Valentine's Day 2007

Sooo . . . where was I? Right, our (my) fantastic Valentine's Day.

In short, I connected with Septic Guy Tuesday night, and he promised to be out on Wednesday . . . as would be the plumber to hook up the shower.

Now, Valentine's Day also happened to be the day Tom had to leave for his Iowa business trip (who plans these things?!). FORTUNATELY and not running behind as I usually am, I had Tom packed up the night before, and he planned on stopping at my folks' in town for a shower on his way to the airport. The flight itinerary showed him leaving around 2:00 PM.

At 9:20 that morning, Tom checked his e-mail from my desk here at home. The flightplan had changed without notice - now leaving at 12:50 . . . and it's a 3-hour drive (MINimum) from home to the airport! Brief insanity ensued, and, with slight panic in his eyes, Tom was out the door and on his way! (Forget the shower in town! He'd have to go stinky.)

Fast forward into the day: Tom makes his flight by the skin of his teeth, the plumber is here installing what he needed to install, but still no sign of Septic Guy. And, what good's plumbing without somewhere for the water to go?! Finally in the late afternoon, #2 Septic Guy shows up (not the boss - which disappointed me, but he'd had a family emergency).

So, #2 Septic Guy shovels off the septic tank and opens it up. This is what he finds (see above picture). Not good. The entire tank contents had a layer of ice on it. When a septic system is working properly, the bacteria in it creates its own heat - literally. This, obviously, wasn't happening. So, how thick was the ice?

Dum, dum, dummmmmm . . . .