The Pit of Despair Part 2

Halloween was cold and clear and I was wondering if I would survive this pit of despair. Every two years the yard is dug up because of septic issues. You can sort of see in this first photo the new pipe and the connection Mr. Stock wanted to make the night before. However, when the original pipe was removed, sewage gushed out in a torrent. Probably meaning the leach system wasn't working properly. Although, he and his helper did discover the tank was listing towards the house. So, the next day I called Peninsula Pumping. (you know things are odd when a sewage pumping company is in your favorites called list!) 

The young man (he's a bit younger than Tony and has 3 kids!) remembered the house and said he couldn't do what Mr. Stock wanted. There were two pipes. One for mostly liquids and one for the other stuff. Both needed pumped so the tank could be lifted. Hoping to solve the problems for now. 

Since Jordan (P.P.) isn't allowed to get into pits of despair due to company policies, Mr. Stock did. (he did say this was a first for him)

Jordan did do the other one, though. 

After Jordan left, Mr. Stock proceeded to remove a couple of trees. He felt they were too close to the tank for him to lift it properly. I was incredibly sad. They were lovely trees and I'd planted lilies of the valley under one of them. 

He was careful to 'shake' off as much dirt as possible. Dirt is important when it comes to filling pits! 

I had to leave the next day, so didn't get to see them lift and level the tank. I was hoping to watch. Mr. Stock sent me a photo. You can see how the pipes are even now. 

 When I returned, it was all buried neatly once more.

 It was fun to watch the backhoe move the dirt around the smaller pit. It reminded me of how we imagine dinosaurs might act in a nest. I took several photos and running thru them quickly shows it better!

In the morning light, the pit was gone and all that needed done were a few little things. Moving dirt  to smooth the area and what not. The rigs will leave again on Monday. 

After Mr. Stock left, I proceeded to chip out of the icy ground places to kind of bury the tires again. (I think I chipped my new glasses, too....) I tried to keep them as even as Mr. Stock had set them, but well..I'm not very good at eyeballing even!!! When I was done with that, I scattered a bunch of seed packets. I know the earth is frozen and the seeds probably won't grow, but a few might. Besides, the ones I planted during summer won't, so I figured why not??? Most were aged seeds anyway! I also dumped out a couple of flower pots I'd saved back and added some lupine seeds, fireweed, and columbine. Mr. Stock had earlier suggested grass. I just looked at him. Flowers are 100% better!!! Especially since he dug all the ones I planted last year up! 

So, this pit is done. I need to see if the leach field is compromised, but it can wait til spring. I'm also a tad nervous about the section of pipe from the house to the end of the hole where he connected the new pipe. It had water flowing thru, but are the pipes actually completely clear? Should  I call Roto Rooter for the third time since mom died to see if anything is in the way????  Actually, I called them several times. Bob, who used to own the company, put the new system in July of '16. Since he died, I was curious if he'd left records. He hadn't. Mr. Stock had to work out what to do on his own. He's pretty sure it will be good for quite a while. Except maybe that leach field......As I mentioned earlier, I give it two years. 

Pit of Despair Part 1

The last days of October and the first ones of November were thankfully brisk and cold. The serene yard was going to be discombobulated in short order..or so we thought. 

After calling 7 different persons, one chatted a bit and said he'd check back to see how things were going (he was retired), one returned my call and came to visit (Jerry Stock), and another responded the next day (Cody). Since Mr. Stock had actually visited the site, I opted to use his company. He was pretty sure it would be a simple fix. Dig up a bit of ground, fix the broken pipe we believed was down there, and it would be over. The equipment was dropped off Monday and when it warmed up a bit on Tuesday, work started. 

 Sharon popped by to see what was going on and was amazed at the pit created thus far! 

Everyone who visited was amazed. 

Mr. Stock was amazed. Where is the rest of that broken pipe??? The first section was found, but the rest was missing. 

He finally decided to lay one on top and just hook it to the one on the tank. He didn't like putting bends in the pipe, there are two, but it needed done. (I wish we could put GPS things on them like they did on the pipeline buried on the road last spring!)

Celebration for Nancy Egbert

It has been a week since mom's memorial service. A great deal has happened, but I wanted to share our celebration with friends and family via the internet. It was a celebration. Mum asked for certain things and they managed to all fall into place. We had the service at the Nikiski Rec Center  (the old elementary school in the library). I think it would have been a good idea if I had asked to have it put on their reader board or community calendar, but I think it turned out well.. It started out POURING, but by late morning it started to clear. Her service was at 11. 

Meg made wrote a sign for us-I'd forgotten to mark where the service would be. She and Randall helped guide people in.

Setting up was a lot of work. Bailey created the power point and was our emcee, Lee was an incredible help in setting up the AV stuff, chairs, and whatnot. 

 Actually, Janet's entire family was a huge help. Jacit and Jaleen and Janet were all there early and pitched in. I had hoped for a large number of people, but due to circumstances, we had about 111 signed in. 

 Julie and Elaine and Sharon and Traci and Nancy and Tim Veal and Jim were also on hand to organise and get every last thing set up and in place. (Julie brought the beverage stuff) The Rec staff was awesome in every way!

Order of Events: 

Reading of the Obituary

 (written by BJ at Peninsula Memorial Chapel and it can be found on their website)

Welcome and Opening Prayer

(those first things were done by Bailey)

We all sang 'This is My Father's World' 

Lee read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We sang 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'

Kris shared a bit about her mom and read the story by Cece Meng called 'Always Remember' 

Tamara and Bridget and 'not Rhett' (one of the teachers mom worked with and I can't remember his name, other than mom called him Rhett) and Lee and Randall shared thoughts of Nancy.

Lucy read a thought from Mother Teresa 

Meg sang 'My God and I' and brought down the house

Mary did the closing prayer 

We all sang 'Go Ye Now in Peace' 

Rachel played the intro music, the songs for us to sing, and the post music for mom. She and Bailey also found the words and music for 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'. (we only used the first verse)

We let the slide show run before and after the main service.

A bunch of brave souls helped to clean up after it was all over. (I adore the Dura family!!) 

 

  I had gone into Kenai and met Kari who helped unload leftovers for after the church service at mom's church on Sunday- Then, I went over to dad's bench in the Scout Park. Eventually, we''ll add a marker with mom's name and the city will put it on the bench with dad. It had warmed up tremendously and the inlet was calm.

The next day, while we were  opening up cards, we found this incredibly comforting thought in one Kari sent. 

I am sure I missed several who helped, there were so many. Please know mom's community is you. You may or may not have been there in person, but your spirit was there in Nancy's. Thank you so much for being a part of mom's world and ours. 

Miss Nancy, Mrs. Egbert, Nana, Mom

Some of these photos were used in the slideshow of photos we used in her service. I didn't want to upload the whole thing onto youtube and felt you can look at each one more easily on here. There are a 'snapshot' (if you will pardon the pun!) of her life and times. I will post them in two separate posts. 

Miss Nancy, Mrs. Egbert, Nana, Mom (Part 2)

Nancy was born in Minnesota, but once she moved north to Alaska, she embraced her new home completely. From Homer to Anchor Point to Kenai, Nancy was a part of many different experiences. Her obituary, written by BJ at the Peninsula Memorial Chapel, encapsulates a bit of what mom did. 

 Sweet Adelines and Dad's Mercury.

 Fishing and lighthouses-

 Theatre! Sound of Music and Beauty and the Beast-

 Children and teaching-

 Friends and family-