Thankful Thursday ~ The Geese Have Landed...and other things...

 We were so excited to see the Canadian Geese have returned to Still Waters Pond! They flew in Wednesday morning and hung around most of the day, just swimming around the pond and eating water lily plants and whatever else it is they like, and seemed to be really content to enjoy our pond.

I was pleasantly surprised to see them come right over to our side of the pond really close to shore. I even stepped outside on the back porch a few times to take their picture, and they didn't seem to care. I'm thinking these geese are pretty used to being around humans.  I don't know if these are the same geese who were here last year or not, but they just made themselves right at home.

Then they swam over to the other side and explored that area for a while. It will be interesting to see if they come back again, or if they were just passing through on their way to wherever it is they go for the winter.

I do hope they will be back again. We enjoy watching them so much!

We were thankful for this pleasant interlude in our day.

It was much better than what happened next.

I was busy doing a load of laundry and also the dishwasher was running, and as they both were draining about the same time, we noticed a bit of gurgling and bubbling noises coming from the bathroom and from the kitchen sink.  Then we couldn't flush the toilets...and we realized that something was very wrong. Long story short, it appears that our septic tank is full and needs to be pumped out.

So immediately I started making some phone calls. The first place that was recommended to me was so booked that it would be over a week before they could come out! That would mean we would have to wait all that time to use our "facilities", including laundry, dishes, bathing, anything that required water to be drained?  Hmmm, that would never work, with Thanksgiving coming next week!

So the next place I called said the soonest they could come would be next Monday.

That is still unacceptable. I mean, what are people supposed to do?

Finally, I reached a company that said they could come on Friday. Okay, that's a little better. This was Wednesday...we could survive until then I am sure...

Thankfully our son and wife live only about a mile from here and they very graciously offered us to come over and use their "facilities" anytime we needed.

Well, that is wonderful, but probably not a good idea to go over there at 2 a.m. or other such crazy times, if you know what I mean...

So, we thought up the next best thing:

Do you know what that is?

They call it a "honey bucket". Not sure why the "honey" part, but it is certainly better than nothing:

Okay, sorry if this is all TMI.  But there are times when we need to share important information with each other, as we never know when we might need such important information. I learned about this idea from watching some of those Alaska real estate shows, where people are just so crazy about going to live up in the wilds of Alaska where there is no running water or electricity or any other nicety known to woman.  Men don't seem to mind so much...but women going out in the sub zero temperatures in the wilds of Alaska in the middle of the night to an outhouse? Well...that is how the "honey bucket" came into existence.  

Sure beats having to use one of these:

Or one of these:

(internet photo)

with one of these:

(internet photo)

When I was a little girl on the farm in Pennsylvania we had to use all of the above.  We had an outhouse on our farm, and it was a two-seater like this one above.  My memories are scarce, but I have one specific memory that has left an indelible imprint on my psyche.  When I was about 4 years old my big sister and I went out to the outhouse together one afternoon. She, being 4 years older than I, was more experienced in the fine-art of outhouse protocol.  Our particular outhouse had a door with a hook and eye on the inside for when you were inside and didn't want intruders or the door to fall open. And it also had a block on the outside to turn and hold the door shut when you left to go back inside the house.  We also were blessed in that we had a very tiny natural gas heater inside our outhouse, for those freezing cold winter days and nights. In Pennsylvania there were a lot of natural gas wells in the ground, and our farm happened to have one, so we were fortunate to have free gas for heating and cooking, etc.

Anyway, it must have been a cold day because that little heater was on.  My sister demonstrated to me how to push the door of the outhouse open from the inside if perchance someone went outside and turned the block on the door to keep it from falling open. She, being the older and stronger sister, had no problem pushing that big old wooden door open.  And then she left me inside by myself, turned the block on the door and promptly went back to the house. When I finished my "business" I thought that I was big and strong enough to push that door open just like she had shown me. So I pushed, and I pushed, and ran as hard against that door as my stout little four year old legs could push, and I could not push that door open. I struggled with it and pounded on it, and in my frantic actions I somehow bent down low enough to get my hair too close to the little heater that was burning.  Then I could smell the horrible stench of burnt hair, and I started screaming. About that time my mother came to my rescue and opened the door and pulled me out and up into her arms as I was crying and telling her that my sister left me in there on purpose! Well, my sister said no such thing...she just forgot that she had turned the block on the door and she didn't mean to leave me in there by myself. To this day it is still questionable in my mind as to whether or not she meant to lock me in there or not. But I love her anyway and she is still the best "little big sister" any girl could have.  I call her my "little big sister" because she is much smaller than I am, but she is still the "big sister".  Nowadays I could probably push that outhouse door open easier than she could! LOL.  We may have to have a contest of strength next week when she comes for Thanksgiving.  (Lord willing...praying that we can be together).

Okay, so this was supposed to be a Thankful Thursday post, and I am very thankful indeed...Martha at Seaside Simplicity mentioned that she was thankful for toilets on her Wednesday Hodgepodge post that I read...and I knew then that it would be okay to tell you this story!

I am thankful for many other things besides toilets and geese on the pond. I am thankful for my family and friends and that we still live in the best country in the whole world, regardless of what is happening out there in the political realm. And I pray that God will keep us all strong and healthy...and continue to bring healing to those who are currently battling illnesses among our ranks. There are several still, and we need to remember to keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

I pray that we can each celebrate Thanksgiving in some special way next week. Even if you can't gather with family and friends, I hope that you will take the time to do something a little bit extra special to make the day truly a day of Thanksgiving. 

"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,

and for His wonderful works to the children of men!

For He satisfies the longing soul,

and fills the hungry soul with goodness."

Psalm 107:8-9

"O give thanks to the Lord, 

for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."

Psalm 118:1