Troubles you only have living in the country

The thing I dread the most out here in the boonies is with problems with the well, but the trouble the grandson next door ran into Saturday is no fun either:  A full septic tank, so full it was backing up into the bathtub.

When we lived in the house, I think we only had to have the septic tank emptied  and carried away in a truck three times in forty-odd years.  A neighbor said he was sure the the last time we had it emptied in 2001, so it had been awhile.  Back here at the trailer house, we've already had this septic tank emptied twice since 2007.

The septic tank at the old house the grandson lives in, though, is a story all its own.  It's been around a long time, and to have it emptied, someone (the man of the house) has to dig down through three feet of dirt, then pick up the lid off it.  Because we've never had a lot of money, my husband gets very creative and figures out cheaper ways to make things work, so he has fashioned two or three lids for it.  The wooden one didn't work so well after it was covered up with dirt, and after about ten years, during the 2 years when we rented the place out, the renter was mowing the yard and almost fell into the septic tank when the rotten wood gave way.  The last time, Cliff found some steel and crafted a round, metal hole for the lid.  Of course, steel rusts, and when the grandson got the dirt off the metal, it didn't look very trustworthy.

Sunday was a very hot day, so the grandson put up some shade to work under.  Cliff can't do a lot of physical work any more, but he's right there giving advice and tips.  He and Arick get along well, working together.  

Arick took the day off Monday to get the digging done.  Then he called the septic service guy, who got here around noon.  He had ten more places to go after he was done here.  He sucked it all out, took the $375 dollars he had earned, and drove away to his next customer.

One of the grandson's friends came over to visit Tuesday evening while Arick and Cliff were deciding what sort of lid to fashion for the tank, and the friend said, "Why not make a concrete lid?" 

That's what is usually on septic tanks anyway, and the two "Woodies", Cliff and Arick, put their heads together and figured it out.  They had it formed before dark, after Arick came home from work. 

By Wednesday, they were ready to replace the newly made lid.

This is the thin metal lid that had to be replaced 

This is the emptied septic tank, ready for its cover 

Yesterday, it all seemed to come together.

Cliff brought the cement lid to the work site with his little John Deere.  Originally, he thought the tractor wouldn't be able to handle the load, but after putting some weights on the back end, it did fine.

Ignore the grandson's dogs.  They think they need to be in the middle of everything.

Arick and another friend had to direct Cliff, since he couldn't see anything in the hole.  If  you have a friend who would risk falling in a dark hole containing your bodily fluids just to help you out of a pickle, that's a real friend!  By the way, that guy did almost fall from the edge of the hole before the lid was on, but somehow he did some quick mountain climbing and saved himself.

It's in!

These two had a couple more close calls thinking they were about to fall to their death.  Just before this picture, Arick's buddy almost fell again, and was really scared until he realized the lid was on and he wouldn't have fallen far.  I didn't get the picture I wanted, with both of them laughing at that incident so hard, the whole neighborhood could have heard them.  I won't describe what they are doing here because I'm not really sure; not to worry, it's just some more of the Wood family men and their "creative thinking".

I'm adding this after everyone has already visited this page, but it's an important addition: Thanks to my husband's idea, there won't be any more digging when the tank is full.  The waste removal man will simply stick a hose in there to suck it out.

NO MORE DIGGING!