Getting a flusher

I'm certainly learning not to take anything for granted in life,  including running water and a toilet that flushes.  It's the simplest of things that can bring so much joy and appreciation if you've never been without you might not understand, but if you have you totally get it! And it was that strong desire to simply have a flushing toilet that kept me going at it day after day digging in a trench so it would be deep enough to bring the septic lines through that hard packed clay soil and into the house.

While Brian and the guys were busy down in the septic field I was busy under the deck...  It literally took a pickax just to break the surface... not sure it might have been easier to break up concrete, to be honest.  Within moments you'd be wringing wet with sweat from chiseling away at that hardened earth and after about 2 hours you needed to take a break just to re-hydrate. Most of the digging by hand was done under the existing deck so not only did you have to swing a pickax, you could only lift it off the ground maybe 3 - 4 feet, each time hitting the deck framing above, hunched over...do you know how many muscle groups are in your back, neck, and shoulders? I have a much better idea now cause every one of them was screaming at me, in fact, my right shoulder is still holding a grudge...pretty sure I felt something pop while using that pickax.  (Hum, probably not a good thing).

 I couldn't have done it alone though, my daughter and grandson were a big help taking turns climbing down underneath chiseling away inch by inch, even Brian took a few turns.  We thought we'd made great progress and then we'd be told we were only about 1/3 the way there.  So, I got thinking about it.  Riverbeds grow wider and deeper from the power of water, what if I hooked up the hose.  Wow...why didn't I think of that sooner.  I just stood in the heat of the day and kept the pressure on the dirt in the channel we'd dug and before you knew it it was a couple inches deeper and then wider and I didn't even break a sweat!  It did make for a muddy mess but hey it's just mud and it washes off a lot quicker than the blisters will heal on your hands! It took us most of two weeks to get the septic field cleared and the lines installed.  We passed our inspection no problem and took full advantage of that approval by getting the first toilet connected to the system! Yeah, we finally have a flusher!

The septic line running up to the house from the tank, fortunately, that was all dug by the backhoe.

See that red arrow?  That's the space we had to get below to hand dig the septic line.