Terry wanted me to thank everybody who left comments on the blog, on Facebook, or sent texts wishing her happy birthday yesterday. It meant a lot to her.
Since we had spent the day before doing some shopping in Northport and then going to dinner at Pastor’s Kitchen Mexican Restaurant, we didn’t plan on doing a lot yesterday for Terry’s birthday, which was how she wanted it. However, we discovered a very weird way to kick off the day.
Ever since we bought our house, we have heard a gurgling noise from the kitchen sink when the washing machine is draining. We know that the septic system is in good shape because we had it inspected before the purchase, and it was pumped at that time. But sometimes when we flush our toilets there will be a big air bubble that comes up, which leads me to suspect that there’s a partial clog somewhere. Then, Wednesday night after I took my shower, Terry took hers and told me that there was a gurgling sound coming out of the toilet in our master bathroom. I’m glad she told me that because when I went to investigate, water was clear up to the rim and just about to start spilling over. That never happened before and it didn’t happen during my shower a few minutes earlier. A lot of plunging eventually got the water to go down, but we knew we definitely had a problem that needed to be addressed.
So that’s how we started the day yesterday. I’m no plumber, but I once had a friend who owned a big plumbing company, and he told me there were only three rules a plumber must know. 1) poop flows downhill, 2) payday is Friday, and 3) keep your fingers out of your mouth. Using the knowledge acquired from my friend, I decided to see if I could figure out anything.
As it turned out, none of the toilets wanted to flush correctly. They would fill up and I would have to plunge the heck out of them or leave them and they would eventually slowly drain down to normal levels over a period of time. I got my snake out of the garage and spent a couple of hours working it down each toilet, and eventually they started flushing normally. I still don’t really know what the problem is or was, but I have a call in to a plumber and he is going to try to get to us today.
Aside from that, it was pretty much the laid back birthday that Terry wanted. She had phone calls from our kids and her mom and dad wishing her happy birthday, I corrected the last two chapters I wrote in my new Big Lake book, took Alli out three times to throw a ball and her Kong Flyer frisbee for her, and Terry made a delicious calzone for my dinner, while she polished off some assorted leftovers with veggies in them that she’s been saving.
You might not think that’s much of a way to celebrate, but I learned a long time ago to give a lady what she wants, and that’s what Terry wanted. However, I’m not a total loser. I did get her something expensive for her birthday, a Stihl MS 251C chainsaw. Now, if you think that was totally out of line, you obviously don’t know Terry. She doesn’t like jewelry and frilly things, but turn her loose in the tool department at Lowe’s and she’s a happy camper. Okay, I’ll admit I’ll probably be using it under her careful supervision. At least until she realizes I’m about to cut one of my own limbs off instead of a limb from one of the fallen trees, then I’ll have to watch her use it because she won’t let me play with it anymore.
Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is a copy of the new hardcover edition of the RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at RV sites, a place for campground reviews, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day.
To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.
And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.
Thought For The Day – I wonder what my parents did to prevent boredom before the TV and internet were invented. I asked my 18 brothers and sisters, and they don’t know either.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
I love and identify with your stories. I love your humor and I love all that Terri can do! Love Alli and your devotion to her. I love the chuckles!
Hubby says sounds like there might be an air vent clogged. Speaking of septic tank cleaning…our toilet wasn’t flushing properly, we had the tank drained but still had the problem…turned out a tree nearby had filled the top of the tank with an almost solid mass of roots. We (and that is plural) removed enough dirt to access the exit drain opening and the top access opening and manually dug out the root mass. Was a lot of heavy, dirty work, specially trying to get the square chunks thru the round open top opening. Did help the toilet problem somewhat but the best result was that because of the back pain he ended up in the ER and a CAT scan discovered a huge cancerous tumor invading his right kidney. He had a complete nephrectomy 5 years ago this last April….no sign that it had/has spread to date. If he hadn’t had to do all that digging and lifting, we may never have discovered the tumor until it had metastisized. Just goes to show there’s blessings in disguise all around us ( and the highs and lows of being “landed gentry”).
As one who lives in the country with a septic tank, I would guess your field line isn’t able to take the water fast enough, due to root invasion or saturated ground due to the heavy rain. Neither one is a good thing, but are better than something inside.