In spite of some people's negative perspective on Labor Day Weekend (LDW), I'd like to point out a positive aspect of it. (Nothing personal, WS. I agree with you on principle.)
Namely, I don't have to work.
While that's enough to satisfy me, I acknowledge that some of you, my loyal followers (both of you) may want a little more justification. So here 'tis:
My wife and I worked hard in our earlier years. We were fortunate enough - no, strike that - we were capable and dedicated and diligent enough to amass a reasonable amount of capital. Not enough to make us Snotty Rich Fucks a la Denny, but enough to make us Snotty Upper Middle Class Fucks.
We spent some of that capital on a weekend place on Lake Buchanan. Nothing fancy - just a 40+ year old dwelling that started out as a bungalow and has been added to over the years. But it is a nice, simple house on a quiet lake with little traffic.
Because it's an old house it requires a lot of maintenance. Not just your ordinary, everyday maintenance, but some specialized stuff. For example, it lacks a public sewer system. So we have a septic tank. However, because of the regulations regarding septic systems and the lake, our septic discharge zone must be a designated distance from the lake. In our case, that means the discharge zone must be uphill from our house.
I don't have a problem with that. But what I do have a problem with is our grinder pump.
The way things work is that we have a holding tank in the front yard. The tank is 3' X 3', and about 5' deep. That depth is enough to enable the wastewater from the house to flow 'uphill' to the bottom of the holding tank. From there, something called a grinder pump (it does what its name implies - grinds up solid waste and pumps it uphill) sends it several hundred yards uphill to a traditional septic tank discharge zone.
The regulatory intent is that sewage waste must be discharged a certain distance away from the lake. Otherwise some of the lake trash around here (pardon my elitism, but there's just not a more PC way to put it) would discharge their waste directly into the lake.
My tasks this weekend are to replace the grinder pump and the wooden cover over the holding tank. Replacing the cover is not fun, but doable. Replacing the pump, however, requires venturing down into the holding tank.
I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that the wife and kids aren't coming up until late tomorrow afternoon.
Cowards...
In the meantime, I had the opportunity to spend tonight (Friday) up here by myself.
It was fabulous.
A cool front blew through, dropping the temperature into the low 70s. There was no moon and no clouds, meaning that the night sky was so clear I could see twinkling stars and the Milky Way. It was so quiet that the bird and insect noises overwhelmed the sound of the waves on the beach.
Tough life ... but tomorrow's going to suck big time.
Anyone want to join me?
The Wall.
5 hours ago
2 comments:
I have a great septic guy. Standing in the yard conversing with him is as close as I need to get to the solid waste disposal system. Have fun.
BTW, take care with the cover work, it doesn't sound like yours is like the newer plastic ones that contributed to a horrific accident here last year - but better safe than sorry. They concluded that the round plastic lid was too small to actually cover the opening, but large enough that it didn't fall in. The little girl stepped up on it, it flipped up dropping her into the tank, and then righted itself, kind of like a trash can lid.
I remember hearing about that when it happened. Tragic.
Odds of something like that happening here are quite low (but thanks for the concern). Our cover is a simple 3' X 3' piece of plywood with 2X4 framing around the edges. It fits over the top of the concrete holding tank, kind of like the lid on a shoebox.
Even if I did fall in, the tank's only 5' deep, and usually only has a few inches of stuff in it because everything gets pumped out when the contents reach a certain level, around 6". It's really more of a transfer tank than a holding tank.
The pump sits on a ledge a couple of feet above the bottom of the tank, with a pipe that goes down to the bottom. I can stay out of the tank and reach down to disconnect/reconnect the pipes and wires when I replace the pump, so I don't actually have to get down into the muck. However, it's still an unpleasant chore.
More than you ever wanted to know, right?
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