Be Proud Of Me!

 Be proud of me!  Be real proud.  

Why?  

Because I called a plumber!  And the way that happened is as follows.  

I came home after a long day of work, let the dog out, and said to said dog, "I'm going to dig a bit more in this hole.   Just a couple of shovel scoops, though."  I grabbed said shovel and started digging in said hole.

OK, I need to stop saying said...I said.  

After only one shovelful of dirt, it felt like I hit something solid, so I kept going.  It didn't take long to uncover the problem...

Do you see it?  Here it is from a different angle.

There is at least a 3/4" gap between the sewer line and the connection thing.  I don't know what any of it is really called, but let's just say -- it's a big hole in my sewer line.  

I'd originally thought maybe it was just a little crack or something I could patch with some Flex Seal, but after I saw this, I knew I would be in over my head.  I covered the gap with some Walmart sacks in what is probably a vain attempt to prevent more mud from getting into the gap, 

and made the phone call I'd been putting off for so long.  

A friend at work had seen his signs around town and being a regular reader of my blog and knowing all about the troubles I'd been having, she had given me his number.  I'd put it into my phone, but had hesitated calling ... for the reasons I mentioned yesterday.  I finally made that call, and wonder of wonders, he actually answered. Professionally, at that -- "McCrary Plumbing"  instead of  "hello?" .  That was impressive in itself.  That he spoke clearly without mumbling was even more impressive.   

I explained my problem and he said, "It'll be Thursday before I can get out there, but if something happens and you feel you need to call someone else before then, I'll understand."  I'm hoping beyond hope that wasn't him trying to get out of doing the job.  

Still, he took my name and number and said he wrote me down in his book, so maybe -- just maybe, he'll actually show up.  Those of you who pray, pray really hard he'll show up, and more importantly, will come back and actually fix my sewer line. 

In other news, one of my friends has resurrected her long dormant blog, Amnicon Studio.  The link is in my right sidebar.  It's a very nice blog.  Do go check it out.  She said she had gotten a bit burned out with blogging, so now she wants to use her blog as an online knitting journal, which I think is great.  Lots of people got started in the blogging world for similar reasons.  I started this blog back when I was trying to learn to draw, as place to post my sketches.  I'd love to get back to talking about knitting projects, sharing patterns, gushing over the beautiful new yarns I'd bought.  

Truth is, I miss the comradery of the blogging community.   I miss visiting blogs and reading about the authors' adventures -- or mundanities of their lives, whichever the case may be.  I miss having real, in depth conversations via blogging.  I miss the connection I felt with my fellow bloggers -- as opposed to the shallow superficiality of social media.  

And their algorithms that decide what you can and cannot see.  The sad part is, most of my blog traffic comes from Facebook, and if the link doesn't show up in their feeds, most people don't come here.  Me, I'd love to see the blogging community revived.  To once again feel like we're sitting around a table in a coffee shop at the end of the day just chatting -- about this, that, and the other.  

What say we make it happen?