Ah, the holidays! A magical time filled with family, laughter, and…plumbing disasters? Nothing says “Merry Christmas” quite like the sound of your toilet gurgling like it’s auditioning for a role in Jaws.
Yesterday started innocently enough. Leftover “roast beast” sandwiches for breakfast, wrapping paper still scattered across the floor, and the faint hope of squeezing in a lazy day. But the universe had other plans. When our toilet wouldn’t fully flush, we thought, “Oh, it’s just tired from holiday overuse, like the rest of us.” We ignored it. Because that’s what responsible homeowners do—assume minor inconveniences will fix themselves.
Then came the shower. As I lathered up with my new lavender-scented body wash (a gift from the kids), I noticed something unsettling: the water was rising, not draining. My relaxing shower had turned into an impromptu wading pool.
Things escalated when Doug tried to run a load of laundry. Instead of the soothing hum of a washing machine, we were greeted by a bubbling basement drain that looked like it was trying to summon a swamp monster. “Merry Christmas to us,” I muttered, realizing that our plumbing had officially declared war.
The Call of Shame
With a sigh heavier than our Christmas dinner portions, The Huz picked up the phone to call a plumber. Of course, it’s the day after Christmas, so the likelihood of finding someone cheerful and available was about as slim as finding leftover eggnog. But we had no choice—our house had transformed into a water-logged funhouse.
We called our favorite plumbers at Excel. They arrived quickly, armed with not one but two augers, ready to battle the clog. After a valiant effort, though, they had to break the news: no luck. “You’ll need Roto-Rooter,” they said.
Roto-Rooter came out and got straight to work, sending a camera 160 feet down the line. That’s when we got some good news/bad news.
Good news: “This isn’t your problem.”Bad news: “The manhole is full. I’m calling the Village of Plover. Bad news is I don’t know how long it will take to fix the issue.”
I took matters into my own hands and called the Village, leaving what I can only describe as a desperate voicemail: “PLEASE COME QUICKLY. I have boys, and they are full of shit!”
Less than ten minutes later, a small truck rolled up, followed by the big truck. And just like that, our street turned into a hotbed of action. The Village work crew got straight to it, working to clear the blockage and save us from our plumbing nightmare.
Homeownership: The Gift That Keeps on Taking
Owning a home is a joy, isn’t it? One minute, you’re basking in the glow of your Christmas tree; the next, you’re Googling “how to sell a kidney to pay for emergency plumbing repairs.” The irony of being financially “drained” by an actual drain problem is almost too much to bear.
So here we are, several hundred dollars lighter (thankfully, it wasn’t thousands), with a functioning drain and a newfound appreciation for the phrase “when it rains, it pours.” Except now, we can say, “when it rains, it drains.”
Lessons Learned
- Always save for emergencies, because your pipes don’t care about your holiday budget.
- Ignore gurgling drains at your own peril.
- Call the plumber as soon as possible! If we’d have waited things would have been so much worse.
A huge thank-you to Excel, Roto-Rooter, and the Village of Plover work crew for doing everything in their power to fix this mess.
Happy Holidays from our soggy little corner of the world. May your New Year be merry, bright, and blissfully free of plumbing emergencies!
Hey Dana Jane 