It appears to have been the phone, not the battery at fault in my lack of connectivity this week. The new one should arrive tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I have taken WYSIWYG's advice and looked at root killers. My new sewer line is attached to the old one near the house, and it's fine there (and has a new two-way cleanout a few feet from the house), but the last segment that dips down to the street level may still be subject to roots because they didn't want to get too close to the gas line during installation. The connection left some of the old line down there to be safe. (Wise men.) I picked up a jar of the foaming root killer (yes, $20 seems expensive, until you see the bill from the plumber!) to do this weekend, and a bottle of Zeb, that will be used every few months after that to maintain the line free of roots. One evening this weekend I'll pour the powder into the cleanout out in the yard then flush a couple of times to push it to where it needs to be (to stay in the line overnight). The guy at Home Depot was impressed with my description of our setup and we discussed the options - the folks who work there enjoy being more than just sales clerks.

eBay stuff is starting to move - even for small sellers this is the season. I'll put up more listings this weekend - the plan is to spend days in the yard, evenings working in the sun room.