After 39 years and 11 months and 28 days I finally lived in a house that had a public /county water and sewer! Be still my heart!
Now for those of you who have never had a septic tank or your own water well on your property seriously you haven't been missing much. Hard water, and years of visits by the "honey pot" if you want to keep you septic tank happy and healthy. Perhaps your well runs dry at precisely the time you are out of town and your mother-in-law is watching the house, $1,500 later and a new well is dug, but with much hang wringing and worry. OK, so if you don't know any better you think you don't miss much with this public utility thing. Wrong! I can tell you I have secretly coveted the mindless flush of anything down the toilet or the reckless pour of oil down the kitchen drain - ah the luxury of it.
And now we lived in Glen Allen, VA, a community developed in 1994 or so and equipped with all the modern conveniences.
Yes, I flush it all down the drain, I grind it up in the kitchen disposal and let it run right down the kitchen pipes. A bit of hot water after the oil pour keeps my pipes clog free....so far....I hope.
And now here in Shanghai I live no differently then in Virginia! This country too offers me the opportunity of the mindless flush and the reckless pour down the sink, including a kitchen garbage disposal - except for this little thing...... I am constantly losing small items down this disposal. Generally I see it sticking up out of the drain so no harm, except this last time.
I am a frequent grinder of egg shells - why not I say! And the sound is rather crunchy which I confused this time with the sound of metal. Oops. I heard the crunch crunch and then the sudden STOP! Ugh. I peaked in and didn't see anything so I thought I just jammed it up - a price I am willing to pay to be able to experiment with what can and cannot go in the disposal.
OK willing to pay if it doesn't cost much, i.e. I can fix it. And I am quite handy if I dare say so myself! I walked away from the crippled disposal and was really really bummed, was this the moment that I would have to change my reckless ways? To be cautious with what goes in the disposal which in turn will force me think about what goes down the drain? No, no I said to myself......if you think Tony was listening or even knew of this small drama you're kidding yourself. While I am sure he would have some thoughtful comments, he did not live with septic for almost 40 years, ok he had a brief stint of it in Ridgefield, CT, but he just couldn't understand this deep feeling I have, you have to live with septic for years to really appreciate how I feel!
I returned to the jammed disposal and gently snaked my hand into the dark hole (certain that it would instantly begin whirring and take off some of my digits) and felt around. I ran my hand along the rounded wall and success(!) a metal object jammed between the metal disk of the blade and the drum.
This is a picture of the munched up spoon and a healthy one from the kitchen drawer.
Things are back to normal, my reckless ways will continue and the pleasure I take in them will know no bounds. I have happy tingles running up and down my arms even as I write this!!
Now for those of you who have never had a septic tank or your own water well on your property seriously you haven't been missing much. Hard water, and years of visits by the "honey pot" if you want to keep you septic tank happy and healthy. Perhaps your well runs dry at precisely the time you are out of town and your mother-in-law is watching the house, $1,500 later and a new well is dug, but with much hang wringing and worry. OK, so if you don't know any better you think you don't miss much with this public utility thing. Wrong! I can tell you I have secretly coveted the mindless flush of anything down the toilet or the reckless pour of oil down the kitchen drain - ah the luxury of it.
And now we lived in Glen Allen, VA, a community developed in 1994 or so and equipped with all the modern conveniences.
Yes, I flush it all down the drain, I grind it up in the kitchen disposal and let it run right down the kitchen pipes. A bit of hot water after the oil pour keeps my pipes clog free....so far....I hope.
And now here in Shanghai I live no differently then in Virginia! This country too offers me the opportunity of the mindless flush and the reckless pour down the sink, including a kitchen garbage disposal - except for this little thing...... I am constantly losing small items down this disposal. Generally I see it sticking up out of the drain so no harm, except this last time.
I am a frequent grinder of egg shells - why not I say! And the sound is rather crunchy which I confused this time with the sound of metal. Oops. I heard the crunch crunch and then the sudden STOP! Ugh. I peaked in and didn't see anything so I thought I just jammed it up - a price I am willing to pay to be able to experiment with what can and cannot go in the disposal.
OK willing to pay if it doesn't cost much, i.e. I can fix it. And I am quite handy if I dare say so myself! I walked away from the crippled disposal and was really really bummed, was this the moment that I would have to change my reckless ways? To be cautious with what goes in the disposal which in turn will force me think about what goes down the drain? No, no I said to myself......if you think Tony was listening or even knew of this small drama you're kidding yourself. While I am sure he would have some thoughtful comments, he did not live with septic for almost 40 years, ok he had a brief stint of it in Ridgefield, CT, but he just couldn't understand this deep feeling I have, you have to live with septic for years to really appreciate how I feel!
I returned to the jammed disposal and gently snaked my hand into the dark hole (certain that it would instantly begin whirring and take off some of my digits) and felt around. I ran my hand along the rounded wall and success(!) a metal object jammed between the metal disk of the blade and the drum.
This is a picture of the munched up spoon and a healthy one from the kitchen drawer.Things are back to normal, my reckless ways will continue and the pleasure I take in them will know no bounds. I have happy tingles running up and down my arms even as I write this!!
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