Hi, I’m Kelly and I’m new to these parts. A Citiot Comes to Columbia County is my ongoing post about making the switch from life in the city to country living.
Do Your Business Outside
As I’ve mentioned before, you don’t need to worry about sewage when you live in a city. So naturally it didn’t occur to me to worry about it when I moved up here. That didn’t last long. We’d just about gotten our boxes unpacked when we got some of our first house guests – four kids ranging in age from 5 to 13.
Within an hour of their arrival, sewage started backing up into the toilets, showers, and sinks. Grabbing a plunger and trying to make the best of it, I announced that at least no one would have to shower for the next few days. Sounded like good news to me, but these kids were none too pleased with the idea of no showers. Weirdos.
Once we realized that not only was the drain-o not doing anything but there was also sewage bubbling out of the bushes outside the house, we started calling around for help. The first guys that agreed to come out on a weekend had actually been out seven or so years before and remembered where the septic tank was – and that it had been in bad shape that far back. This was going to take a good three to who knows how many days to get fixed.
With that, the ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow’ rule went into effect. Or better yet, use nature as intended. I’ll spare you the eight year old’s pronouncement on our diet when he peered into the open tank. None of the kids fell or were pushed into the septic tank, but by the time they went home on day three, they were rather sticky.
About a week later, we were back in business – no pun intended. The only lasting downside was that the new leach field had to be put in place of the fenced-in garden we’d spent the prior week getting ready to plant our first vegetable garden.
Columbia County Current 