I'm watching you, 2011!

Apparently I forgot I had a blog the past couple weeks. I chalk that up to being busy. Part of that being busy included the fun we recently had with the septic system. First it was the sewer gas nightmare, then sewage began backing up into the shower, and now it's the gaping pit in the front yard. On December 23, the first day of spouse's vacation, we were greeted bright and early at 8am with backhoes digging up the front yard.
The landlord decided it was time to replace the aging small barrel posing as a septic pump tank in the basement with a swanky new 500 gallon concrete behemoth in the front yard. Theoretically, this means we're not as hosed on plumbing when the power goes out, but I remain skeptical. This whole venture required digging up the yard, which had just gotten a perfect snowfall right in time for Christmas. After over 20 years of hoping maybe this year we'll get a white Christmas, we did. Naturally, we now have a mudscape.

As you can see, it really added to the Christmas cheer.
We were told the only thing being done that day was digging the pit and the rest of it would be completed after Christmas. However, there appears to have been a mixup. Instead of digging a pit and leaving, the workers dug a pit, disconnected our water and septic system, and then we spent the next 8 hours trying to figure out how to sell our souls for a flushing toilet.
Around 5pm, they packed up and left. However, we didn't realize they had packed up and left. There was still a big pit in the front yard, a large mound of dirt in front of the pit, and a 5-inch diameter hole in the basement wall with an extension cord running through it. I don't know about you, but what I love in the dead of winter in the middle of Toofuckingcoldville is a large hole in the wall.
After a few calls, we discovered that they were indeed done for the day and by the way, the water and sewer are working again. Great, so...what about the hole in the wall? And the pit? And the mound of mud?

Fortunately, new snow filled in the pit a little bit so it's like having a hidden booby trap in the front yard.

To this date, we still haven't heard about whether or not this will be finished.