Archeology adventure

I did not get a chance to research ADHD medicine alternatives last night because instead I was researching all I could about septic tanks. Yep, ours went on the blink. (Ok it was full.) Who would have thought that after nine years it would need to be pumped? Yep, you saw correctly…nine years of “stuff” backed up.

Second tank with the lid

So today we stood outside and watched the septic guy from 10:30 to 3pm. He was very busy digging here and there all around our backyard. I even joked about him digging a garden plot for us. The company promised a $175 fee if they didn’t have to dig or $190 if they did have to dig. Problem #1 they sent a AAA tow truck driver to empty my septic tank. What? (Apparently he took a septic tank class and knows what he’s doing.) He opened up our concrete lid and emptied the tank. Boom $175. **Fleeting thought… there’s only liquid getting sucked up. He said, “There must be another tank for solids.” (Dig, dig, dig.) He found it about two feet from the concrete liquid tank. The tow truck driver, Daniel, and I had to lift and pull to remove the concrete lid. Then he said, “That’s weird…that’s connected to the liquid tank.” I think his first clue was the fact that the tank was empty. The next clue might have been all the sunlight shining in from the first tank. He tried to snake a possible clog from the second tank into the pipes from the house but he kept hitting something. **Another fleeting thought…where do the solids go? He then said, “There must be a solids tank around here somewhere.” He had a long metal pole that he spiked into the ground to touch the pipes. This went on for about forty five minutes. He was trying to figure out what angle the pipes bent at. Surely there’s a clog there. That led to the discovery of the third tank. (Dig, dig, dig.) **Um, is this still going to be around $175? Because I don’t want to get hit with a bill for $1000. Yep, still $175. Oh, okay, dig away. Now comes the completely gross part.

The solids tank.  Yuck!

Our tank was jammed to the roof of the concrete lid. It was all dried out like hard clay. Once he broke though that it got a bit easier. But he reversed the vacuum and blew water into our tank to mix up the “stuff.” He had to do this six times. There was so much “stuff” in our tank that a gear on his truck broke doing all that heavy work. His boss called asking where he was and he made the comment that “This is the worst tank I’ve ever seen.” Among the different articles found in our tank was: Q-tips, candy wrappers, disposable razors, material, garbage bag, pills (JD’s unusable ADHD meds), hairballs, baby wipes, cigar wrappers, and tooth paste tops. I know this because I started a written list. That’s all we could see and identify.



JD was off his medications again today. That was fun watching him run around three huge open holes that he could possibly fall into. He was a wild child out there. (Try dressing up Mowglie from the Jungle Book and passing him off as a homeschooled child.) (You get the visual right?) I told the tow truck driver that he was homeschooled. It wouldn’t surprise me if social services showed up here very soon. (Smile.) Then when all these strange objects popped up in the tank I would ask JD, “Do you flush razors (or candy, etc)?” His response was, “Why do you see that down there?” (Cheshire cat grin.) I offered him a free pass to tell me what he’s flushed before but the only response I got was, “Why what did you find?” (Funny boy…you give me laughter.) I told the tow truck driver, “It would surprise me to find a couple of G.I. Joes floating around in here.

Total time spent on our archeology adventure: 4 ½ hours

Total cost: $185

The discovery that the rubbery case of JD’s medications don’t completely dissolve (even in bacteria and acid.): Priceless