That's poop!

So yesterday morning we woke up early at JJ's parent's house to say goodbye to JJ's Dad (CMJ) before he left for work. After he left, we found JJ's mom (RJ) at her computer in the basement. We were just kind of hanging out when I noticed that the carpet was wet. In fact, as I stepped closer to RJ's sewing room, the carpet was soaked. And then, as I searched farther, noticed that there was standing water in the sewing room. We kind of just gawked for a few moments and then raced into action. We just started moving stuff out of the way and trying to figure out where the heck the water was coming from. JJ was my hero because he immediately turned off the power. I was so thankful he had safety in mind. RJ found her carpet cleaning vacuum that happens to suck up water. We started "vacuuming" up the water - the vacuum had a rather small container, so we also had to find a bucket or two that we could fill up. I don't know how many of the buckets were dumped outside, but it was a lot. RJ called the plumbers, but no one answered -- and they never did get back to us. RJ later called the guy who cleans their septic tank, thinking it may have backed up there (however he was also apparently unavailable). Jeez, good thing there was no real emergency or anything. One good thing --- this water mess was not stinky, so we knew it wasn't dirty stuff coming up.

JJ's brother, BJ, went to town to get a roto rooter to try to unclog the pipes. JJ tried to snake it around the drain, but to no avail. I tried to just keep busy taking wet stuff outside so it could dry. While I was hanging a soaked quilt-in-the-making on the sewing line, I saw RJ by this pipe in their backyard. She was trying to snake the rooter through to check if there was a clog on the outside. She wasn't using the snake quite correctly, and when she brought it up, she all of a sudden said (in a matter-of-fact exclamation), "That's poop!" She went on to say it was on her hand and describe that it wasn't like fresh poop, so the septic system was working. I was laughing so hard and at the same time crying and I don't remember my exact words, but I said something like, "I'm sorry RJ, but I can't be by you right now." And I went to the back of the garage and started gagging, and trying not to throw up. It was extrememly hillarious and disgusting all at the same time.

In the end, we got the carpets fairly dry in the basement living room, RJ's sewing room, CMJ's office and the pantry area that housed the pipe that was overflowing. We set up fans and got most of the wet stuff out of the area. Each of us had other plans for the day, but both JJ and I are so thankful we were in town so we could help his parents out.