The Pumper's Wife

Have you ever noticed just how importance timing is?  Like, taking a picture as someone jumps into water, but it looks as if they’re standing on it instead of jumping in?  Or realizing you could have just been in a horrible car accident but slammed on the brakes just in time?  You know what I mean.  Timing is HUGE!  But so is waiting… There is “excited waiting” like waiting for a big purchase to arrive via FedEx, or waiting for a fun vacation day.  There’s “dreaded waiting” like waiting to be called back for a root canal, or for your dad to come home so you can tell him you wrecked the family car.  There’s “painful waiting” like waiting for every last second of the school day to finally be over so you can start your summer break!  You get my drift, right? I believe timing and waiting is what makes life interesting.  I mean, think about it – it’s the scary, awful, and horribly terrible stuff that helps us appreciate all the good in li...

Well, as I mentioned last week, we had a bit of an issue with a dead raccoon in our yard and then in our dumpster.  Evidently, there is either a family of raccoons  living on our property or our place is sort of a raccoon highway that families use to travel through on their summer vacations.  I say this because since the death of Rocky, we have awakened to two other poor raccoon souls complements of our raccoon-killing-dog Marty.  Believe me, if I had a way to warn these masked critters to veer away from our property, I would.  I don’t want them to die, and I’m also not fond of disposing their poor little carcasses after Marty has done his dreadful deed.  But what do you do when you live in the country?  How do you get your dog to stop killing raccoons?  Well, like any self-respecting American with internet….I Googled it.  Ever hear the phrase, “ignorance is bliss?”  As it turns out there are all sorts of things about raccoons I rea...

Last week we were hit again with some rain.  Shocker, right?  Once again, despite the fact that we had our schedule up and ready to go, we were forced to tweak it to compensate for the rain.  But, this time around, we were also in the middle of something personal too – having a new roof put on.  Obviously, roofers can’t work in the rain either.  No major deal really.  Honestly, I found myself feeling a partnership with my rained-out-roofer-friends as they too were experiencing frustrating issues with rain (not to mention this time bumped up against a holiday weekend to boot!)  What was supposed to be a day and a half event has now turned into a six day suspended engagement.  (We got rain again today…so it’s looking like we’ll be extending it at least into day seven!)  So why am I going into such detail about the time frame here?  It’s mainly because of Rocky Raccoon.  Let me explain further… The roofers cam...

Have you ever been asked to list what you are most thankful for?  Isn’t it funny how some things change over the years and others don’t?  Though I have always been fond of nice weather…lately, I am much more thankful for dry days than ever before.  I love nice weather so I can play outside with the kids or work in the yard, but my perspective about weather has changed since May 2.  The excessive amount of rain we have received this year, now has me craving (and possibly obsessing for…) ANY DAY that is a DRY DAY.  I promise I’m not desiring these days so I can work on my tan or spend time at the pool.  No, I want dry days so my husband isn’t swamped as he helps others  with their over saturated septic needs and can be at home (at a decent hour…) with me and the boys.  Yes, it is still selfish, but not the way you might think. I am a firm believer in staying positive, being thankful, or looking for the silver-lining as much as possible, but the...

I can’t seem to think of much to write about this week.  Lately, anything that pops into my brain is items related either to rain or water  or water usage.  For instance…. I wonder if it is going to rain. If it rains, I wonder how much. If it rains a lot, I wonder how many calls we will get and if I will not see my husband again for two days. If it rains a lot, how many people will be able to help and how many will be in situations where we can’t help them? What kind of posts about water usage can I put on Facebook to help readers with their systems? What articles can I find about water usage? Are these water usage articles going to be helpful? I wonder how much water is used when we flush a toilet, wash dishes in the sink, run the dishwasher, run the washing machine, take a shower, take a bath, water the yard, etc.? Water and rain and water usage are literally flooding my brain. When I talk to people on the phone and try to help them with water...

You know the old Carpenter’s Song, “Rainy Days and Mondays?”  The lyrics go, “rainy days and Mondays always get me down…”  Well, here in Lincoln, rainy days that happen ANY day of the week are starting to get me down.  I know I try to make light of the rainfall, but the last month and a half have been frustrating for us septic people.  Believe me, I am not complaining about the rain because I can’t go out and work on my tan.  I complain because of all the problems it causes for our customers and our ability to get everyone taken care of. If you live on septic (and even some people who live on lagoons…) this type of weather causes people a LOT of problems.  Here is why: Take a look at the picture below and note where the leachfield/drainfield is located.  In the soil.  Underground.  With groundwater under it. Now, you will also notice that all the water from the house flows to the septic tank AND THAT THE SEPTIC TANK...