Jan. 13, 2025 – Kids like water, right? But do dads? It depends on the scenario. Water at the beach is great! Water in the basement? Not so much. Watering the garden is good. Water over-flowing the sewage lagoon? Not so much. And that is where we are headed if we don’t get the lagoon pumped out.
We’ve lived in three houses over the years. House one was in town on town water and sewage. House two was in the country with a well and a septic system and a flooded basement the first month we were there! House three is in the country with a well and something brand new to us…a sewage lagoon! We’ve given it an appropriate name, Dudu Lagoon.
I didn’t even know sewage lagoons were a thing until we did a family trip out west a few years ago. Let it be known that western Canada is full of sewage lagoons. And they work great! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Let it also be known that Dudu Lagoon used to manage two people and now it manages 12. Last fall I noticed the lagoon was filling up. If we let it fill up much more it would eventually overflow. Probably not a good thing. And this is why someone invented water pumps. I thought we should pump out the lagoon before winter. Then winter came and the lagoon had six inches of ice on it.
We had a warmish winter day and I thought we better get to the lagoon while we can! The kids were quite excited to be pumping out the lagoon. I did not share their enthusiasm. I consider water pumps a necessary evil. Pumping nice clean water is wonderful. Pumping sewage is…not as wonderful. After gathering fuel and oil and hoses and fittings we were ready. Commence pumping!
Oh ya. The ice. Commence chopping through the ice! The kids thought it was hilarious that dad was out on the ice with an axe cutting a hole for the hoses. If you’ve ever used an axe to cut a hole in ice you’ll know that the first bit of cutting is dry. Once you break through the ice you get to the “water”. Then “water” splashes on you with every chop after that.
Eventually the ice was chopped. The hose was in. The pump was started. Dudu Lagoon was emptied.
So many lessons here, dad. The kids learned how to use water pumps. I learned how to use water pumps in the winter. I learned that procrastination can make life more difficult. Pumping in the fall would have been a breeze. Pumping in the winter was not a breeze. Maybe you’ve got some fix-it job on your list that you’ve been avoiding. Don’t wait too long! Things don’t often fix themselves! Time flies, dad! Make every moment count! Even the wet ones.
Jason Weening pumps lagoons out with his 10 kids and one patient wife, though she does very little lagoon pumping. Read more stories at HEYDADS.ca.