The Plumbers Are Coming! The Plumbers Are Coming!

Several weeks ago the sewage backed into our shower. This is awful but at least it was contained in the shower so was easy to clean, plus it had drained on its own, I think because I was running the washing machine. At any event, the plumber came and with the help of a camera determined that the cause of the problem was tree roots that had broken through a bend in the main pipe rather than something clogging the drain. Two large trees (the apricot in our yard and the almond next door) were cut down recently and doubtless the roots of one of them were the culprit.

The plumbers returned today and replaced the pipe, after some jackhammering and arduous work with a pick. A job that was supposed to take about four hours ended up taking over seven, and they still need to come back tomorrow after the cement has dried to tidy it up.

I retreated to the trees outside the Senior Center in order to work on a pitch for a comic idea… I don’t like jackhammers. (But as my neighbor Barbara says, at least they’re better than leaf blowers.)