New septic –what a mess, new calf, same old crud

I took Friday off and it turned out to be a very good day to be at home. The man doing the septic system, Terry Cobb, was out the day before and got the two tanks set in place and connected so we could use the system as normal. That was a blessing. Friday he was going to dig through the side yard where the electrical and water lines ran. He has a really large backhoe and I was not sure I understood how he was going to be able to be careful enough to dig around the lines. What I did not understand is that he had no intention of avoiding anything in the ground.

It was not long before he tore through the electrical line to the well. It was only at that point that I really began to understand his method. There was never an intent to avoid anything. He would rip through whatever he encountered and then repair it as needed. In doing so I ended up redoing the electrical supply at the well house – new line, new conduit, and new breaker box. The finished product is excellent. Better in fact than I had planned to do.

Fortunately he did not catch the water line on Friday so we had water through the night. However, it was not long on Saturday before he found the water line and we had to start the repairs on that. Again, we dug up all the lines at the well and repaired the broken lines as well as replacing several minor issues with the supply to and from the softener. We also removed several wires that had been taken out of use years ago. It all looked neat and well defined when we were done.

By Saturday evening he and his son had dug all the lateral lines (the leach field), put down the pipe, backfilled it with gravel and put the cloth barrier on top of the gravel to hold the dirt out of the system. It should be inspected today. Then he will start the process of covering the entire area back up and smoothing things out. Right now it is a real mess but that is what it takes to get this done. So far I have no idea about the price except that it started at about $4250.

Whatever the price, there is so much to be thankful for because of the way he did the repairs, the way he ran the gas line and the way helped me understand exactly what we have at this property. It is all done more properly now and the repairs should last us many, many years. It would have taken me and Grandpa months to do what has been done in only three days.

Mid-afternoon Saturday Mama and I went over to check on Daisy and found that she had just had her calf. She chose the far side of the dam and the brush that we have there to deliver her first little one – a bull calf. He is beautifully shaped and solid black. I am guessing he weighs less than fifty pounds. I have to guess because we cannot get near enough to him to do any hands-on evaluation.

Mama and I got sick together overnight Saturday night – with a cough and stuffed up head. Neither of us went to church Sunday. Joyce Horton told Mama that there were a lot of people in the church who were sick with the same thing.

It has been a long time since we had this kind of crud.