It's Bad News: A New Septic System

We seem to have had nothing but bad news lately. The latest came from our trusty island septic installer who, in reality is kind of jack of all trades, but I won't go into that now. He lives on the island, has installed hundreds of septic systems here, & is a bit of an island fixture. If he were older I could say he's a legend. He's honest & he's good, so we've stuck with him & had him do a variety of jobs. Sometimes he operates on "island time", but when he knows it's an emergency he's there for you. We got that awful loud buzzer in the middle of the night Saturday, so David called him about 7:30 Sunday & left a message.

Emergencies, even medical emergencies, always seem to happen on weekends, so we didn't hear back until Monday morning; he came Monday afternoon. The immediate problem was a pump wire that had shorted out, but when he opened one of the tanks on our sand filter septic system he gave us the really bad news: the system was failing & needed to be replaced. Why? Naturally we asked. 

Sand filter systems are used only when standard gravity septic systems can't be used, such as, in our case, there is not enough soil to properly install a regular system. Most of the island soil is glacial till & hardpan, so it's practically impossible to install a gravity system., although they were installed years ago before sand filter systems were used. Many have been replaced, however, because they, too, failed.

Donnie, our installer, told us the reason ours was failing was because when we built the house the county required a certain grade of sand be used for installation & now it's proved to be too dense to absorb the effluent properly, so the effluent has backed up into the tanks again. We've had the tanks pumped according to the requirements we were given, but even that wasn't enough.

He's recommending an aerobic system, which is supposed to be fairly new and designed for the same type of problem soil as a sand filter system. I spent yesterday & today researching on the Web & have come away convinced I DON'T want it! It requires frequent maintenance--probably about $500/year--& that's today's cost, which is sure to go up as the years to on--& many, many prohibitions on what NOT to put down your toilets & drains, such as: garbage disposal waste, oil, suds, bleach & the usual no-no's of any kind of paper or cloth except for toilet paper, but what threw me was "medications". Not medications that someone might throw down a toilet, but the residual of a medication that a person excretes. So if we're taking certain medications we can't use the toilets! Who knows what medications we may have to take in future? This just does not seem very practical. And I have to use those Clorox tablets that you put in the toilet tank to keep rust from forming since we have a lot of iron in our water. I couldn't use those, either.  So this is something we have to think over carefully. 

Now It's The Septic System

First the snow cancels the Christmas dinner we had scheduled, then a neighbor trying to help clear a path in our driveway slides into a tree & ruins his car; the car can't be towed because the towing company is swamped with towing other cars disabled by the storm; therefore the driveway is blocked & we can't get out for 5 days, and finally, at about 2:00 am this morning we're awakened by the warning buzzer from our septic system, which glows an ominous red when we open the garage door to see what the racket is.

"Too much water," is David's diagnosis, so we call our septic installer once it gets to a reasonable hour. It's Sunday, of course, so we don't hear back. The last time this happened--probably 10 years ago it was either Saturday or Sunday. Why do these things have to happen on weekends?

David's diagnosis sounds correct. I found an on-line manual for sand filter septic systems which says they are very delicate & need to have special care. Too much water can flood the filter & set off the alarm, & we've had nothing but snow & rain for the past 10 days on top of showers, my doing laundry & dishwashing. So now, in lieu of expert advice on what to do next, we are limiting our use of water, including the flushing of toilets. Dishes will have to be done by hand & we'll have to live with the clothes that are already clean.

This really is some December to remember!

Free At Last

For the first time ever I've been unable to leave the house for one whole week! Every morning I'd wake up to bitter cold--extremely unusual here in the Northwest on the west side of the mountains--with the hope that "today maybe we can get to the market and shop for food", but the snow was too deep to expect any car to plow through, especially since our driveway has a steep incline up to our community road. We've already had one casualty, & that was a 4 wheel drive, so we'd never attempt it with our car. But getting out on the driveway is a moot point anyway since the casualty has been stuck there for 5 days.

But at least the electricity hasn't gone off, so for the time being, anyway, we're warm, & there's stuff in the freezer. Thank goodness for Costco soup! And since I have yeast & flour in the house I baked bread to go with the soup. Wow. How domestic. For someone who hates cooking & hates to think about food, except where, other than here, I'm going to eat it this has been a real hardship! 

The mail, which usually comes anywhere from 12:30-3:00 pm is now coming about 5:00 pm if they come at all. UPS told me one truck has been assigned to the island. My packages have been accumluating there--I must have about 4 somewhere in the UPS system on hold for this are. The propane truck still hasn't come & we're afraid we're going to run out of heating fuel. But at least today the temperature is above 40 F so the snow is finally melting on the streets. There are some good size ruts left on streets that get minimal traffic, but on the whole driving is pretty good if you can ignore the piles of snow--some 10 ft. tall--in parking lots.

I hope never to see another storm like this one, but we are grateful the electricity never went out. It's a first!

How To Cement A Friendship

Being snowed in wasn't enough. Now we've caused a friend to wreck his car! One thing I'm sure he's learned: Being a good Samaritan doesn't always pay off. It's more like the old proverb (or whatever it is) that no good deed goes unpunished.

We asked a friend who has a 4 wheel drive vehicle & was able to get around fairly well if he'd drive up & down our driveway a few times to make a path for the propane truck that was due to come & fill up our propane tank. Like the good friend he is he came right over, but he had some trouble keeping on the graveled driveway once he came down through the woods from our community road into the open. Then, on the second run, going up the incline to the road he stopped, which was a big mistake. Underneath the snow was ice & he started sliding backward, unable stop. The car back ever so slowly into a big Douglas Fir tree off the side of the driveway. You wouldn't think the impact at such a low speed would do much damage but it smashed the whole back end of the car, popping the rear window with a sound like a rifle shot.

He promptly called his insurance company expecting a tow truck to come out shortly, but with storm problems all over the area they told him they didn't know when they'd be able to pick the car up. So now, even if the propane truck comes they have no way of getting close enough to fill the tank. David goes out every day to check on the amount left & luckily it is not going down fast. However, if I had it to do over I don't think we'd ever opt for propane again.

Still Snowed In

The first day it snowed I hooked a ride with a neighbor & went into town on the mainland to do a few errands & see how the roads looked. The neighbor had a 4 wheel drive, so didn't have much of a problem driving the roads, which were packed snow. Even the hills gave him no problem, but even with 4 wheel drive you don't gun it. That's when you get into trouble.

But after they predicted the wind storm, along with more snow, I jumped ship in the afternoon when I still could. David stayed--I think because he's just stubborn. He didn't sleep well because every time the wind gusted dangerously he woke up, but as usual, I slept like a log. Next morning I had to clean off about 6 inches of snow from my car & then I headed home--veeerrry carefully! Saw cars & trucks in ditches all the way home, although the freeway was clear & wet. Even saw a Volvo.

We thought that was the end, but no, last night we got another 4 inches or so. There's no way we can get out, so we asked our 4 wheel drive neighbor to drive up & down our driveway a few times to clear out a path.

Waiting For A Fierce Storm

We still hadn't ventured out in either car (one a Saab & one an Audi) since two days ago when the snow hit. Yesterday David tried to get his car, the Audi, up the incline at the end of our driveway, but ended up backing all the way down, which is about a city block long, through the woods & around a curve. He thinks maybe he didn't go fast enough to get enough momentum to get to the top, but it kind of spooked me & kept me from trying even though my car is heavier & stood a better chance of making it. A friend stopped by to leave a book & after he said he was going into town I decided to go with him just to see how the roads were & pick up a few items for dinner: ingredients for tacos. His car is a 4 wheel drive SUV & he had no trouble at all managing our driveway or the island hills.

Last night it got down to 10 degrees F., the coldest I think it's ever been here, at least since we've lived here. David is fanatical & fears the water pipes will freeze so he leaves all the cabinet doors open at night & the water dripping from all the faucets. Last night, as long as we had electricity (knock on wood!) he brought in a radiant heater from the garden house & put it in the hall near the thermostat hoping the slight rise in temperature that would be radiated would keep the furnace from going on all night. He is a notoriously light sleeper and every time the furnace goes on he wakes. I sleep the sleep of the dead. Usually, during ordinary winter weather around here the temperature doesn't get below freezing so the furnace rarely goes on during the night since we have it set to automatically go down to 66 degrees. The house is well insulated so rarely gets too cold. Even when we were out of electricity for three days one winter the temperature didn't get below 55 degrees inside.

Last night & this morning they've been telling us on the radio & TV that there's a big storm coming in later this afternoon, with high winds & snow, but rising temperatures. Any kind of wind with snow usually takes out the electricity here, so I told David I was leaving this afternoon & made a motel reservation. He wants to stay in the house & was planning to build a fire if the electricity went out, but since all the heat goes up the fireplace flue that kind of precaution will hardly affect the pipes, & since the temperatures are supposed to rise anyway he's debating whether to come with me.

Snowed In

I am sitting here waiting for the electricity to go out. It's almost lunchtime. We woke up to about an inch of snow, but about 10:00 a.m. it started in again. In Seattle this would be nothing to be concerned about. The plows would be making their rounds and once you got out of your driveway you could probably get to where you wanted to go as long as you stayed away from hills. But around here things aren't as easy. 

The biggest problem are the trees, but almost as bad are the hills. We love trees, and for 11.98 months of the year we celebrate all the trees on our island; it's the small fraction of days like this when they're a threat. Douglas firs were not made to support heavy snow. At the very least their branches collapse, at worst the whole tree topples over.

I'll never forget the snowstorm we had two years ago. It started with a windstorm the night before, knocking out our electricity. (This is a common thing around here and the utility company blames it all on trees. But still, other areas seem to cope with wind despite the trees.) In the morning, the dim prospect of no coffee sent us onto the mainland for breakfast, after a neighbor had cleared away a downed tree on the road with his chain saw. We met other neighbors at the restaurant who'd had the same idea and glancing out the window over our second cup of coffee we noticed a blizzard had started outside & was sticking to the pavement at an unbelievable rate. All we needed was to be snowed in with no electricity, so we sped home as fast as we could, grabbed our overnight bags which we kept packed for just such occasions, locked up and managed to get up the steep end of our driveway to the community road, only to discover another tree had come down over it. This time we tried driving around it and got stuck.

The snow was piling up fast, but David went out to the county road and as luck would have it, a county sheriff's deputy was passing. David flagged him down and the two of them managed to rock the car out of the ditch we'd made trying to get out. While I stood there waiting for him to find someone I could hear the cracking of tree branches that sounded like pistol shots in the snow-muffled silence, and every once in awhile, after the crack a swishing thud that meant a tree had come down somewhere in the woods. By this time I was very anxious to get off the island!

We finally made it, but we had to take several detours because of downed trees over the roads, & all the way off the island we could hear trees falling. I must say I was scared to death one would come down on our car. Four wheel drive vehicles were in ditches all over the place because in weather like that, 4 wheel drive is really no help. We did much better in our front wheel drive Saab.

We were one of the last persons to get a room at a motel on the mainland. Then freezing weather set in and made the roads all but impassable--even the freeways. We were three days in the motel so we made a party of it. The same neighbors we'd eaten breakfast with got a room too, so we had a cocktail party every afternoon and ate at nearby restaurants, all short-handed because employees couldn't get to work.