Monday, April 26, 2010

Jumping in with both feet

We have been in the house for 5 days. No better time to jump right in to farm life, right?

Rewind a week or so. Even tho we owned the house at this time, we were letting the sellers rent it back from us since their newly purchased house was not ready to move into quite yet. As part of our sales contract we required that the seller have the septic tank pumped and certified. Upon the certification inspection, it was discovered that the whole septic system(tank and drain field) needed to be replaced.This was my front pasture about a week ago.

They were digging trenches(5 of them to be exact) to install the new drain field.

This is the new septic tank.

This is where the septic tank will be connected to the drain field.

This is what the pasture looks like now.

All my lovely green grass is all covered up with dirt.

Or, as I learned a couple days ago, silt.
A sedimentary material consisting of grains or particles of disintegrated rock, smaller than sand and larger than clay. The diameter of the particles ranges from 0.0039 to 0.0625 mm. Silt is often found at the bottom of bodies of water where it accumulates slowly by settling through the water.

Well, over the weekend, we decided it was a good time to try out the irrigation system. We have several different kinds of sprinklers out there. We have this lovely version, that is hidden in the ground, but pops up when its time to water. This one is nice as you can mow right over it.

We have this version. This one is found mostly in the flower beds. It is supposed to be some type of drip sprinkler, but really? Its more of a spray.

And then there is this version. Which is clearly not hidden and not dripping. This variety is found mainly in the pasture.

Well, this last variety is what prompted me to throw on my boots today and head outside to see what the heck was going on.

They should all be spraying like this(only with much more force) But there was one that just was not pulling his weight at all. (see above picture) Not one drop of water was coming outta that puppy.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed this pretty river running through all the silt.

Now, the water pressure coming out of that sprinkler was not nearly enough to carve that kind of river through all that silt. So, I go back up closer to where I think the source is.

Hmmmm....this little geyser cant be a good sign.

Lets step near it...and see what happens.

The geyser gets much bigger.

The realization sets in pretty quickly that I am going to have to put my hand in that water to see whats causing this. ((shudder))

It turns out that it was a little more than just my hand.

After my arm is fully submerged, I can feel water gushing out down there amidst all the tree roots. That water is coming from what feels like a pvc pipe.

At this point, I go back in the house...and just pretend everything is fine.

Okay, fine. I go back in and turn off that sprinkler zone. Once its turned off the water is no longer gushing out of that pipe. Thats good right? Maybe? I mean, at least I have it narrowed down to a possible source.....

This discovery requires a dig. The pipe needs to be found so the situation can be assessed.

And find it I did. However, Im thinking it should maybe be all one piece......


9 comments:

Danni said...

Wow, really? You just decided to completely jump OVER the last 5 days? sigh.
Sorry about your pipe. Loved seeing your arm submerged in the water - way to overcome your fears, country gal!!
Now what?

Farmer Jen said...

Did the trenching break the irrigation pipe? Plumbing problems already. That is jumping in with both feet.

Sue said...

Oy vay-you have my sympathy. Country life has many rewards...with occasional little "gifts" like this to keep you grounded.
Minor set back. You'll laugh about this some day.
:)

basicliving@backtobasicliving.com said...

Oh. My. Gosh. You poor thing. Wow. But the good news is that now you have a brand new septic system, and you have all those in ground sprinkler systems and once you get that one fixed, you'll be all set. Right? I'm sending good, positive thoughts your way. (((hugs)))

Amy said...

Typical farm life, if it isn't one thing it is another. That is a shame that is starting this way. At least the pipe looks like a pretty easy fix.
So I have been reading here for a few months. It sounds like you are very happy with your new move. What I cannot figure out though is did you move to a farm? If so how much land? Do you plan to get any animals? If so what? Ok sorry for all the question :)

Brenda said...

Oh My! This is going to have to be fixed! Makes you wonder how long it's been since the sprinkler system has been used. It's a good thing you were able to isolate the source of the problem.

Carla said...

Ah, the joys of home ownership.
That sprinkler break is easily mended. I've always found sprinkler leaks to be a nice thing to fix. It feels so good when it works again.

frugalmom said...

danni: No way! That post is next...kinda out of order. :-)

Farmer Jen: You know, were just not certain yet if it was the trenching that did it or not. The pipe is a little bit out of the area that the trenching was done, but they had so much large equipment out there digging Im not sure we will ever know.

Sue: I love my country life so far! And yes, this hopefully will be just a minor setback. Off to the hardware store today to get parts!

Penny: Right? I hope I dont sound like Im complaining because having that septic replaced was a huge deal. And ended up being a great thing for us...now we wont have to worry about that for many years to come.

Our Piece of Country Paradise(OPOCP): Thanks for following my blog. That makes me smile. I AM very happy with my move. VERY happy. We did move to my idea of a little farm. We have about 2.5 acres. I will be getting llamas, goats, and chickens. Not necessarily in that order. :-) And I cant wait for that to happen.

Brenda: Im glad that I was able to find the problem as well. At least, Im hoping that is the problem. :-) Im not certain how often the sprinklers were used and if they were they couldnt have worked very well in that area. The pressure is minimal...so hopefully this repair will fix that.

CeeCee: Yeah, it appears to be easily remedied. What we dont know is if it needs to be reconnected or if one or the other ends just needs to be capped off. Seem strange that it would not be fully connected...just dunno yet.

warren said...

Holy crap!

We had that exact same septic tank scenario when we bought our house in Nashville, TN...at least you didn't have to pay for it though!

Congrats on getting the place!!!