Dental Drill Migrane

Update to the post below. The cold-weather plumbers are here to try to unfreeze the septic system. Sitting here with fingers crossed (legs too).

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In my dream, I kept hearing the whine of the drill. For those of you old enough, it was kind of like the sound the old drills made at full tilt. Remember the cable driven ones that ran around all sorts of pulleys and drive wheels before they got to the handset that was jammed in your mouth and spinning away just before it broke through to the nerve root?

I hated that sound.

Even today, it causes me extreme anxiety. That's why I was filled with unease as I made the transition between the dream world and what passes for "real" around here. The problem was that the sound did not go away. It kept up, a faint, high-pitched "wheeeeeeeeeeeee" sort of sound. I knew that it was special because I have a hard time hearing high frequencies these days (too much rock 'n roll) so it had to be loud.

It took me a bit, but I tracked it down to the septic system alarm in the utility room. Even with the door shut, it's enough to vibrate the nerve endings in your brain stem and it's been going on now for over three hours non-stop. For once, the kids seemed happy to leave the house in the cold, cold dark to get to school.

As soon as the clock reached a polite hour, which for plumbers and pumpers of septic tanks is about 7 AM I figure, I got on the phone and called for help. Tom (of Tom's Plumbing) came over within a couple of hours and popped the lid off the tank with the alarm and the pump in it.

He determined that (number 1) the pump was working, (number 2) the tank was not in immediate danger of overflowing (read - filling up our lower level with the product of our own waste stream), and (number 3) the pump was not able to move "fluid" up the hill to the drain field. Conclusion - the pipe to the drain field is frozen.

This is no great surprise given the temps we have been experiencing of late. The frost line is very deep this winter and it looks like it's grabbed onto my drain field line. The two options are to try to steam it loose, or to keep pumping the septic system until it thaws (which could be June given the depth of the freeze) at $400 bux a pop.

Ah, the joys of country living.