Big Night!

Tonight I am running the dishwasher, doing laundry, and flushing the toilet any time I want!!! You may be wondering why on earth I am spending time writing about that?!?!? Well, you must be on the sewer system, or at least, have a septic system that is adequate for your house.

We knew this house was on the septic when we bought it. Matt and I thought, Okay, we had a septic system in the old house--we'll just hook up to the sewer when we remodel. No problem. Famous last words.....

This is the septic alarm. It emits a loud, screeching sound which causes fear in my heart and for me to drop everything I am doing to run to the basement! It is basically telling you "You better stop running any water or flushing anything unless you want me to send treasures back into your house!"  When we were looking at the house, the former owner told us "It only goes off in a heavy rain....if you are doing laundry and taking a long shower at the same time." "If it goes off", she told us, "just turn it off for 5 minutes and turn it back on. It will go right off."

Ummmm, not quite.

The second day we moved it was raining heavily, but toilets/laundry/showers weren't being used. The alarm went off and stayed on for 3 hours. I made my mother-in-law use the bathroom at the old house-- not first impression we were going for, but it wasn't that bad---just 3 hours!

Quickly, I learned that I HATE the septic system (but mainly the alarm). It has gone off no less than 10 times since November. It usually stays on for 8+ hours, but on average 10-12 hours. That means no running water, no flushing, no showers!  Fun, fun times!

You know it it bad when N and C constantly ask "Mama, can I flush the toilet today?" "Mama, can I turn on the water?"  Or my personal favorite when the alarm is going off, "Mama, does that mean the poop is coming in the house?" We trained them early to come get us right away if they heard the alarm.

It got slightly better when I disconnected a downspout that was filling the tank. So much for the French Drain they put in to drain rainwater away from the house.

Oh, the former owner also said that you only needed to clean out the drain in front of the garage once a year and that it wouldn't give us any trouble. It only flooded the garage once in her time owning the house, but that was because of some crazy amount of rain.

Again, a nice story. It has flooded twice since November. Good thing we had a pond pump and a hose long enough to reach the street to drain the water away.

In December, we had the Dirt Dude come out to plan the sewer hook up. It was right before the holidays so we weren't surprised that it took until mid-January to get a bid.  Long story short....fast forward to this week.

There are the Dirt Dudes discussing where the septic pipe might be coming out of the house. 

We have many different sized man-holes in our driveway. Which one is it????

This might very well been the happiest day of N's life. An excavator came to his house! He was like some sort of heavy machinery groupie around the Dirt Dudes.

N parked himself on our down-downstairs (the kids' name for the daylight basement) window and watched everything!

The main Dirt Dude, Russ, made N's dreams come true and let him ride in the excavator while it was running and help operate it. All day N had been saying, "I wish I was a grown-up so I could be a Working Truck Worker Guy!"

 He was so happy!!!! Now he says he can't wait until he is grown so he can do it all by himself. I tell you, I am going to harness this. Think of all the projects Matt will say no to, but N could help me with if he has those skills! The possibilities are endless....as long as Matt keeps traveling for speaking gigs.

We have a very long driveway.

Another super awesome thing was that the Northshore Utility District is very kid friendly. They gave the boys these (to quote N) Working Truck Fixer Man Things. N slept in his for nap time and also wore it to Dora House on Thursday. 

 E thought it was cool for a bit, but was more in love with running like a wild man around the place.

N got home from picking up the permit with me, and in all seriousness, said "Okay, I'm ready to go help the Working Truck guys!"  It took awhile for it to sink in that you have to be grown-up to work with them, even if you have the safety gear. 

Even though I lived off of less money my first year teaching than this cost, a lovelier sight has not been seen by my eyes since that darn alarm went off on Day 2. Okay, Moose and Michael rolling up was a pretty lovely sight too.

Today is a great day to be on the sewer system. I am off to run another load of laundry, but I tell you, I have never been so thankful for such an everyday service as the sewer. This little farmhouse has come a long way since 1909 when the sewer system was an outhouse (in my mind this exists on the neighbor's land). Even though we are modifying The Farmhouse, it feels good to know that it will be loved for years to come vs. being torn down. One perspective buyer just wanted the land. Almost everyone we meet in the neighborhood says that they love this house and they call it The Farmhouse too. 

**Please forgive any grammatical errors. Matt is out of town and can't proof for me.