Any country person can tell you the most unnerving sound we ever hear is that loud gurgling when the toilet is flushed. That means the septic line is clogged, or the septic tank is ready to overflow and back up.

You know when it’s time to yell for help, and it is very often too late.

This morning, I heard the worst gurgling I’ve ever heard, and the toilet started to back up—nightmare time.

I rushed to the phone and called Snell Septic and Construction. The Snells are my septic people; I would trust them with anything.

I knew they would come quickly, and I learned a new rescue dog would be in the big truck’s front seat.

This is not New Jersey.

The Snell family truck always has a new rescue dog; the family loves dogs. Five rescue Corgies were riding in the car when I met them some years ago. They always introduce me to them, and they are always nice and beautiful and very much loved dogs.

The Snells go nowhere without dogs close by.

Today it was Dixie in the truck, a mixed breed rescue who is shy but sweet, just a few months with the Sneads. They have plenty of dogs but don’t generally turn rescue dogs down.

Septic gurgling is a genuine nightmare for me. I expect raw sewage to come bubbling out of the toilet at any minute. You can never see it coming until it’s there. This never happened in my former life; septic stuff was never my problem.

In the country, reliable and competent septic people are essential, and I think we are fortunate at the farm: we have the most excellent, most responsive, and most competent septic people that exist anywhere in the world.

For one thing, the Snells are incredibly friendly and courteous. For another, they are almost ruthlessly efficient. They work quickly and do not mess around. They know what they are doing.

We usually see Ryan when there is a septic, but Scott pulled up today in the company’s giant red truck.

As always, he saved us quickly and with a big smile.

There was a clog down the septic pipe; he stuck a heavy pipe over the line after opening it and fed the pile into a huge truck. The truck roared to life (I think it was a fire engine in a former life), and presto! – the water flowed.

Scott unclogged our pipe and drained the tank six months ahead of schedule while he was there. He explained everything he was doing and repeatedly invited me to look into the tank to see what was happening.

I did it, but I don’t need to repeat it. It made food poisoning look good. Dixie sat quietly in the truck and didn’t budget.

You can learn everything you need to know about the benefits of shopping locally from these people. They answer the phone. They come. They care.

Scott went to the top of my list of portraits of people I love and respect. Almost all of his family has been there. You can determine how friendly people are by how well they treat their dogs; always a barometer of kindness.

 

Scott fixed up the septic, tested it a few times, and then he and I talked about the dog for a while. He said Dixie was sweet but shy, and so he was driving all over the county with her to acclimate her to people.

Everyone in his family has done it; I have no doubt he will succeed at it. They love to come here, I love to see them. (Who doesn’t love to see their septic people come running?).

And we get to talk dogs too?

Loving dogs is in the Snell DNA.

The septic crisis was over almost as soon as it began. The toilet is behaving. The gurgling is gone.

I will always buy locally when I can.