April 13, 2009

• It’s ALIVE!

  Bit of background for those out of the loop:

  We do not have running water, but we do have indoor plumbing, the standard stuff that comes in trailers mobile homes trailers.  Fresh water comes in from the spring in jugs and buckets.  Gray water goes out either down the drain to the drain field out back or into the “slop bucket” to be dumped by hand out by the compost pile. 

  In winter, drains freeze and everything goes into the slop bucket.  This time of year, sometimes the drains actually drain.  We got faked out recently, after a brief thaw.  A load of dishwater dumped from the dishpan stayed in the sink, and got pretty rank from some stuff sucked out of the trap as I  unsuccessfully wielded the plunger.

  I’m the “mom.”  The “kid” isn’t one… but he is, if you know what I mean.

  Mom, in kitchen preparing breakfast, to kid on the couch playing Suikoden:  Please empty the slop bucket.

  Kid:  Okay.

  Mom, trying to make sure he actually heard what I said:  It’s not just fermenting.  It’s fulminating.

  Kid:  Most of the stuff on the surface is just the crumbs I dumped out of the toaster today.

  Mom:  They’re feeding the stuff that was already growing there.  I didn’t get the drain running yesterday.  I dipped the gunk out of the sink and dumped it in there.

  Kid:  It’s a science experiment.

  Mom:  Take it outside.

  Kid:  That’s not part of the experiment.

  Mom:  It is now.

  Well, it wasn’t then, but now, a few hours later, the gunk is gone.

  

  • 4:21 pm
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