in which gravity works for everybody

The "little house" at the Cape has two bathrooms: one on the main floor and one in the basement. The toilet on the main floor wouldn't stop running, because the tank wouldn't fill. For want of anywhere else to go, the water went down to the toilet in the basement and overflowed it rather a lot. So Mom and Dad and I spent an hour and a half last night shoveling, sweeping, vacuuming and mopping an inch and a half or so of water out of the basement. I am SO glad it wasn't grey water, because we were all standing barefoot in it. There was much washing of hands and feet in the outdoor shower afterward, though. And much migrating over to my grandparents' house next door to use their bathrooms last night and today.

It was determined that a valve in the upstairs toilet was broken, so the plumber came this morning and replaced it. He also opined that the pre-existing problem with the downstairs toilet is a clog in the line between the house and the septic tank. Which led to his helper spending most of the morning trying to dig up the septic tank (we had a map of where it was supposed to be), and finding a BIG flat rock instead. So the next step is to call an excavator and a septic tank pumping service. Personally, I think they should have taken the downstairs toilet off and snaked the line that way. (I am not a plumber, however, so there may be a good reason why they didn't do that.)

I think perhaps it was an excellent idea on my part to come back to Boston today, even though I didn't know about the plumbing when I made that plan.