Talking to Myself Again

Septic System Saga

Back in October, it rained. A lot. How much? Over 11 inches. On average, Springfield gets about 36 inches of rain in a year. "Yes," you say. "That's a lot of rain. So?"

Well, with the ground saturated, we discovered on October 15 that we could no longer flush our toilets. As we eventually learned, our septic system had gone to the Great Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Sky.

We lived without a septic system for weeks. It rained. It rained some more. Then it rained some more.

Finally, on December 7, I came home to this beautiful sight!

That's the new septic tank sitting in our backyard! We had to wait a few more days, but then on Friday, December 11, I came home to another beautiful sight!

The main septic tank was finally installed! There was still an overflow tank and leach field to install, as well as plumbing hookups to be made, but things were finally underway!

Dawn looks a bit shocked (and cold!) at the transformation of the back yard. It will get better, Dawn! Well, not until Spring at the earliest, but it will get better eventually!

The new septic tank was installed near the back right corner of the house. You can see the top of the main tank, as well as the inlet pipe leading toward the house.

Of course, things remained like that for Saturday and Sunday, but they were back the next week to install the secondary tank and the leach field.

Normally, with an aerated system, the water that comes out could just be discharged into a ditch or down a hillside. In our case, there wasn't any appropriate place to discharge it, so a "small" (two-thirds size) leach field was needed.

This is one of the three 90-foot laterals that were installed for the leach field.

The tank on the right is the main septic tank. The tank on the left is the overflow tank.

The green pipe is the inlet from the house to the septic tank. Unfortunately, there was no way they could avoid the curtain drain that rain along the back of the house, so they had to cut through it, then install the black pipe to repair it when they were done.

At long last, on Wednesday, December 16, the plumber connected the house to the new septic system, and we were once again able to flush toilets with abandon! When I came home, I flushed a toilet twice for no reason whatsoever! I never thought that I would look forward to doing the dishes, but having dirty dishes piled on every available surface for two months will do strange things to one's attitude. We can also do laundry at home, rather than hauling everything to the laundromat. And I can take a nice long shower whenever I want to!

Its work was done, but with the ground still muddy, the backhoe sat in our backyard waiting for things to dry out, so it wouldn't do more damage to our yard while driving out. Instead, we got two inches of snow. They finally got it out today, so our 2+ month septic saga is finally over!

Now we just have to pay the bill.

We Survived the Birthday Party!

Lando celebrated his 5th birthday with a party at the bowling alley! Here's a quick photo.

Yes, that's him in the pink hat. Dawn crocheted the hat to donate to a project that distributes hats and gloves to kids that need them, but Lando declared that he wanted it. I guess Dawn will have to crochet another one!

When little kids are bowling, they can roll the ball down a ramp (rather than trying to heave it down the lane themselves), and bumpers are raised to prevent the ball from going into the gutters.

Here's Lando demonstrating how to use the ramp (while Luca and Isabella discuss the finer points of the game).

Unfortunately, the bowling alley was down to just one ramp. The others had broken over the years, and when they looked into getting more, they found that they cost $240. They're pretty sure that they can make something themselves for far less than that!

Anyway, since there was just one ramp, our friend Patty helped us out tremendously by moving the ramp between the 3 lanes, making sure that everyone was able to use it. (Thanks, Patty!)

Of course, sometimes you just don't want to wait for the ramp. That's when Lando employed the classic "squat and shove" method for propelling the ball toward the pins. (His friend Sarah employed the classic "sit nearby and wait to bowl" method.)

He bowled a 74, which isn't bad, but I think his follow through could use a little bit of work.

We invited 15 kids, including those from preschool and Funshop which we had determined he played with the most. It was pretty chaotic, as you can imagine, but we had some great help from the other parents and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time!

I took some video of bowling, unwrapping presents, and blowing out candles on the cake. I'll try to get something posted soon!

Happy Birthday, Lando! You're Sick!

Yes, Orlando was born 5 years ago today! A little before 2 in the morning, if I remember right. After hours of induced labor that wasn't going anywhere, the doctor finally gave in to the inevitable and did a C-section. (Want to feel useless? Try standing in what was going to be the delivery room while they wheel your wife into the operating room to prep her for surgery.)

Here's what he looked like on that day.

He looks pissed, doesn't he? Well, he eventually cheered up!

So today he's officially a 5-year-old! Unfortunately, he's also a sick 5-year-old. Dawn took him to the doctor, but they say he's not contagious. Hopefully he'll feel better by Saturday, because that's when he's having a birthday party!

We let him open a couple of presents today: A castle from us, a horse and wagon from his Grandma Lois and Grandpa Noel. He also had a couple of sugar cookies as a "cake".

Saturday will be the big event -- 16 kids at a bowling alley! I'll definitely get pictures and video!

P.S. They did not start work on the septic system today. High winds meant that they didn't want to venture out on the highway with a bunch of construction equipment on a trailer. Hopefully they'll start tomorrow!

What a Beautiful Sight!

Here's the sight that awaited me when I came home from work on Monday.

Isn't that pretty? That's our new septic system! They'll be out on Thursday (Lando's birthday!) to start installing everything. Lando's birthday party will be on Saturday, so hopefully our schedules don't conflict!

Incidentally, the forecast for tonight's low temperature is 8. That ought to freeze the ground fairly well!

I'm Sick

I woke up Monday morning thinking, "I'm either sick, or I'm just congested from allergies." I had some stuff to take care of at work, however, so I went to work. I felt okay for the most part. Just a bit of a cough. (I thought I had a fever at one point, until I discovered that the temperature in my cubicle was 76 degrees!) By the time I went home, however, I was pretty sure I was sick.

Great. Lando's birthday party is this coming Saturday. I'll presumably be fine by then, but if Lando and/or Dawn catch what I've got, they'll probably be good and sick on Saturday. We'll see.

This morning I stayed home from work. Again, for the most part I felt fine. However, I'm still coughing, and now I'm coughing up phlegm. I really hope I don't have bronchitis!

P.S. When I got home from work on Monday, I found that our new septic system has been delivered! All of the bits are sitting in the backyard. Assuming that the weather cooperates, they'll start work on Thursday!

My Weekend - Kids, Kids, and More Kids

Saturday - A Birthday Swimming Party!

A pair of twin girls from Orlando's preschool class had a birthday swimming party on Saturday at the YMCA. We had never been to the YMCA before, but I suspect this was only the first of many visits in our future.

Actually, Lando's favorite part was probably the game room where we waited while they finished preparing the party room. The game room contained a pool table, Foosball table, air hockey table, etc. Lando really enjoyed that and wanted to go back in there after the party! It was only because the building was closing that we had to drag him away, with the promise that we'd be back someday.

After some preliminary games and snacks in the party room, it was on to the main event -- the swimming pool!

Lando had only been in a swimming pool one other time. Back in July, during our trip to the Bristol Renaissance Festival, Dawn and Lando took a dip in the hotel swimming pool while I (along with Eric) spent some more time at the festival. As a result, I didn't get to see his first time in the pool.

At the YMCA, they have a wading pool that varies from 2 feet deep at the shallow end to 3 feet deep at the "deep" end. Initially, Lando had no interest in actually getting into the pool. Instead, he walked around the edge of the pool, where there is just an inch or two of water. Eventually, with some coaxing from Dawn, he allowed himself to be lowered into the water. After that, he was fine.

I, of course, took photos and video of the whole thing. I had the video all edited for posting yesterday, but the software I was using decided to crash while it was actually writing out the file. I re-did everything -- and the software crashed again!

I'll try some different software tomorrow and will hopefully manage to get it posted!

Sunday - Adventures in Babysitting

On Sunday, Dawn and Val went on a shopping trip together, leaving me with Lando and Val's two kids, Jake and Alissa. Jake is about Lando's age, while Alissa is two. When Dawn and Val returned four hours later, I was very happy to see them!

Actually, for the most part, it wasn't terrible, although it did mean that I couldn't do anything during that time except watch the kids. The first half-hour was the worst and went basically like this:

JAKE: I want to play outside!

ME: Okay, you'll need to get your coat on. Lando, do you want to play outside, too?

LANDO: Yay!

ME: Wait! Alissa, no no no no! Sweetie, you can't play with that. Jake, wait for Lando.

JAKE: I'm going outside!

ME: Lando, get your shoes and socks. Alissa! No! Take that out of your mouth! Jake? Wait for Lando!

JAKE: No, I want to play outside!

ME: Well stay in the back yard where I can see you.

JAKE: Okay!

ME: Lando, get your shoes and socks, please. Alissa! Where did you get that? Give it to me, please. No! Lando, get your shoes and socks!

etc.

After the first 30 minutes or so, things calmed down a bit. I basically alternated between playing peacemaker between Lando and Jake ("Orlando isn't sharing!", etc) and generally thwarting the desires of Alissa at every turn.

Of course, when Dawn and Val returned, Alissa was sitting on my lap asleep. I think that means I won.

Video of Orlando's Funshop Birthday Walk

It's "Cold" in Texas. Uh-huh.

I just got off the phone with Dad, who lives down near Brownsville, Texas.

DAD: Man, it is really cold down here!

ME: Define "cold".

DAD: 40 degrees! Maybe 39!

ME: Uh-huh. It's 21 degrees here.

Folks down south who say that it's cold get no sympathy from me. :-)

Of course, I'm in the rare position of being happy about the cold weather! The faster the ground freezes, the sooner we can get a new septic system without utterly destroying the lawn. (Well, other than the lawn where the new septic system will go. That will be utterly destroyed!)

Orlando Does the Funshop Birthday Walk

Funshop is a one evening per week gathering of parents and their pre-K children for 75 minutes of playing. Since today was the last day of the fall Funshop session,they celebrated a couple of birthdays that will happen before the next session begins in January. That meant Lando got to do the birthday walk! The birthday boy (or girl) wears a crown and walks around in a circle waving at everyone while we all wave back.

I've got some video of the big event, but I don't quite feel tech-savvy enough right now to figure out how to convert it for posting it online. With any luck, I'll be able to post it tomorrow!

Until then, here's a quick photo of the birthday boy!

Septic Update

Today: Rain.

Tonight: Snow.

I talked to the septic guy this evening to find out when he thought they could start. He said that he could start pretty much any time, but because of all of the rain, he's waiting for the ground to freeze. That would minimize how much damage is done to our lawn by the machinery. It's supposed to turn colder starting tomorrow, so we'll see how long it takes for the ground to freeze.

Everyone hope for dry, cold weather!