Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years!
Just wanted you all to have a laugh (at my expense)
The Knights Christmas Story 2012
We awoke the morning of Christmas eve to washing machine water backed up in the basement (luckily no Yule tide logs)
spent the day with a rented snake and thought we fixed the back up. Called the septic tank company to see if when they last pumped the tank they might possibly plugged the line? The guy says not possible but I'll come look in the tank just to be sure, no charge! ( wow on Christmas eve- what luck)
Awoke bright and early Christmas morning (every business closed as it should be) to find dishwasher liquid backed up in the basement drain and floor. (again, thankful No Yule tide logs) spent the morning cleaning sucking up the water. No plumbers available for less than $600.00 so I told everyone just use the MH for your needs( already winterized so put 4 jugs of RV antifreeze next to commode to help wash the troubles down the drain if you will)
My DS reminds me that we may have hit something when we dug the trench for the pool electric back in Sept/Oct. I said - no that was just debris from when they built the house. (cheaper to leave it in the ground and all....
Christmas evening went well with dishes piling up and no way to wash them but we have plenty. (could I have hit the line when I trenches for the pool electric? Naw!
DW & DD left for Colorado the day after Christmas so I spent the day with a larger snake trying to unclog the line, (wasn't going to pay the holiday price for something I could do) after about 2 hours and a lot of restricted words I decided to just dig up the line from the house to the septic tank( after calling around for prices $2500 was cheapest quote). It was a mere 30 feet so how hard could it be?
Well, after 8 hours of digging (pick axe & shovel in the frozen ground) I managed to get 4 feet deep 2.5ft wide and 6 feet long ( nice place for a coffin) still hadn't found the line to the tank, so I got in the hot tub for an hour ( you know that plastic Chunk I found when trenching kind of looked like pipe, naw! ) I had something to eat then continued digging- yes it got dark and it was getting colder. I quit for the night and started fresh the next morning.
I managed to Get through the permafrost (forgot to cover the trench or where I still had to dig) finally found the side of the pipe 8 feet from the house- yea!!! Problem was the rest of the trench was a 1.5 feet away from the pipe. Now, I had an 8 foot long 2.5 ft wide 4 ft deep hole in the wrong place, the ground was frozen and I had already broken 2 shovels getting where I was. Luckily the family was gone and the neighbors don't pay much attention or the cops would have shown up due to explicit language and screaming!!
I'm kind of stubborn, so I got my short shovel only one I had left) you know the one I'm talking about- 2 feet long once unfolded ( left over from my army days) its called an entrenching tool.
I cleared a bit of dirt/ frozen clay away from the top of the pipe so I could see the exact direction I now would have to go (both ways) wouldn't you know part of where I needed to go (2 feet by 4 feet by 4 inches thick) is covered with concrete! I went into the garage and got my skill saw with proper blade(tile cutting but it worked) and cut a line so I could remove the slab. Guess what? It only cuts into the slab about 2 inches max!!!
Time for something to eat since I thought I was going to pass out from exhaustion.
So I ate lunch, then went back outside to continue my digging, I'd have to figure out the concrete problem later as there were toilets that needed flushing and dishes to be cleaned.
Later that afternoon I hear a truck pull into the drive and a door close( figured it was the UPS guy dropping off a late present) I just yelled to leave it on the walkway, next thing I know there's a guy standing over me saying "man that's a lot of digging you're doing there". (I was nice, thank God) this guy looked familiar, I says I know you, but can't place the face. He says I was here Monday to check the tank, looks like your line is crushed. I was still nice and said that's what I thought too, hence the trench in the wrong place! He says OK. I say OK what? He says give me 15 minutes. I'm thinking take all the time you need to go home as I'll be here digging this hole for awhile and go back to shoveling. ( it was nice of him to come check on me but not the norm around these parts)
Then I hear a diesel engine start but not drive away, I'm thinking he must be on the phone. Then I hear the engine getting closer, I look up from my new home- the trench and see an excavator coming around behind the MH. I jump out of the hole and ask what he's doing, he tells me replacing a septic line. I said "all the money is gone my man, I don't have $2500.00 so he shuts off the motor and asks who told me $2500 as he didn't even know I needed the work done in the first place, he just came buy to check on my issue from Monday and happened to have his truck with him from another job. I apologized for assuming and simply asked how much, he says $315 should cover it. I'm thinking $300 to finish my already dug trench (in the wrong place) was way cheap so sure! Knock yourself out and could you break that concrete over there too?
20 minutes later the trench is done the old broken pipe (not from me trenching the pool line either) is now removed. I tell him thanks and get ready to pay him, he says I don't get paid until the job is done. I must be dreaming because this is not my luck! He said the $315 is for the trench, removing the old pipe, installing a new pipe with outside clean out and covering the trench back in. He had all the supplies in his truck already! (he said he figured I may need help but couldn't get here sooner)
Now I really need to use the bathroom because I think I s@&t my pants!
So, my Christmas story is simple- there are some really good folks out there and they come to you in the oddest ways!
I spent 2 full days digging a trench in the wrong place to save myself a fortune I didn't have and was given a fantastic present in the way of a septic guy that gave a s@&t about his customers! I paid him $400 (it was all I had) and am going to throw a pool party for his employees this summer ( all 5 of them)
Have a wonderful New Year, I know I will.
Ron
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