Gurgle, Bubble, And Mr. Rooter

Sunday I wasn’t feeling at all wonderful my back was killing me and I had a cold, so I thought ”What the hell, I’ll clean the bathrooms, get that out of the way and then bum on the couch the rest of the day.”

Rob had called earlier; he is in Germany doing therapy one his back. Which they said looks so much better he won’t need the surgery. YEAH!! We only had a few minutes and I had told him all was great on the home front except for colds. (Alyssa has a horrible cold too.)

So, I start scrubbing the toilet, yes a job we all treasurer!! Flush and that is when it happened!! The toilet made this funny gurgle, gurgle followed by a small whine. I looked down thought “Ok?!” Then the tub started to talk…” Bubble, bubble, gurgle, LOUD gurgle…WOOOSSSSSHHHH!! Water started bubbling up faster then if I had, had the faucet on!!!

Grabbed the plunger start plunging the toilet and praying… Dear lord, NO not today please, please what ever I have done I am whole heartedly sorry but not this today!! I know you won’t give more then I can handle but really, have you looked at my record the past 12 months…. that’s a lot of handling. I CAN”T HANDLE IT TODAY!!!!

In the middle of my prayer and plunging I hear Lindsey say, “ What is that in our tub?”followed by, ”MOM!” Honestly I didn’t want to look. I knew what I would find. But I looked and that is when the crying started.

I have kept my sense of humor through a great deal this year, Gunter’s doggy diarrhea from hell, the attack of the ants, the bathroom light switch fire, Hurricane Ivan, the van breaking down, the air conditioning breaking, the termites trying to invade, the dryer breaking and so much more.

I just didn’t have it in me Sunday to laugh anymore. I felt like shit and I just wanted to get some of the chores done so I cold veggie out! Instead I spent the day on the phone with my insurance company.

Seems they couldn’t find someone on their Emergency list that was willing to come out. Maybe it is just me but, if you’re on an emergency list doesn’t that mean you will come out on EMERGANCIES? The other alternative was me to find someone who would come out.

Of course there is a catch.

I have to read the list to make sure nonone is on the "NO" List. I read the list of plumbers off to the agent who told me, “ Sorry but they are on the no list, yup them too, yeah see them too..,” This went on for 15 minutes then finally I hit 3 that were ok. I called and finally got Nice Plumber.

He explained he was on another job and couldn’t get to my house before 8 pm. Hey at this point we need bathrooms. So that was fine with me. 8pm he arrives, Survey’s the situation, calls my insurance company with his quote and gets ready too work. Agent asks to speak to me. Great! (I hope you sense the sarcasm there.)

“ I have to let you know that we will only pay for a routine blockage; we will not pay for tree root blockages so if he finds tree roots you are solely responsible for the bill. If you agree to these terms we can proceed.” What do you think the odds were I was going to tell the ONLY plumber I could get in town to STOP! I agreed.

He understood the terms and very soon I would have indoor plumbing again. Life will be good.

10 minutes later a knock at the door.

Nice Plumber not looking happy. “ Well, see…maybe you should just look”.



Yeah, tree roots.

Me holding back the tears…” So how much?”

Nice Plumber: “ Can I ask you something?”

Me: “ Sure” (still holding back the tears)

Nice Plumber: “ The flag you have here, do you have someone in the service?”

Me: “ Yes my husband, he is in the Army.”

Nice Plumber: “ Is he gone?”

Many, many red flags pop up for me when strange men ask me this. But he seems like a nice man (yes I know so do most serial killers)

Me: “ Yes he is in Saudi. He has been gone a year, and is due home soon”

Nice Plumber: Scratches his head, looks at me “ You tell him thank you for me the next you talk to him, and as for this…it’s a routine blockage.”

Before he left he told me what to look for to make sure that the roots weren’t from a hole in my line, with all this bad weather and the trees that have been down the roots could have just floated in from the main line. If I had Any problems to call him and he would take care of it.


On Monday he called to make sure I had no problems and he mailed me a card with his home number on it. Said he told his wife about this and she would know who I was if I called. He would be back out in a few months just to clean the line again to make sure nothing was growing.

God bless Nice Plumber and his family and THANK YOU lord for sending him to us!