Well, I did have a plan for today which involved finishing up the sheetrocking on the second floor of the new garage at Robinhood Farm but instead I spent the day shoveling shit and TP out of a locker in the basement where the drain managed to find a weak point when it backed up.

My horoscope this morning had only three stars and suggested that I tackle a problem "head-on." Very funny, God!

We are resident landlords in a 4-unit apartment building, which was converted in the 1940's from an old captain's mansion. And one of our new tenants has children and this Sunday they had a party with even more children. Our working theory, based on the plumber's observations when he finally arrived this morning, was that it was her apartment which triggered the blockage.

Once the blockage happened at a crucial T in the drain system, sewage backed up and found release through a basement pump vent, totally destroying the pump that empties the basement washing machine into the drain system. The pump is located in our locker and when our tenant alerted us to a problem down below, we found two inches of sewage floating around there. Much of the stuff in the locker was safe on shelves but there were several cardboard boxes below filled with "yard sale" items which were soaked through.

Once we determined that our apartment and an apartment above ours was not part of the problem, some of us could relieve ourselves at our leisure. But I worked with the plumber helping flush out various parts of the system for much of the morning. And then I spent the better part of the afternoon mopping up sewage, sorting through the cardboard boxes to see what could be salvaged, and then laying down a coating of lemon flavored bleach. Now a space heater and a fan are working full blast to dry everything out.

What joy!

I'll have to check with my home insurance folks to see if this kind of accident is covered in my policy. The pump alone costs about $800 to replace.

I don't think there is a song that may be inspired by this incident. I certainly won't compose one. Therefore this thread shall stay down below.

Charley Noble