What were you thinking?

The protons are still alive and well, doing their thing inside my head.  My red, puffy cheek on the left side is my barometer of the activity of the protons.  When the inflammation goes down, then I will know that I have reached the end of the treatment, and healing will resume.

Until then, I will continue to make the best of it.  My strength is returning.  I've been taking care of some necessary things around the house, such as doing some work on Kathie's car and loading my dump trailer for a run to the dump.

And, then there is this:  Since we moved in, we've had a problem with the sewer line for the master bath periodically clogging up.  It clogged during the first winter we were here, and stayed clogged for four months until it thawed.  It clogged again, so it was time for me to get down to business and figure this thing out.

I know that the line exits the crawlspace between the two bathroom windows.  To add to the complication of the search, there is a ten foot concrete slab coming off of that wall.  I know where the septic tank is - one hundred and twenty feet away.  Other than that, I was clueless as to where it was routed through the yard.  

I started by digging up the ground at the edge of the concrete slab, ten feet out from the bathroom windows.  It seamed like a logical place to start, but in reality, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  I dug about a four foot trench, three foot deep, and found no line.  I began to drive myself crazy thinking, "Maybe I'm not deep enough, or, maybe I just need to go five more inches to the left."  I spent an hour and a half messing around and found nothing.

I decided to start at the septic tank and work from that side.

There is a twenty four inch diameter concrete cap that sits above ground, marking the location of the septic tank.  I started there, dug down about twenty four inches, and found the top of the tank.  I started digging across the top of the tank, in the direction of the bathroom, hoping to find the edge.  How big is this tank?  I passed forty eight inches, no edge.  Ninty six inches, still no edge.  I finally found the edge at twelve feet from the concrete cap.  I don't claim to know a lot about septic tanks, but this thing is huge!  It turns out to be 2100 gallons, which is about twice as big as needed for this house.

I found the line and got a good starting point.  I dug a second hole about three feet away, and got a starting direction.  I dug a third hole ten feet further, and couldn't find the line.  

I could drag this out and go through all twelve holes that I dug, in order to narrow down where the plug was, but I suppose you can imagine that it was a test of my patience.  It turned out to be a ten foot section of pipe, close to the concrete slab, but still eight feet away from where I had dug before.  A tree root had grown along the pipe for decades, and as the root grew bigger, it caved in the bottom of the pipe.

I cut out the old pipe, along with the root, and was ready to proceed with the repair.  Then the thought crossed me, "I should probably take a look up the pipe and make sure that it is free."  (You all can probably predict where this is going, but not yet) So, I hung myself upside down in the ditch and proceeded to look up the pipe with a flashlight.  

I couldn't really see much, so I decided to take it one level further and flush out the pipe.  I turned on the tub, since it has the highest water flow, and went back outside to watch for clear water flowage.  Two minutes went by and nothing.  After three minutes, I started to think something was wrong.  At four minutes, I decided to take a look.  

What possessed me to hang upside down in the ditch, and shine a flashlight into a pipe that I know is filling full of water, and getting ready to let loose any second?  I don't know.  All I know is that at the exact time that I got into position, and was able to focus up that pipe, the light caught the reflection of the white toilet paper of a previous usage, coming at me at possibly 1000 FPS.

Thankfully, I was able to pull myself up just enough to avoid a face full of solid waste.    

I replaced the pipe section, and now we are good as new.  Filling in all of the holes I dug was no fun, but I did have little Joe out there with me, climbing in and out of the holes.  He's such a great little guy.

The sore in my throat is still killing me.  I've been living off of liquid protein drinks, and liquid meals.  I'll keep working on my strength.

As of now, there are no signs of any my neurological deficiencies restoring.  I'm sure that they will repair in their own time.

I'll keep you posted as always.