A Shi_ty job, but someone has to do it, or Our Redneck Hot Tub

Well life aint always purdy around the old farm. Yesterday morning when I went out to feed the chickens there was a large hole about a foot across in the front yard, and all the ground around it was caving in. OMG, the septic tank lid must have rotted.  Well it was stormy all day so I didn't get a chance until 2:00 in the afternoon to start digging it up to see what was going on. So I got it mostly dug up, like you see in the pic here..

 Well I gotta say that it wasn't the easiest job because as it turns out I had built flower beds over the top of a large portion of it...with huge boulders.... Then when I got down into it, I had to keep the dirt from falling in.  Taryn came out for a little while and held a big shovel under areas where I was pulling back the dirt, to keep it from falling in, but her squating muscles were killing here from the previous day of picking nettles, and I didn't really want her to have to partake in the wonderful smell, so she went back inside getting ready for family visiting tomorrow.
Well that family that was visiting was Taryn's Dad, step mom and sister and her step sister's boyfriend...and I didn't want them to have to be a part of this project...(Had other plans for them down below clearing all the debris from a Maple tree that we cut down.)  So I was bustin it digging in this wet heavy clay trying to get it done before the next day.... But the darn earth kept turning and before I knew it it was dark...and I was starving.  But I had it all dug out except for one side under a red gravel path... I'd do that first thing in the morning before Bob and Dorrie got here.  Rachelle and Pete showed up late that night while we were asleep and just went up to bed. So the next day I dug back into the path side with the red rock (as seen prior dug out here).

Now, as miracles go around here...and we seem to have one a day, just a couple of weeks ago I was given or traded for a bunch of cedar posts... and since I didn't have any official septic tank lids laying around I figured I'd put them to work as a lid.  And Bob was here and helped me cut them to fit.

That's Bob and me standing on top.

Then we put a couple of tarps over that..
I put dirt on top and folded the edges over... This way we have something to grab on to when tank pumping time comes in about 5 years... (That was Bob's bright idea.)
Then Bob went down and helped the rest of the crew pile up a bonfire down below...and I finished covering up our "little redneck hot tub.

 This was a pretty big job and a pretty shit-y one, and sure felt good to be done.
Then the Fam took me out to an early Birthday dinner (the second early birthday dinner in the last 2 weeks, last week Taryn's Mom and sis and her sis's boyfriend came and took us out)
Well we went to the same place, ICM, my favorite seafood resturant in Florence and I had the same thing I had last week, Razer Clams in a Caper sauce. (Blissful) The waiter remembered me and for whatever reason ...right after I was thinking the meal he set before me wasn't going to fill me up...he brought me two more razor clams (for free)... It was like he was reading my mind .  Then later when I was opening my cards with presents (gift certificates to Home Depot and Fred Meyer) he said, "OH, is it your birthday?" Yep...  Next thing I know he's bringing me a huge piece of strawberry shortcake with a candle and they are singing Happy Birthday... ( I pretended to be eating the cake, luckily Dorrie whittled it down pretty good...I don't do sugar).
  All in all a great day, we got the septic fixed up ( the problem was plastic was in there and backed it up to the wood which eventually rotted...I cleaned out all the plastic).    AND we burned up all the small branches from the tree and got all the wood stacked up....
Great day!!