In Which My Vacation Preparations are Thwarted By Overachieving Tree Roots

I think the universal characteristic of all vacations, no matter how small or lavish, is LAUNDRY. Laundry before you leave so that you can have your entire wardrobe, save what you have on your body, to choose from as you try to imagine just the perfect outfit for trekking across the Galapagos Islands. Laundry that greets your exhausted body after you come home and your suitcase explodes with dirty, sandy, sweaty and dripped-on clothes that experienced every minute --the good, the bad and the filthy-- of your vacation.

Today was the pre-vacation laundry phase. In an effort to be sure we all have twice the amount of clean underwear we'll need for the ten-day trip, I dutifully tossed in a load this morning. A few minutes later I wondered why I heard the sump pump running. Then it dawns on me. The tree roots have again grown into the sewer line, and the water from the washing machine is pouring out of the pipe and on to the basement floor. Our sump pump, the dear heart, is furiously trying to send the water back through the sewer pipe. The sewer pipe which is blocked by tree roots trying to be the first of their peers to reach a water source.

This happens every six months or so, and a phone call to the sewer guy clears it up in a few minutes. He sends his snake through the line, chewing off all the invading roots and again enabling the household to flush and brush and wash to our heart's content. Every time he comes to work his magic, he admonishes us about the old, ceramic sewer line that connects this 120 year old house to the main line on the street. We should put in a plastic pipe, he says. Dig 'er up and just be done wid' it. Course you'll prolly lose the tree, he admits.

I smiled and thanked him, threw another load of laundry into the washer and then went to sit on our front porch in the shade of the gorgeous silver maple tree whose eager roots just recieved a bit of a trim. It's a great old tree, part of the family, really. So we'll keep paying the sewer guy, thankyouverymuch.