Build a Garden

Did you know our house, although "connected" to the city sewer (which we've been billed since we've moved in) has not one, but *two* septic tanks?  How fun for us to discover!  Our drain lines are completely backed up and it turns out we have a sump pump that pumps our waste from a 4" pipe to 2" pipe to a 1.5" pipe to the main city sewer line, *after* going through our *two* septic tanks.

I will say the waste water management crew for the city of Sedro-Woolley are fantastic.  We've been fortunate here that city employees go above and beyond in their helpfulness with building codes for the garage (adjusting our building plans or signing off on not-quite-code construction) and now with the sewer.  The waste-water crew brought out their city truck and sucked all the ick out of the drain lines before Hans had to work on them.  They also sucked the scuzz out of the tanks some.  They used their little camera attachment through the pipes to tell where everything was for the digging, so Hans (with me helping a little) knew exactly where to dig instead of randomly choosing spots in the yard until we found the mess.

So we dug a trench to reroute the sewage line around tank #1 and connect it directly to tank #2.  Hans then replaced the pump with a working one and reconnected everything back to the city line.  So fun (or not) to go 24 hours without being able to flush during my m.c.  I am so thankful for my neighbors.

Even Pip got in the shoveling action by helping us fill in the trench once the pipe was put down.  Her little spadefuls were quite helpful.  With each one, she told us how she was helping "build a garden."  "Abby, look!  Abby!  Abby!  I help build a garden."  Ooo-kaay, digging in the dirt = garden.  She is such a cute, filthy helper.