Sewer lines are like arteries; you never really think about them until they clog up and you have to spend thousands of dollars to have them excavated, and then you’re left with a terrible scar and an empty feeling. Our sewer line went in relatively painlessly, but the magnolia tree had to die for its selfish ways. Along with 20 feet of hedge in front of our house.

A nice bunch of men came with a cute little backhoe and went down nine feet to get to the pipe; as part of the process they disconnected the copper ground from the electrical panel and blew out four breakers. If you haven’t guessed, that’s not supposed to happen. It turns out BG&E never properly hooked up the main ground going back to the pole with our service, so the backup copper wire attached to our water pipe has been carrying the full 220 volt ground. When he disconnected the ground, the breakers blew and fried four power strips. (Pro tip: always buy high-quality power strips). Our plumber, shaken, suggested we call BG&E to have it checked out. Um, yeah.

And, it turns out there was a cleanout for the sewer, but it was buried under the magnolia.

So at the end of today, we’re missing one whole side of hedge, the west side of the front lawn is one huge mound of dirt covered with straw, the magnolia tree is gone, but we can again poop in dignity without raw sewage flooding the basement.