As the Stomach Turns....

The septic woes continue....today the septic service came to pump out the tank (with Mike in London), but were unable to lift the several hundred pound concrete lid. This may be partly because they only sent one guy, even though Jane made it very clear that the lid was an issue. On top of that, he seemed unconvinced that she would be of any help. So he left.

The good news is that this gave me a chance to prove that four years of university science actually has some real-life application. I found a rusty old homemade jack stand kicking around the barn, which I'm sure I meant to throw in the garbage and only saved when I realized it would be worth more for scrap metal, and a bold plan sprang to life. We already had the lid open just enough to slide a metal plate in sideways....once we had dug down yet more to allow room for the jack stand.

Yeah, we jacked up the lid. I had to stand on the other end of the jack plate to keep it from tipping sideways as the metal bent, and we kept having to add bricks as the weight of the lid sunk the jack further into the mud.....but Jane was right there, jamming pieces of wood in the breach every time the lid raised another few critical centimeters.

Hopefully when Buddy comes back tomorrow, the lid is open enough that he can do his thing, or at least allow the three of us to open it the rest of the way.

Remind me to buy a tractor with all the various attachments - winch, bucket, mower, snowplow, beer cooler....AM/FM stereo with 8-track....

Just when you thought I didn't know jack...

Theoretical Physics and human waste - a deadly combination

Black Gold