Six Week Shutdown and Drain Troubles

This town is supported by a pulp mill. On May 5 it closed, and the general public did not know how long it would be idle. The governor came and the news covered the event. When a mill shuts down, it affects wood cutters, truckers, filling stations and restaurants. This was a major source of revenue for the whole of the county. One of our restaurants closed and the owners moved their operation to a town near Bangor. Some workers left and went to work elsewhere, if they could find a job. Most collected unemployment and hoped for the best. When I took this picture, I thought it would be fall before smoke came out of the stack again. Some people in town had hard feelings towards those who remained employed and that made others uncomfortable in some situations I am sure. Water bills had to double because the fixed costs of the water utility have to be paid by users that are left. Workers didn't know what they would do about insurance if it closed for good. This situation lasted six weeks. It reopened last week, to everyone's surprise. Turns out that the pulp customers were not happy with South American Eucalyptus pulp. It affected the quality of their finished product. That's good news for the United States, Maine and this mill in particular. Workers were happy to go back to work and having it running is very good news for the town.
Last month our house had sewer troubles. The original drain from the house to the road was clogged with dirt from a section that broke at a T-connection. We hired a backhoe and a plumber, but Dick was the one in the hole. I didn't have to watch the worst of it because I was at school, but when I came home the hole was so deep I had to get close to the edge to see him. The water line was broken by the backhoe while digging for the sewer line, so water had to be pumped out, both lines fixed and the job was supposed to be done. It wasn't pretty. The line was covered with some new gravel on top, but Dick didn't want to cover it completely until it settled. It was pretty soupy from all the water, so we waited. Then it rained. A few days later Dick decided he wanted to re-dig the line, put lots of gravel around it for security and not worry about it. Good thing he decided this, because it had sunk and twisted. He repaired it again and carefully put the gravel in the way it should be done. Was our problem over? NO. The next week it plugged again on the other side of the driveway, where the line connects to another and runs to the main sewer drain. It was blocked by rocks that had washed in when the pipe broke before. So I left for work and Dick handled it again. Three weeks of that sh_ _ is too much for anybody.