For the past several months there has been a rather unpleasant smell near our septic tank, but not all the time. It would show up when someone was taking a shower, or if the washing machine was draining. Last fall, when I was smelling the same nastiness, the plumber checked and found the pipe to the septic tank was broken. That got fixed, and we already had new field lines, the tank was draining fine, so what was it? I'm not sure my husband believed that I was really smelling anything, because he tried to discourage me from calling the company that cleans the septic tank. The odor was much worse after the 4 inch rainfall last week, so I had to do something and I called them to do an inspection anyway. They looked and looked, and finally when they put their metal rod in the ground to check for leaks over near the camelia bush, they found it. They started digging and found that one of the septic tank covers had crumbled, and broken open. They said that we were very lucky that the earth over the hole had not collapsed and that no one had fallen in. After they uncovered the rest of the tank covers to check for further damage, we were told we were very, very lucky. The other covers were too short and were just barely resting on the top of the tank. The supervisor was surprised that they had not fallen in already. I feel blessed that no one had been injured and that we did not need a whole new tank. The tank is probably as old as the house which was built in the 1950's. So now we have new covers, another mess in the yard that will need to be seeded or sodded, and I will be able to enjoy sitting on the patio under the house even if the washer is going. Of course it was pretty expensive, and there goes the new sisal rug for the living room, again. There is always something needing fixing.
My garden is never what one would consider neat, well groomed or well planned. It has just sort of morphed, and always needs help. I would like it to be a little bit neater, and keep being tempted to deadhead those purple coneflowers, but every time I go to start doing it, a bright yellow finch appears, reminding me that those seed heads are what keep the critters coming back to visit.
The hummingbirds were also busy today feeding from the jasmine and the cypress vine. If you have not ever gone to Gulf Shores ,AL for the bird banding in October, I highly recommend it. The hummingbirds fly down to the area before heading all the way across the Gulf of Mexico to their wintering grounds. The scientists and volunteers set up mist nets near Fort Morgan to capture the hummers and then band them and weigh them and set the hummers free to continue their journey. They are very kind to explain what they are doing and let visitors watch the process.
Yesterday, I picked more green beans and some okra so for lunch I oven roasted them with some carrots. I drizzled olive oil over them then added some Penzys Spices, mural of flavor herb mix over them, as well as salt, stirred it all around a bit and put them in the oven at 325 for around 45 minutes. Mmm, mmmm, good.
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