How many bodies do you think could be buried in this “grave” if placed end to end?
All we need is a tombstone or two, right? Too bad the digging hadn’t been done prior to Halloween.
Yes, the sewer work has been completed. While the outside of my house is looking pretty rough right now:
Gotta love that bush that had to be cut in half. Not.
The basement is looking pretty cool:
Since there would be no water nor usable toilets during the sewer work, Puppy Cody and I stayed at our local Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel. I was impressed by the size of the “room” – it was actually a small apartment with a full sized kitchen and separate bedroom. It even had a fireplace! (although I never turned that on, so I can only assume it worked).
There were no guest rooms on either side of us nor across the hall, so the hotel was very quiet. The exit door was a short walk down the hallway, so it was easy getting Cody in and out. Outside the hotel was plenty of green space, and there were strategically placed bins specifically designated for disposal of pet waste. Again, I was impressed.
Despite being quite comfortable in our new temporary home, Cody spent a good portion of her time waiting for Dad to come back to take her for walkies:
Eventually, she did settle down:
Meanwhile, hubby hung out at the house because, even though we’ve used Roy’s Plumbing for at least 30 years and they’ve replaced every pipe in the two houses we’ve owned, he wanted to “supervise” the work. I’m sure the idea of watching a backhoe digging and workmen climbing in and out of a huge ditch to lay pipe factored into his decision not to spend the time with us at the hotel. He sent me photos of the work in progress so I wouldn’t miss out:
That’s the utility tub from the basement. It had to be replaced along with the sewer lines.
Glad I wasn’t there.
When I was growing up, many adults would encourage white collar careers, claiming that if one weren’t properly educated one could “wind up being a ditch digger.” I gotta tell you, the guys from Roy’s Plumbing worked their asses off on a fairly cold, damp November day, and as far as I’m concerned they should be (and probably are) paid more than most people working white-collar, cubicle based clerical jobs – and I’m sure that most of the crew were college educated and/or had extensive training. Plumbing ain’t easy. Hubby tells me that the crews working both inside the house replacing the pipes and outside the house digging the ditch, connecting pipes and tying into the town sewer line were professional, efficient and courteous. They got the entire job done in about 7 hours – an incredible feat in my book.
The whole process, from hotel move-in to sewer replacement to hotel move-out took only about 24 hours, but it seemed so much longer. We were all a little disoriented by the time it was all over.
But at least now when I flush a toilet I don’t hear that horrendous groaning sound which made me think the entire sewer line was about to explode, that horrible sewage smell has dissipated, and now all the interior pipes are above ground so if one ever breaks again, there will be easy access. I understand that many new homes are being built this way to avoid ground settling and crushing of pipes.
Was it horrendously expensive? You betcha. But worth every penny of it.
I can only hope my fingers hold out well enough to complete all those crochet orders coming in so that I can replenish some of my savings account. My hats have thankfully become quite popular, especially since I’ve added a line of faux spirit hats (colors as close to official team colors as I can get them, and easy to make regardless of what teams my customers support).
We once again are back to more-or-less normal in Cordelia’s Mom’s world.
How are things by you?
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by Cordelia’s Mom/TeddyRosalieStudio and/or Cordelia’s Dad
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Ever watch ‘renovation’ shows? Ever notice how they like to gloss over things like this? The best-looking bathroom in the world is useless if the water doesn’t go down the drain!
And yes, those people doing that work do need quite a lot of education – and strong backs to boot.
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Amen, Marc. Those guys were awesome.
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I don’t know what the situation is in the US, but here in NZ trades such as plumbing and electrical work can only be done by certified tradesmen. This requires attending the appropriate trades courses at certified education institutions and passing the necessary examinations. You definitely need a good education and be brighter than typical pen pushers to be able to do so. What’s more, because of the nature of the work, they need at least as courteous as other customer facing staff. And as they are usually working away from direct supervision, they need to be honest and be able to make independent decisions. Can the same be said about clerical staff?
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Plumbers here also need to be certified and licensed, although some of the assistants may be in training. That’s why we’ve stayed with the same plumbing company for more than 30 years. They’re crew are always qualified, and everything is done by the books. During the sewer replacement, the Town Inspector came out twice to make sure the work was done to code. With Roy’s , I knew that wouldn’t be a problem.
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I’m glad the work went fast and it does appear that they did a very good job. Hats off to the guys at Roy’s.
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They are excellent plumbers, Dan. They even let us request our “preferred plumber” when he’s available. Of course, for the sewer work we were happy with everyone who showed up – and there were a lot of them!
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I’m impressed by a lot of things in this post, CM. How fast they got this big job completed; how nice a hotel spot that took in sweet puppy Cody turned out to be; and those man-style hats you snuck in at the end! Happy Thanksgiving week to the west on the big Thruway.
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“Man-style hats”? I owe you a huge hug, Mark – hubby thinks all of my crochet hats are girlish, even the “team” hats.
The hotel was pretty cool. It wasn’t exactly 5 star but it was plenty roomy, quiet, and Puppy Cody was welcomed. She trotted right into that hotel like she owned it, maybe because I had already been there earlier in the day and she recognized my scent. In any case, I would definitely recommend it to any visitors coming in with pets.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Don’t overeat (she says laughingly).
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Wow that’s a big project – amazing that it got done in such a short period of time. I’m sure you didn’t miss the sewer smell!
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Those plumbers were awesome. I not only am glad we got rid of most of the sewer smell, I’m espcially happy that the toilet is no longer making that horrible groaning sound when flushed. It definitely sounded like something was about to blow up.
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wow really a great article and thanks for sharing the information with us. And these guys are doing a very good job of hats of all of them. I personally like the pictures of the work that you shared and the hard work of all the plumbers.
Thanks a lot once again for sharing with us.
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I’m glad you enjoyed the post. It was an experience, for sure!
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