I'd say and the 2 loads of their towels I washed and dried is nowhere NEAR adequate compensation as far as I'm concerned!
It was cold yesterday (32 degrees) and we were in and out, made some huge holes in the yard getting part of the septic, lines and clean out dug up. I was exhausted last night and when the snake was stuck, it was a pretty low point in the whole day.
Fortunately, everything seems to be flowing and working well and I hope it continues that way. We just weren't putting the normal "strain" that regular household use - washing machine, dishwasher, showers, flushing, etc.- would put on a system so flushing the toilet or running some water down the line was never enough to back it up so we had no idea. By the time we were back, it had all had a chance to percolate through the root clogs. I feel so badly that the new tenants were the guinea pigs for the plumbing! I guess all's well that ends in a well though and hope that no other issue come up. I am so grateful to have tenants who have been so patient and understanding!
This morning has been major clean up after gifts and eating and having 8 people in the house. Our friends headed north for a couple days to visit other friends so it's pretty quiet around here. It's so cold out though and it's only going to get colder. The kids have been very good though and all in all it's been fairly quiet around here!
The electric ("invisible") dog fence has been unplugged for a bit and last night Snow took advantage of that fact and headed up to the garage to help herself to the turkey carcass I had set out there with full intention of taking it out this morning. She broke a glass bowl that was waiting to come in to be washed and overall made a mess! I cleaned that up this morning and plugged the fence back in. It's always something, it seems!
We still have not gotten much wood split! We've sot of been limping along a little on what we had left but overall, the weather has been pretty nice surprisingly! But the next 2 weeks isn't looking anywhere near as nice and we'll need to get something done. The weatherman is calling for wind chills potentially in the negative 20's to 30's. YUCK! The wood stove cannot keep up with wind chills that cold but it can help to keep it burning full blast so ease what propane is used in the furnace. With the wood stove running full blast and the furnace as back up, it stays plenty warm. We save the hedge wood (osage orange) we have split for cold like that because it likely has one of the best BTU outputs of all of the most common burning woods, even over oak (which we don't have), black walnut and locust (which we do and those burn well too). Couple that with most of what we have being very well seasoned and that makes it burn loooooooong and hot.
At any rate, I'll have my last "2 weeker" doctor's appointment on the 7th of January when I switch to once a week. I think these next few weeks will go very quickly and that's a bit scary! I've not had much time to sew and I really had hoped to have at least my newborn diaper stash ready to go! I'm struggling with what kind of system I want, wanting to stay away from fitteds and covers but I just can't help but go back to my old standbys even if I've made 4 dozen accented prefolds to use as lay in soakers already! I've just not been real happy with the All In Two waterproof shells. Maybe in the next 3 weeks I'll have a little downtime yet still and can get that all wrapped up.
We've figured out a routine for the animals to lessen the work on Jeremiah once baby makes his/her arrival. It's a pretty low work load as it is right now but we'll still bite the bullet on waste and just allow the goats free access to a couple round bales. I am feeling tired and it's getting harder and harder to roll over in bed but overall, I feel I have done more than an adequate job keeping up with my workload I maintained before pregnancy.
On side note completely unrelated, I just got up to reheat some left over mashed potatoes and noticed the last of the pies sitting on the stove beckoning someone's pie loving name. I started out making pies from scratching, including crusts, when I was about 12 I guess. I had always made crust with butter and while good, now at 34 I have completely switched to lard and that last few crusts I have made strictly with lard and not butter or a combination have come out far superior, been far less finicky about being warm, are easier to roll because of the temp and come out just as tender and flaky as the old butter crusts. I can only imagine that they will be twice a great if I would have had home rendered lard from our own hog(s) available to use instead of still frozen solid in the freezer waiting to be rendered!
I suppose I'll get back to cleaning and general picking up. Somehow I've managed to stay on top of the laundry despite it all which is not always something I am not always so great at. Jeremiah is over at the other house filling in ditches, I assume. The kids are camped in the living room where the wood stove has it the perfect temperature for taking a nap!
Hope you had a Merry Christmas! We're looking forward to New Year celebrations!
