Water Worries

One doesn't often realize how much one takes for granted most of the time. A simple gutter for instance. One assumes that when one purchases a home, the gutter system, and everything else for that matter, will be in working order. The idiosyncrasies of a home however, are usually not found until a date long past the purchase date.

In this particular home of ours, purchased in late summer, the gutters appeared to work just great. Whatever rains occurred over the next year or so were mild. On the surface, it was the perfect house. Then, we decided to put in risers, (whatever that is) for our septic system. That winter during every rain, two things happened: the septic alarm went off, and the side yard flooded. The second occurrence, for my brother and I, was lovely. We no longer had to go way into the woods to the storm pond to float boats made of sticks. We had our own pond right outside the garage door.

After that, every year, we dug up the yard. Every summer we dug it up, and every winter it flooded. We discovered somewhere along the line that when the risers had been put in, the septic tank had been cracked. After numerous patches which were, at best, merely patches, we put in a new tank. Correct me if I'm wrong, but, as I recall, this new tank was also cracked. I don't think we missed a single year digging up that yard.

We also discovered however, that the gutters on the house were a major part of the problem. You see, when you build a house, the gutters are supposed to be directed away from the house. These gutters however, merely went into the ground and stopped.

So, one summer, we dug up the yard. Again. We made all sorts of ditches and things crisscross all the way to the road. One would think we were having another Trench War or something like they had in the World Wars. Boy, it was a mess! We became adepts at shoveling HEAVY gobs of wet mud. It was clay too! The worst!

As a youngster slightly too young to help much with such work, one of my main jobs was to water the sod.  The sod was piled high off to the side. You had to use two hoses to get to it. The hoses stretched a long way across the lawn, across the ditches. Must have been a mile. (Hey, poetic license! Besides, I was young. My perspective was different.)

One day, we had some friends over helping. It was almost lunch time, so the ditch-diggers were taking a break. I had stretched out the hose and was watering the sod. All of a sudden, the steady stream of water from my house disappeared. Departed. Vanished. I suspected trickery. After all, I was young, but I was not naive.  I looked over at my at my resting, innocent, sister and friends. They were sitting close to the hose by the ditch.

I yelled at them. You know, like: HEY! DID YOU KINK THE HOSE!?

I got innocent stares. You know, like: "Who me?"

Says my wonderful sister: "Maybe it's plugged. Try looking down the hose and see if you can see anything."

Did I say I wasn't naive? I looked down the hose. Voila! The stream of water magically reappeared and I got it in the face. I looked up and saw both my sister and one of the friends with the hose in their hands. Caught red-handed!

I was pretty mad at the time. But looking back. It's pretty funny. It's a wonderful lesson in appearances. Next time, I'll pay attention when my mom says "appearances are deceiving."