My Hierarchy of Plumbing Needs (with Apologies to Maslow)

First, the good news:

The county has decided to fix the hole up the street.

That mine shaft that opened up in January has gotten substantially bigger these last months, probably due to record February rainfall, snow, and snow melt.

Here’s what it looks like now.

You can read my original post about the sink hole and see how teeny tiny it was back in January by clicking here.: https://www.ordinaryholy.com/some-days-the-sky-is-actually-falling-or-at-least-the-vinca-and-blackberries/

One estimate was that it will be a $50,000 fix if they are lucky.

I am grateful that this is not something I have to worry about anymore.

Also, we got the toilet unclogged. Whatever ill that befell our septic system earlier this month seems to have remedied itself. Who knows how, exactly. My husband rented a snake from Home Depot and snaked the line again. We also flushed some root killer down the toilet, along with two other products that were supposed to increase healthy bacteria in the septic system. Were these the magic fixes? All I know is that now, the toilet is flushing and the shower is draining and I am able to do laundry at home again.

These days of plumbing trauma have reminded me of how lovely it is just to have a toilet that flushes. It also led me to establish a hierarchy of plumbing needs, with apologies to Maslow.

On the top of the pyramid, the least essential plumbing task?

The dishwasher.

Our house didn’t come with a dishwasher, so for a year or so I washed all our dishes by hand.  I was so happy when our friends gave us their old dishwasher. It was broken, but my husband was able to fix it. When it broke a few months ago?

I was forlorn. I was desperate.

That was before our septic system decided to go wonky.

Suddenly, when we couldn’t flush the toilet, the fact that the dishwasher was broken became much less critical.

Below the dishwasher on the plumbing pyramid? Laundry. The Laundromat works fine. It’s not fun, but it’s not terrible.

Below that? Slightly more important? Showers. For a time, my husband used the shower at the gym, and the rest of us tromped up the hill to our good neighbor’s house, who let us use her shower and had tea with me while I waited for my turn. It reminded me of camping, going outside with my little backpack full of shampoo and body wash, clean clothes and my towel.

On the bottom of the pyramid? The most important plumbing item in the house?

The toilet.

You can wash dishes in tubs and throw the dishwater outside. You can go to the Laundromat. You can take showers at the neighbors. But when you have to use the bathroom and the toilet doesn’t flush? That’s rough.

For a few days, at the height of our plumbing angst, the toilet stopped flushing.  What’s worse, the contents of the toilet bubbled back up into the bathtub and shower.

Perhaps that is too much information.

When this happened, one spot of hope remained: the rest area a few miles up the freeway. We were lucky it was there.  It has rows and rows of toilets that flush and sinks where you can wash your hands. In the morning, we had to leave time for a stop there before we headed down the freeway to work and school.

All this was a few weeks ago now. I’m writing this on a Sunday night, the last day of March, trying to get this published before the calendar turns to April.  I realized that I haven’t posted a blog in a few weeks. It’s not too late, though. It’s never too late.

Today, I did two loads of laundry and ran the dishwasher. Three of us took showers. Everything continues to drain. This is a beautiful thing. Also, the plum tree out my kitchen window has blossomed. The daffodils are blooming. I am cautiously optimistic that for now, the worst of the plumbing problems may be behind us.  It’s no small thing.