I almost missed it! It had fallen into the “living fence” my mother had planted, which was holding it up.
Getting it down was a bit risky, though. I had to get right under a hawthorn to be able to pull it out. After I managed to get it far enough I could move further away, I took a look and realized just how close I came to getting my back impaled by many very sharp thorns! Those things are deadly!
You can see more clearly, in the second photo of the slideshow above, just how large the branch turned out to be. I dragged it out closer to the fire pit, where there’s more room to break it down, but left it for now. I don’t know what the humidex put us at, but we were at 30C/86F at the time. As I write this, we’ve cooled down to 28C/82F, and with the humidex putting us at 32C/90F. That little bit of exertion was enough to leave me almost as soaked with sweat as I was when I got caught in the storm!
Before I checked the yard, though, I went to check on the septic expeller. Normally, I’d go through the barn to do this, but my brother’s tractor is in the way! I tried to go around, but there’s just too much junk in the old cow stalls on either side. So I had to make my way through the tall grass – I swear, some of it is as tall as I am! – to the vehicle gate. It has both a chain across it, and the renter’s electric fence wire, to keep the cows out. The cows have been rotated out, though, so the electric fence is off right now.
In the first two photos, you can see black part way up the pipe, where it then ends abruptly. Which means that the greywater has been going up into the outer pipe, but only so far. It’s not overflowing.
I brought the pipe to the yard and hosed it off, then ran water through both ends of the pipe.
There is no clog in the pipe at all.
So… what does this tell me?
It could be that the venturi was simply not seated properly at the bottom of the pipe. Rather than going through the venturi and being expelled out the top, the greywater was going into the outer pipe, but then draining into the soil around it fast enough that it never overflowed at the top.
Or there is something wrong at the bottom of the pipe that prevents a proper seal once the venture is set in the bottom.
I’ve sent the images to my brother, in hopes he has a better idea. He would remember the actual installation of all this, and probably helped do it. I was just too young. All I remember is the trench dug from the well towards the barn. I don’t even remember the pipes being laid down in the trench.
My hope is that it’s just the pipe wasn’t seated properly when I cleaned up around there, back in early July. I’d taken the pipe out to check it, but I was sure I’d set it back in properly. You can actually feel when it pushes into place.
I’m leaving it out for now and will take it back tomorrow, and see what I can see inside the outer pipe. With the inner pipe removed, the outer pipe should fill up faster when the pump runs, and actually overflow. If it does, I should see signs of that.
It would be really awesome if all it is, is the pipe not set properly! If that’s at, and water is flowing through the expeller properly again, that means we don’t need to call anyone and possibly need to get it excavated!
I’m just glad we are finding this problem now, and not in the winter!
I was in a world of hurt this morning, after all the stuff done yesterday. The girls took care of feeding the outside cats. We gave eye baby her medication and a modified bottle feed last night, but then she went back outside. She’s getting too active to keep her in a cat carrier all night. Since we can’t wash her eye anymore – it’s not leaking, but is still insanely swollen – and no longer have eye drops, we didn’t take her in this morning. She seems to prefer kibble, anyhow. We’ll bring her in for her antibiotics in the evening, then let her back out again.
I tried to get more sleep, but got messages from my brother and couldn’t fall asleep after that. I’ll get to that part, later.
It was late morning before I got outside to check on the garden and see what could be harvested. We were supposed to get storms last night, but only got a brief rain. We were now being told to expect thunderstorms in the late morning, but very briefly. While I was in the garden, I could hear thunder in the distance.
That big G Star patty pan squash grew so much, just overnight! Yesterday, it wasn’t much bigger than the other one!
I finally picked our first yellow zucchini.
Those are all Forme de Couer tomatoes; no others were ready to pick. The beans are mostly the Royal Burgundy bush beans, which I did not pick at all, yesterday, with maybe a half dozen Carminat pole beans.
I do have to share about the enameled tub the harvest is in. It has been hanging on the wall behind the warming shelf of the wood cookstove for I don’t know now many decades. I brought it out and washed it, thinking we might need to use it for sponge baths, if we couldn’t get the septic going again.
I actually remember my mother bathing me in that, when I was a wee one. She had it on the table in the kitchen, close to the stove, with its reservoir of warm water handy. It was probably used for my late brother, too. Which would make it older than I am!
I hadn’t brought a container with me while going through the garden, and just used the bottom of my shirt to carry the produce. As I was transferring them to the tub, I could hear the thunder and figured I would top of the cat kibble outside, but just in the kibble house and sun room, so the cats would be sheltered next to food. I was in the process of putting the kibble out when the storm hit.
Hard.
We went from basically hot and muggy with no wind, to driving rain and winds strong enough for things started to get blown around, and I was half expecting branches to start breaking off! I got completely soaked in seconds!
Once back in the sun room, I made sure to tie off the outer door and partially close the inner door – normally, during the day, both are kept wide open. Cats where running all over the place, trying to find shelter. A number of kittens that normally run away from me ran into the sun room, saw me there, and panicked – but didn’t run back outside into that driving rain!
The storm has already passed, though. The system is continuing to the north east, and it looks like we got it pretty mild, compared to other places.
I’ll still be waiting a while before going back outside!
I need to go check out the expeller for the septic, out by the barn. I remembered that the septic guy had suggested that, if we still had problems, to take the cap and inner pipe of the expeller out completely, and leave it off for about a month. The grey water would build up in the outer pipe and overflow it, eventually, clearing out any collected gunk from inside the pipes that might be clogging the pipe. I was thinking of taking it out and seeing if there was any outflow.
My brother had had the same thought, and messaged me this morning about it. I’d told him about the septic guy suggesting leaving it out for a month, but my brother wasn’t too keen on that idea; that cap is there for a reason. But it might we worthwhile to do it for a few days, at least.
I was going to do that after topping up the cat kibble, thinking I had time before the storm hit.
I was wrong.
😂😂
So I will have to go out there later today, and see what there is to see!
My brother and his wife have come and gone. It took them more than 7 1/2 hours to make what is normally a 1 1/2 drive! I didn’t realize it, but the tractor my brother was driving had no cab, so he was driving in full sun and 30C/86F temperatures, the whole way! They did make at one stop along the way, at a gas station for a break – and to use the facilities!
When they got here, it was past 8, and the light was starting to fade. My brother immediately started using the rotary mower in front of the barn, then went around to another area where they will be storing large equipment. Then they could back the trailer up to the barn for unloading.
Before that, though, my brother and I went over to where the septic expeller is. One quick look and his response was, call so-and-so and get it excavated.
I don’t think this person even does plumbing related stuff anymore, and the only excavating he does that I know of is in cemeteries!
Plus, we have no way to pay for anything like this.
We had to work quickly to unload the trailer as we were losing light. Then the trailer was moved out while my brother stayed in the barn to move things and make room to back in the tractor and rotary mower.
By the time that was done, it was fully dark. They packed up the truck to get ready to go, then my brother and I went into the basement to see what was going on with the pump. I turned the power back on and the pump started running, but nothing was happening (thank God we have the filter and can actually see this!). The filter reservoir had partially drained, though, so I popped it open and primed it again. We turned the pump back on again, and we could see some gurgles, but then those stopped, and nothing flowed.
We kept watching as we talked, when suddenly we could see more gurgles. Then the filter drained. At first, it ran dry, but we kept watching, because there was just a dribble of water coming through the intake, near the top of the filter.
You couldn’t believe how exciting it was to see greywater from our septic tank suddenly start flowing through that filter.
It was working again!
For now.
The main problem remains, at the expeller out by the barn. I’ll go check in the morning, but as long as the grey water isn’t flowing out the expelled, but instead seeping into the ground, we’ve got a major problem on our hands.
While it was running, my brother showed me the emergency back up.
They’ve had to use it before.
Tucked into the rafters was some pipe, with a right angle at one end, and another short length of pipe.
The long end gets attached to the septic pump, in place of the outflow pipe that runs out the basement and to the expeller. He then showed me, hidden between floor joists for my bedroom above, a hole in the wall that’s filled with spray foam insulation. The short section of pipe goes through that hole, to the outside. Once outside, an extension can be added, and the greywater can be sent off somewhere towards the maple grove or the old garden area, depending on how long of an extension we can find.
This would at least give us something we can use if it stops working again, or while the expeller is being serviced. Especially if we can’t get it done right away. They don’t have the funds for this, either.
So, I have some phone calls to make on Monday.
The first will be to find a company that specializes in septic systems – including old ones like ours – to come out and take a look. There is still the possibility that there’s just a block at the bottom of the expeller pipe, and no excavating is needed. I have no idea, but we can get a confirmation and an estimate for the work needed.
Then I think we’ll be calling the scrap company again and see about getting rid of some of those old vehicles appliances, along with the aluminum and batteries we’re already expecting them to pick up. Hopefully, we’ll get enough to pay for the work.
*sigh*
We have had so many things break down or need to be replaced in the past year, but this? This is one of our worst nightmares when it comes to living here. The other is losing our water.
On top of that, this is something we would have to get fixed before winter, because once the deep freeze hits, we’d really be in trouble!
I laid down a piece of scrap metal roofing to divert the outflow away from the pipe, replacing the badly rusted out one that was there before. All I did after the photo was taken was add some dead branches I found to weigh it down, so the wind wouldn’t blow it away.
It looks almost exactly the same, now.
There is no sign that any septic outflow has ever run down it.
There is, however, a saturated area of ground beside it, where those bullrushes are in the photo.
Which might mean that, for the past 6 weeks, our septic has been draining into the ground, not out the pipe.
If that is true, that means the underground pipe will have to be excavated for repair/replacement.
At this point, it’s all on my brother, because this is way beyond any for of work we can pay to have done.
Which means we can’t use our water. At least not allow water to drain. I guess we can set the honey pot up again, but we’ll probably have to start doing things like sponge bath in the tub, using a bucket or bin, so we can toss the used water outside. We’ll have to start doing dishes in a bin, too.
No, not finally petting this cat, though that did happen (I counted 30 yard cats this morning).
No, not finally the snow is almost gone, or the moat around the garage disappearing, or even large sections of the main garden area accessible again.
No, what finally happened was our tax returns finally got deposited!!!!
I’ve already called and left a message with the septic guy about replacing the pill switch in our septic tank.
Just a little bit longer, and we won’t be having to manually turn that thing on several times a day.
We’ve certainly learned to recognize the signs of when it needs to be done, before things start backing up into the basement!
We were having a problem with it yesterday, though. One of the things that was modified on our system was the addition of a pool filter. Greywater from the tank goes through the filter before it reaches the pump, which then sends the water out to the field by the barn. Hang on… I should have some photos. That will make it much easier to explain!
There they are!
These go back to 2020, in February, when things backed up into the basement, and my brother helped get things unplugged – at least until we had the roots professionally augured out of those floor drains!
This is what it looked like, before the filter was installed.
This is what it’s like now.
The filter needs to be primed for proper flow, but once that’s done and closed up, it should run fine. If, however, we turn on the pump, but the greywater side of the tank outside isn’t full enough to be drained, the filter reservoir drains out the bottom, and that’s it. So we need to open it up and fill it to above the inflow opening to prime. We can even keep an eye through the clear lid and see what’s going on, which I find very useful.
You can see the white handle of the filter basket inside. We have two of them, so that when it needs to be cleaned, we can just quickly switch in the second one, then let the dirty one soak in detergent for a while before scrubbing it out. Typically, we only need to do this a couple of times a year.
That got switched out when the septic tank was emptied and it was really bad, so I switched out the detergent water it was soaking in a few times, and it was still soaking, as of yesterday.
Yesterday, we could tell that the tank needed to be drained, but every time I tried to run the pump, the filter would drain, but no greywater from the tank would come in. I’d prime the filter, but it would happen again.
So I decided to switch the filter basket, but the other one was still soaking. The detergent got most of the gunge off, so I gloved up and started scrubbing the basket with brush that we have, just for this job.
What I found myself doing was pulling out wads and wads of cat hair! Enough that it was blocking the mesh of the filter basket from the inside.
Once I got that clear and clean, I took the other filter basket out and set it to soak. I also made a point of cleaning the inside of the reservoir, the threads and the parts and pieces of the cover. I even scrubbed the inside of the clear cover as best I could. Over time, grease and grime can build up under there and make it harder to see inside.
It was a very disgusting job, but it needs to be done!
Once everything was cleaned up, I popped the newly cleaned filter basket in, primed the filter, then turned on the pump.
It ran fine! I could see the inflow splashing through, and the water level remained high.
While that ran, I started cleaning the other filter basket…
… and started pulling out wads of cat hair!
There was enough cat hair lining the inside of the basket to prevent proper flow and mess with the vacuum seal.
I got the cat hair out, but left the basket to soak in detergent longer, since the other scunge that was already accumulating wasn’t going to come off well, otherwise.
When living on a town or city sewage system, we don’t really think about what goes down the drains. Sure, we know about flushing toilets, baths, showers and draining washing machines. How often, though, do we think about the bits of food and grease from washing our dishes? Or all the different types of cleaners, getting all mixed up together? Or how much HAIR gets in there! We already have to regularly clear the drains in the tub and bathroom sink because of the hair that gets caught – both human and cat – but I never imagined that so much cat fur was making its way into the septic system that it would clog that filter basket after only about 10 days. The Septo-Bac and the bio pipe maintenance stuff both include bacteria and enzymes to break down grease and hair. It just needs more time to do it!
It would be getting in through the washing machine, mostly. Every time we do the laundry, and I clean out the lint trap on the drier, it’s got a thick layer of cat hair on it. It gets everywhere. What we need to get are some air filters for various rooms, but even that would reduce the problem, not get rid of it. We just have too many indoor cats!
Well, by the end of today, we’ll be down by one, as I deliver the Wolfman to the rescue for vet care and adoption. I’m happy to say his eye is looking SO much better today. Hopefully, that will mean a much smaller vet bill for the rescue, though the vet was willing to give them samples of that super expensive medication.
Talking about the Wolfman with my husband today, he joked that he’ll put money on them deciding to keep him permanently. I hope not! They already have 17 permanent cats, plus the ones up for adoption that have their own space, and 4 or 5 (or is it 5 or 6?) of their permanent ones are from us!
Wolfman is such a sweet cat, though. We’re going to miss him!
What can’t we adopt out the a****e cats, instead?
Oh, right. Because they’re a****s. 😂
Anyhow.
It will work out.
Later today, I will deliver the Wolfman, then take advantage of the trip to pick up a few necessities. Hopefully, I’ll hear back from the septic guy before then, and will know how much cash to take out to pay him, and a date for when he can replace the pill switch.
Right from the start, it was like everything was going wrong. Just little things, but so many of them!
Not everything was bad, though, so I’ll start with the cuteness.
Both water bowls were bone dry this morning, even though I topped the sun room one up last night.
I also chased a skunk out. The only reason I don’t think we had any racoons last night is because the water bowls were dry, but not dirty. The racoons always leave the water bowls so very dirty!
Of course, a dry water bowl is a warm spot, and the outside one was being taken advantage of by a cat I would really like to see more of. This is the one with one messed up eye, and he seemed to be warming his paws while I was putting the kibble out. He wasn’t sitting or lying in it, like I usually see other cats doing. Just standing in it. He didn’t run away while I put kibble in the tray under the water bowl house, either. When I came back with water, I watched him slowly, cautiously walk down the board we have as a ramp and move aside.
Meanwhile, I did a head count.
33! And I didn’t even see Sad Face anywhere! We’ve definitely got some strangers among us, but honestly, with some of the more feral cats that look so much alike, I really can’t tell which of them are new. Very few of them have distinctive features like one messed up eye.
After I finished with the water and went through the sun room to put away the container, I was very pleased to see One Eye in the sun room – that’s a first, that we’ve seen! He was moving slowly and cautiously, but he did not run off when I came in. Then, after I finished my rounds and came back to tie off the doors and go inside, I found him curled up on one of the cats beds, under the platform.
Before I started this, I did the evening feeding. He was still in the sun room and still moving about cautiously. I was actually able to reach out and put a hand on his back. He slunk away, but didn’t run away, which is very encouraging. The thermometer in the sun room was reading 18C/64F, so I do hope he comes back to enjoy the warmth, some cozy beds, food and water.
So that was one of the highlights of the day. I’ll take what I can get.
Among the things that went wrong today is, the toilet started acting up again. I was in the middle of doing several things at once, so the timing was frustrating! But I got it clear – I thought – cleaned up and went back to the other stuff I was doing.
One of those things was starting some pickled eggs for our Easter basket. I boiled more eggs than I was after, and only the ones that peeled the nicest got done. I ended up doing three different types; one with beet brine from our own pickled beets, one with turmeric and one with soy sauce. Those are now ready and sitting in the fridge until we put our basket together for blessing on Saturday. I won’t be taking it to church for blessing, since my mother gives me grief for having such a big basket. I should just have a tiny one, like hers. 🙄 So we will bless it ourselves.
Anyhow.
That got done little by little, with other things being chipped away at while waiting for the eggs to cool, then to cool down in cold water, etc. Finally, I was able to make myself some breakfast, which I ate in the cat free zone, aka: the living room.
Which is when my husband showed up to let me know that one of our daughters had been trying to plunge the toilet for the last 15 minutes.
I’m not sure what he expected me to do about it. He probably was just letting me know, but his timing really sucked! 😄
Once I was able to, I went into the basement to check on the septic pump. I know it’s supposed to take a long time for both tanks to fill, but between everyone’s water use, doing laundry, dishes and, of course, the phantom flush we still haven’t found the cause of, I know it’ll fill faster than typical. I turned it on only long enough to confirm I could here no water going through the pipe.
Meanwhile, my daughter used drain cleaner. We’ve got the “max gel” type that’s supposed to be able to handle the worst clogs, letting it sit for the maximum recommended time, and so on.
It didn’t work.
It will drain, eventually, but not enough for a proper flush.
Meanwhile, I still hadn’t been able to pick up more of that enzyme drain and pipe maintenance stuff that worked where the drain cleaner didn’t. The town where I knew they had some in stock is also where we went to get our taxes done last year, and we need to get those done so we can use my caregiver tax credit to pay for a plumber to clear the pipe that’s causing all these problems, and to get the pill switch replaced in the septic tank.
We just had one last thing to print out, from my husband’s medical insurance provider, which is not the same company that his disability payments come from. It used to be the same company, but his employer changed providers after he went on disability, so his disability payments still come from the original company, but his health care coverage is now with the new company.
So he logged on, found the information he needed, and tried to print it out.
The printer is in my “office” corner of my room, which is on wifi.
It didn’t work.
After trying several times, my husband finally saved it to pdf, put it on a thumb drive, and I tried to print it from my computer. Then we did it again, because the first file he saved was 22 pages! The correct file was only 4 pages.
Also, without health insurance, we would have paid over $8000 for my husband’s medications. That’s actually down from last year, since at least one of his meds, Ozempic, is now covered 100% by our province’s pharmacare program. His health insurance covers that one only for “reasonable dosages”. My husband’s dosage is so high, they won’t cover it. This is expensive stuff, even at lower doses. Gotta wonder about all those people taking it for weight loss!
But I digress.
So I open the file on my computer and try to print it out.
First, I kept getting “not responding”. Then it wouldn’t print, and just said “error.” What error? Who knows.
Now, I have printed things out since getting the new computer, and had no issue connecting to the printer at all. Now, suddenly, it just wouldn’t.
My older daughter came over to help out, since this printer is actually hers. We even tried to print direct from media, but for some reason, the option to print a pdf no longer exists! Just for photos. She kept trying with the printer, while I kept trying to figure things out in the settings on my computer.
Windows 11 really sucks.
Windows 11 control panel really sucks.
I tried troubleshooting it and, while it was going through that, a message popped up saying the troubleshooter has been moved and would soon not be available…
So… why was it even there as an option? And how are we supposed to troubleshoot something if we have to figure out how to find the new location for the troubleshooter it?
Not that it mattered. It “fixed” the problem, but in the control panel, it still just said “error” under the printer. Of course, we kept trying to print in between all these different things, and again, all it would do is tell us “error”.
Finally, I decided to try removing the printer, then adding it back.
Printer removed, select add device…
The computer couldn’t find it.
We went through so many different ways to try and add the printer back, but the computer just wouldn’t “see” it anywhere.
One of the options was “my computer is older. Help me find it” followed by a “next” button, but that didn’t work, either.
So we fussed with both the computer and the settings on the printers, and I kept trying again.
Then suddenly, it was there. The computer could “see” it!
I have no idea what I did that made the difference.
I didn’t care by then. I just selected it, and the computer installed and finally connected with the printer.
Then it was crunch time: would it actually print?
It did!
Sort of.
This time, I had a different problem. A problem I had the last time I tried to print something out.
The software printed on the page as if it were landscape, instead of portrait, squeezing everything to fit on one side.
It did this when I tried to print out a knit pattern for my daughter. No matter what I did to the settings, when it came time to print, it was turned the wrong way and squeezed to fit on side of the page.
After all this time fighting with it, I didn’t care anymore. The data could be read, and that was all I needed.
That done, I called the tax preparer and arranged to drop off our stuff, then finally headed out.
This town is about a half hour drive from us, so not too bad. The weather is nicer today, at least, though that wind is still brutal. At the tax place, I saw they had a drop box for all the people doing like we are; just leaving our stuff with them to work on later. We’ll get a call then they’re done. I’ll have to pick up the paperwork and bring it home for my husband to sign, but that’s the closest thing to a delay we’ll have.
Then it was off to the hardware store. I go here so rarely, I took advantage of it to just look around.
They have an excellent and well stocked canning section! 😁
When I got to the display I was looking for, I decided to get three bottles of the stuff. They had others for maintaining the tank itself, and even another brand of the drain and pipe maintenance stuff but, in the end, I stuck with what we already know works!
It’ll be so good when we can finally get a plumber to clear that pipe!
Then I kept wandering around the store. I did completely avoid the power tools section, though. Too many things there I want to buy! For me, being around power tools is a lot like going to a yarn store. I want to buy all the things! Power tools are a lot more expensive, though! 😄😂😄
It turns out it was a good thing I took my time. After I was all done and about to message my family to let them know I was about to head home, I found a message from one of my daughters. I’d used most of a flat of eggs for the pickled eggs, and she was letting me know she was about to finish the rest of them. So I made a quick stop at the grocery store for a dozen – I’ll be getting more at Costco tomorrow – and even remembered to grab some butter. I probably should have grabbed more; they house brand was on sale for $4.99, and not even Costco’s butter is that cheap. No surprise that they had a quantity limit! I decided to just get one, though.
When I got home and was pulling into the garage, I saw my younger daughter coming out. My husband had a prescription refill ordered for delivery, and they guy had just called to let us know he was close – something we requested, since our gate is usually closed and locked. So my daughter met him at the gate, and closed and locked it for me.
The girls kept fighting with the toilet while I was gone, and hadn’t had much luck. The honeypot was set up again! Since I got three bottles of the stuff, I want to use it in the drains for the tub, kitchen sink and laundry drain, too. For “slow drains”, the instructions say to use 8 oz, three days in a row. After that, daily maintenance is a couple of tablespoons, if I remember correctly.
Hopefully, it has done the job by now.
Excuse me while I go see if we are still stuck using the honeypot or not!
Well crud. Toni just puked a hairball on top of a sleeping Cheddar’s belly, on my bed. Who didn’t wake up until I cleaned the mess. At least he was on top of their big towel, and not directly on my bedding!
Today I did our first stock up shop in the city. While our temperature is a balmy -6C/21F, the windchill is brutal. My weather app says it feels like -22C/-8F, but at least a few times I was walking in it, it sure felt much colder!
The drive in was good, though. Swirling snow on the highway, but the wind wasn’t letting anything accumulate.
I decided not to do Costco today, in order to take advantage of some sales that end tomorrow. My first stop was at the international store, where I could first enjoy some dim sum for breakfast.
I didn’t feel like bagging at the truck with this wind, so I brought bags into the store with me, for a change.
I balanced the weight in the insulated bags poorly, though, so I shifted things around a bit. This is what I got.
For our Easter basket, I picked up a flat of eggs. We’ll get more at Costco, but I want to get some pickling right away. I also got a Polish sausage, a cheese ball, a jar of cheese stuffed olives and a small dinner ham for the basket. Oh, and the whole cloves, which are used as a decoration. We’re running low.
The frozen turkeys were on an excellent sale, so I grabbed two – and then got one of them for free with my loyalty points. The Honeycrisp apples were also an amazing sale, so I got two bags of those. They were $1.99 each instead of $6.99.
The Stash teas were also on sale, and I ended up getting 4 boxes of those altogether. We normally buy our toilet paper at Costco, and we still will get their big house brand package, but the house brand TP here was also on a good sale, so I got one for our stock up supply.
There’s some cleaning vinegar (10% acidity) and laundry detergent. Normally, I’d by detergent at Costco, but I don’t normally do the laundry and hadn’t realized we’d run out completely! I got some marble and Old Cheddar cheese as well, because the sales were good, but will likely get more at Costco. We use cheese a lot.
The Soy and Oat milks are for my lactose intolerant daughters, along with the coffee creamers, which does bother them, but they don’t use enough of it at a time for it to be much issue. I got a smoked ham for general eating, plus a slab of salmon for the girls that was on sale. There’s a slab of smoked bacon, the soy sauce brand my husband likes, and some bananas.
The grand total, after taxes, was $216.10, after just over $50 was taken off for the sales and deals.
My next stop was Walmart. I was really after just two things there. Cat food and supplements.
I did have a few extras that weren’t on my list. My “splurge” of the day was a small plastic shelf and 4″ plastic plant pots. I really didn’t want to use peat pots again and, with the larger seeds I want to be starting next, I went with these. I do have similar plastic plant pots that we found while cleaning up the basement, but they’re pretty old and the plastic is getting brittle, and the price was right on these. They had the giant bottles of shampoo and conditioner in stock, so I got one shampoo and two conditioners.
Then there was my supplements.
*sigh*
I got two boxes with 32 tins each of wet cat food, plus 6 bags of dry. The two more expensive kibble bags were about 9kg, and the others were 7.24 and 7.5kg in size. I also grabbed a couple of small bags of chocolate eggs for our Easter basket – our one non-traditional basket item is a bit of chocolate. I had run out of my supplements almost completely, so I got my magnesium, B12, Zinc and D3. D3 is the only one that was cheap! With the others, I did get the ones that were the best deal, so they should last me a while, but… ouch.
Those plant pots were a really good deal, and not even on sale. A package of 6 was $1.24, so I got four packages.
Aside from all that, I got a bottle of water for the road, for a grand total of $410.22 after taxes.
*sigh*
I’ll be doing our Costco shopping in a couple of days, and I want to make sure to tank up and get everything we can squeeze out of our budget, because on April 1st, our Prime Dictator’s new carbon tax is coming into effect, and the price of everything is going to go up. Another tax on top of a tax on top of a tax. Meanwhile, all our MPs are getting a raise on the same day! Because, of course. 🫤
On the way home, I made sure to hit a bank machine and take cash out, then stopped at the septic guy’s place to pay him for emptying out our tank yesterday. Including a tip. I will always tip the septic guy!
While driving on the highway, on the lookout for his driveway, a thought occurred to me. When I called him to do our tank and arrangements were made, he never asked for our address. He’s been here often enough to remember where we are!
When I got there, I met the lady of the house and had some questions. The guy was in their shop out back, so she called him and he came over to talk.
I told him that the septic pump it still not shutting itself off and asked what he could see while emptying the tank. The first thing he confirmed for me is that he saw nothing at all out of the ordinary. The float was not stuck.
Then he told me, it’s the pill starter. It has to be, because there’s nothing else it could be! I mentioned I’d talked to my brother about it, and that it had been changed relatively recently, but the septic guy said this is actually a pretty common problem. He was able to tell me that a new pill starter costs about $250. We won’t have a budget for that until I get my caregiver tax credit in, so for now, we’ll have to just turn it on manually every now and then. He told me that we shouldn’t need to turn it on for at least a week. That’s about how long it takes for both sides of the tank to fill. I’m glad he told me that, because I was concerned about running the pump dry, but I don’t really know how big the two sides of the tank are. Given our use of our plumbing system in general, I would still expect it to be filled faster than a week. He said to just take a look on Monday and see if both sides are full, then turn it on if it is. I won’t be doing that. Every time I look down into there, I’m afraid my glasses will fall off! And no, they are not loose or anything. I get that feeling every time I look down from a height. 😄
Then he mentioned that he could come out next week and replace it for us, before we’d need to turn the pump on again. I didn’t realize he did that sort of thing, too! I thought we’d have to call a plumber! Nope. Apparently, it’s a pretty easy thing for him to do. I suspect he wouldn’t be doing it the way my brother changed it out, before we moved out here, which was through the basement.
No matter. I would much rather get the septic guy to do it than call a plumber! I’m just really happy with this guy. He’s come out here when we’ve had septic problems several times now, and always been really fast about it. The last time we called to book the tank to be cleaned, my husband accidentally called a different company, and they wouldn’t have been able to come out for 2 weeks! They would have been a lot cheaper, but I’d rather pay extra for a guy that’ll come out when we actually need him. The cheaper rates are made possible because they arrange their schedules to do a whole lot of people in one area at a time, so there’s less driving around for them.
So that was done, and now we have more information to work with.
After I got home and everything was unloaded and put away, I assembled the small shelf I got. It’s for the cats. There’s a space in my room that currently has a stool over a circulation vent that has a cat bed on it. I want to replace that with the shelf, and set up four cat beds on it.
I found a problem as soon as took the straps off the package.
Along with the side pieces, there are foot pieces that each have a cap piece tucked into them.
There’s only three foot/cap pieces.
Without all the legs, I can’t put it over the circulation vent, so I ended up putting it on top of the foot stool that’s already there.
This must be pretty common, because it came with a sheet saying, “missing parts? or questions? DO NOT RETURN TO THE STORE to obtain replacement parts.” 😄 There’s a website to go to instead. This isn’t the first time this has happened. A few years back, after we finished clearing out the old basement, I got larger plastic shelves to use down there, to replace the wooden ones that were rotting from the floor getting wet every spring. I wrote to the company and got the missing parts very quickly. I’m pretty sure it’s the same brand.
Once we get the missing parts, we’ll set it up without the foot stool under it, and secure it to the wall more effectively. We’ll probably wrap the verticals with jute twine, too, for the cats to scratch at.
Meanwhile, I’ve got cat beds, caves and blankets on it now, and the cats have been exploring it. sometimes, even staying on it for a while.
They still prefer gathering into massive cuddle piles on my bed, though!
Which is fine. That’ll give me a chance to wash the cat beds and blankets, so they’ll be fresh and clean for tonight.
But first, I need to contact that shelf company about the missing leg/cap piece!
I’m back from helping my mother with her shopping. The septic guy came and went while I was gone, so as soon as I got home, we went into the basement to turn power back on to the pump. With that tank having just been emptied, is should NOT have turned on, if it was just the float being stuck.
It turned on, and won’t turn off.
When I talked to the septic guy and mentioned what was happening, his first thought was that it was the switch. That may be true. We’ll have to get a plumber in to look at it, though.
Until then, we’ll have to manually turn it on and off, regularly, and do things like turn it on before starting to shower, then turning it off after. Same with doing the laundry. It takes a while for the solids side of the tank to fill and overflow into the greywater side, but we’ll have no way of determining that.
*sigh*
Sometimes, I think this place is going to be the financial death of us.
This morning started out pretty normal. All our usual activities. Including the use of water. Which means, of course, the pumps in the basement go off.
Well, this morning, I heard the septic pump go off, but after a while I realized it wasn’t turning off.
I waited a bit longer, and it still wasn’t turning off.
Finally, I went into the basement. Everything looked normal enough, but it was just running and not stopping.
I finally turned it off manually, so I could check the filter my brother had installed in a section of pipe running from the tank to the pump.
The filter is a sort of basket with a handle on it. When I opened the top and lifted it out, it was completely black and so clogged, it was holding liquid, and not draining!
I popped in the other basket (we switch out between two of them) and set the clogged on in a container we have in the old laundry sink to soak in detergent. Once the filter casing was refilled with water and sealed, I turned the switch back on. The pump turned on immediately, and I left it for a while.
It still wouldn’t shut off on its own.
I finally went back down and turned it off manually again.
I made sure to listen to the pipes, and I wasn’t hearing much splashing, so it does sound like the greywater side of the tank had been emptied.
While doing my morning rounds, I went to check the outflow area. It’s not an area we check often in the winter, because it’s so hard to get to. Much to my surprise, for most of the distance to the area, I was actually able to walk on top of the snow and it held my weight! All that freezing and thawing has resulted in a very hard surface.
This is the outflow. One of our jobs for when things thawed out was to clear in front of it. At some point, someone laid down what looks like a piece of metal roofing, bent into a slight curve, to direct the flow towards the pond. It is full of debris. Now, instead of flowing to the pond, it goes off to the side and towards the inner yard, and where the old collapsed log building is.
The area in front was wet, but I honestly couldn’t tell if there had been a recent outflow of grey water from the tank.
I’m hoping the problem is something as simple as the float being stuck.
Oh! The phone just rang. I called the septic guy and left a message, and he just called back.
He’ll be coming over to empty the tank this morning, and is okay with my paying him tomorrow, when we’ll have cash.
Time to go take the insulated tarp off the tank, and unlock the gate!
Fingers crossed that it’s just the float, and this will take care of it!
I called the septic guy yesterday, and he said he would be in the area and could come over this morning.
He came a lot earlier than I expected!
While he was here, I spent most of my time distracting kittens, but I couldn’t help but notice he was having issues.
He actually went rifling through the pile of poplars left over from when we cut them to build garden trellises with, 2 years ago, to find one long, straight and strong enough. Something was blocking the opening at the top of the tank, and he couldn’t get the hose into one of the compartments. You can see on the ground behind him, there is a heavy gauge metal wire. That’s his, and he’d tried using that, first.
He was able to get the hose through the opening and start pumping, thankfully! After he was done and packing up, I asked about it, and he said it was pipe. !!
I don’t know how this system looks beyond the very top, where there are openings to each compartment that he pumps through. I’ve tried looking up diagrams for dual compartment septic tanks, but they are all tanks that have two covers. Only one site I found mentioned some dual tanks might have only one, like ours. They also all have a gravity based outlet that would lead to a septic field or some sort of treatment system. Ours has an outlet leading into the pump in the basement, which pumps the effluent all the way out to near the barn, where it is expelled through an above-ground pipe. What I call our “septic field” is basically the area the greywater pours into, not a real septic field.
He didn’t seem particularly concerned about the block; more frustrated because it made his job harder, I think. Still, I’ve passed it on to my brother. Something like this, I have to rely on his knowledge and expertise. I hate to do it at the best of times, but right now, he’s out of the province for Thanksgiving with the grandbabies.
Everything seems to be working fine, though, so this was a bit of a surprise, that’s for sure!
My main concern is that someone is going to have to go down there to check it out. And if it’s something that needs repair, likely an excavator will need to be brought in. That’s a massive expense.
The Re-Farmer 