So hubby told me today

That one of the kids that came to the reunion had problems in the bathroom because he didn't know how to use a bar of soap.
You read that right.
He didn't know how to use a bar of soap. He's ten.

His mother told us he only uses soap in a squirt bottle, implying that we were remiss by not having any.

Hah!

He should know how to use a bar of soap as far as I'm concerned.

Hubby thinks there is a deer in the neighborhood.

Any of you seen anything like this before?



This is one of the pecan trees we planted a couple years ago. We are hoping it will survive. The damage is pretty bad.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

So it was only $75....

Thanks for your comments, everyone.

We did call a plumber, and he came out. They were here about an hour or so. And do you know what we found?
We have two septic tanks.

It gets stranger.

The reason hubby's sewer snake came back dry the first time? It was going to the second septic tank that they found in the middle of the back yard.

The reason the sewer snake couldn't get through the blockage? It was capped off!

Remember the leaks I mentioned? Well, apparently the Rid-X would do its thing, and because the pipe was blocked off, the only place left for the liquids to go was out the leaks.
Just think about that for a while.

Apparently whoever did the 'plumbing' work (I use that term loosely) capped the lines off in two places with some sort of rubber and hose clamps.
The cleanout plug under the house, where one of the smaller 'caps' was done, had basically rotted through. If hubby hadn't noticed the smell and gone under to find the problem, well, I don't like to think about it. We're hosting a reunion in about 6 and a half weeks.
That's why hubby put off surgery.

Anyway, the plumber said the second tank - which is about a foot underground, is probably fine to use - he told us a simple way to check it; but without knowing why one bathroom was cut off from that tank, hubby is not willing to use it.

The plumber wondered why the tank was so far out in the yard, until we explained to him that the out building used to be part of the house, too.

Anyway, apparently at one time, both bathrooms were connected to this second tank; while the utility room and kitchen went to the tank closest to the house.

Seventy-five dollars was worth finding out this information, because the pipe going to this septic tank was ceramic. We would never have found it if not for the knowledge of the plumber in tracking down curious problems.

So now hubby will draw out a blueprint, buy PVC pipes, and join the first bathroom to the sewer line for the utility room.
It means taking the new toilet off, buying a new collar for it, and taking out as much of the old cast iron sewer pipe as he can get out.

Things were going to well, but it could have been a LOT worse, so we thank God for small blessings, and for cast iron pipe to go to the recycle. :-)

Hope everyone is doing well. ♥

I knew we'd be doing a lot of work,

but we found out today it will be a lot more.

We thought we had a plugged sewer line.
Rented a snake and put it through two different... clean out points.
One run came back completely dry. It didn't get to the septic tank, which it should have done easily.
For the second run - where hubby has to get under the house (he can get on his hands and knees once he is completely under it); he hit a block he couldn't get the snake past. (He also tried some sort of rubber thing which expands to the size of the pipe and shoots pressurized water at the blockage.)
And while he was there, and having me run some clean water through the lines, discovered that there are three different leaks, in addition to the blockage.

And because this house is 100 years old, it not only has PVC pipe from when hubby fixed the washer drain line and the main bathroom lines; it also has cast iron pipe and old ceramic pipe for the plumbing.

We decided we had to call a plumber.

And we're back living in the trailer because only the washer and the kitchen lines are uncompromised.

We figure any plumber that comes out probably won't touch it, really. It's not going to be an easy job.
We're expecting easily a thousand dollars or more for an estimate.
*sigh*

Oh well.

Hope you all have a blessed week! ♥