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It’s misting almost heavy enough to be called drizzle.

I moved to Seattle for the rain, so this puts a smile on my face. Especially after my weekend.

Saturday night about 5pm, the alarm on the septic systems went off. Loud buzzing that took me a bit to sort out. Then outside and find the shutoff for the siren.

Then inside and onto the internet, researching why septic alarms go off. Lots of reasons, some benign, like the tank got too much water suddenly and couldn’t pump fast enough. Others involve failures of components.

Did what I could, waited until Sunday to see if a couple of them worked. Nothing.

Called my septic folks and left a vmail.

They open at 730 on weekdays. She called me at 740. Was actually headed to breakfast, so turned around and called her when I got home. She walked me through various checks, then determined that the pump might have died.

Lemme tell you, yuck.

Head back south, waiting for the estimate.

Fabulous Publisher Babe™ calls me a couple of hours later because the tanks are making strange noises.

At some point, as part of the phone call, I had left the pump on manual. After a delay long enough for me to get gone, it had run. And pumped the secondary tank DRY. Didn’t know that at the time.

Got the estimate, which included $1800 to pump that tank empty, plus $2200 for a new pump.

Yuck.

Cut my day off and headed to Home Depot and rented a pump, all set to save myself a shitton of cash. Got home with it and that’s when I realized the pump was working. Called the Septic folks and she walked me through a full visual inspection, taking notes for her guys. Still needs something, but not an expensive pump replacement, so I turn around and take the pump back, having had it for an hour and a half, with most of that being driving.

Guys arrived here at 735 this morning. Local, but damned local, if they set out at 730.

Quick inspection, since they have most of the notes already. Float had died, so they put in a new one and I’ll get a much smaller bill sometime after they write it up. Plus a formal inspection at some point this summer. Dunno about pumping the main tank. Gotta do that every once in a while as it fills with sludge.

The guys were gone by 805. Not on site thirty minutes to replace a float and go.

There is a reason I love my septic company. Cheerful and stone pros.

But yesterday took a lot of spoons out of me and today the rains are putting them slowly back.

I did finish Kincaide 3 over the weekend. 185k. Rougher than most, but that’s taking four months, so I am certain I have details wrong in places and need to fix. Putting it aside for a bit and will deal with it later.

May is probably short fiction month. Need more Zach and Redlance stories. Writing Beckett 9 now. Brain had a good start on Derlyth 4, which is novel. Charlotte 2 and 3. Couple of others.

No idea what the next of several possible major projects I’ll go after. If you have a need, give a yell and maybe inspire me. Or at least lean me.

Slow day. Possibly slow month. Unlikely to crack writing ten novel projects this year, and that’s fine. Maybe a bunch of novellas instead. Last Stand 13 is coming in July. Need to write more of those. And other things.

Right now, I just need rain.

shade and sweet water,

b

West of the Mountains, WA

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