Pleased...

Jun. 5th, 2011 04:32 pm
the_plan: (Seal Cove)
The septic contractors were good as their word and arrived bright and early yesterday (just as I was on my way out to 'Mom's Day Off').

James was very pleased with how they worked. Their attitude, care and professionalism was first rate! Despite having to wait on the pumping truck they got everything prepared and ready to roll, then got some lunch early while they were waiting. No time wasted. Unfortunately with the ceiling of the tank caved in they couldn't pump out the rocks that were in it. So the answer was to pump out the sewage, leave the rocks, dig a hole right beside the new one and rebury it, filling it in with rock and dirt (no more collapses!)

They had to move the pile of topsoil I had in the driveway for the flower beds, so they very kindly moved it all to the big empty hole at the back where the tree stumps came out (which was exactly where I wanted it). Couldn't talk em into digging the rest of the swamp drainage trench for us, but we're really gonna have to get the mini excavator again anyway to finish smoothing out the BIG hole, but all in all not bad.

They took GREAT care not to damage the flower bed out front, which was quite amazing, it was so close to the hole I figured it was a goner. Not a single flower disturbed! And despite all the digging they did a very neat job of cleaning up after themselves and smoothed the soil out very well. Yeah I've still gotta put a little topsoil down there to cover some rock, and seed it with grass seed... but it's actually quite neat, considering how much we'd had it torn up from the excavator last fall.

When I think about the disaster that the septic tank caving in was, I'm really very pleased and relieved at the eventual outcome.

For the local folks - if you've got an issue, I can't recommend Wade's Excavating and Septic Services in Flatrock highly enough. These guys were just great.


AND as a bonus, James managed to get the laser working again (we won't talk about how BIG a scare having THAT not work was! Fortunately it was a very short lived scare) and did them a sample glass. They then bought an order of 20 on the spot! Ya know we could really make a go of the whole laser, dye sublimation printing thing if either one of us had a clue about marketing or sales (but that's a whole other post ...)


More musings on gardening. Pretty much the majority of my landscaping budget had been spent and I wasn't really planning on doing a lot more to the gardens this year, but MUN Botanical Gardens were having their annual flower and cuttings sale. It was for a good cause and I hadn't seen the Botanical Gardens yet, I slipped a few dollars in my pocket and off I went. I probably spent another $50, and I still don't really have a lot of an idea what I'm doing. I've got a general overall idea what I want to accomplish; so I got some more ground cover plants; a couple kinds of phlox, needed some ferns for the great gaping hole by the forest, some other interesting bits and pieces. But the real value of the trip was the inspiration! They have some amazing shade gardens. The biggest pain for me has always been how much shade I have to deal with here, nothing is completely a 'sunny' spot, and I've always been kind of unimpressed with the plants recommended for shade gardens. What I discovered was "Wow a hosta I actually LIKE!" and that I can have bright colour in a shade garden. Lots to inspire me, but I was also rushing. I did get some lovely photos of the gardens before my camera batteries died. So I think another more paced trip is in order, especially as more of their summer stuff starts filling in, with full camera batteries and a notebook in hand.

where I get carried away with pretty pictures )
Now I think I'll go re-pot some tomatoes and herbs.
the_plan: (Seal Cove)
Waiting on the septic guys to show up.

These are the second crew we called, the first ones promised to come out and have a look that day, then the next day, then the end of the week.... we never heard back from them. They lost our business.

This second guy, promised to have someone out that day, or early the next morning, and lo he arrived bright and early yesterday am.

When the hole first appeared in the yard - well it didn't exactly appear - I was walking across the lawn working on the front garden bed and suddenly ended up up to my hip in the earth. James heard me shriek and came and helped me out of it. We were pretty sure we'd either busted a septic pipe or something .... lord knows it stunk like septic and it bubbled and gurgled with every flush. Buddy had a look at it and it seems that we lost the top of the tank, and yes the whole thing will need replacing.

Honestly the whole thing has been a bit scary and had us on pins and needles. I figured if we were up for a new septic tank it was gonna be a $10K job, James figured $7.5K, turns out he quoted us $2700 + tax. That means that even if Western Bay doesn't sell, we can probably afford to hang on here for another year. It'll be tight, but we could do it. (and as time goes on really a year is gonna end up being closer to 10 months I think). Ya know combined with the shock of the $30K fencing quote, it just goes to show that obviously James and I have NO idea what anything costs!

So yesterday he says if the weather is fine, they had another job they needed good weather to finish up and we probably wouldn't see them till later in the day to start the job, but if the weather was poor they'd have to put a hold on the other job anyway and would be out first thing. Well the weather is gorgeous, so not sure when they'll be here but at least it's getting dealt with and it does mean that the listing will include "brand new septic tank", and now at least we'll know where it IS. (The sellers not knowing where the septic system was located delayed our closing when we bought the place by two days). Guess there really is a silver lining to everything. I just hope they don't have to end up ripping up my garden bed.


Addendum: ... and they were decent enough to call at a reasonable hour to say they won't be able to make it today would first thing tomorrow be alright?

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