Wake up and smell the sewage!

It has now been 14 hours with out water. I guess I wouldn't be complaining, because I can live without water, but there is one small problem. THE SEWAGE TRUCK CAME! And what does this mean? When the sewage truck comes, sometimes it gets overly ravenous and sucks every last drop of of sewage/gray water from our poop tank. This means all the remaining water that is essential for stopping smelly gases from leaking back into the house is gone. When the toilet is empty, no water sitting in the bowl, it creates a gapping entrance for poopy smells to offend my nose. When we do have water, it's as easy as flushing the toilet, turning on the tap and re-creating that smell barrier to fix the problem. But we don't have water.

I woke up this morning to the sound of a truck. I danced and clapped my hands together until Nathan informed me it was only the sewage truck. No washing my hands or brushing my teeth just yet. I wasn't too upset, and then I clued in! OH god, please don't let them suck the tank bone dry! I don't know if it is the experiance level of the sewage truck persons, but having the tank sucked dry only happens on occasion. Murphy's law, the tank was sucked dry. I remember hearing the last gurgle of water getting slurped from the toilet bowl and the thoughts running through my head, what solution could I come up with to prevent myself from the evil gases that lay below? By the way I like to describe the flavor of the evil gases as an intense rotten sour kraut, just for those of you wondering. It immediately came to mind my solution from the night before to water the pets, I ran outside and got some snow. I then proceeded to try and melt the snow in the microwave, but when I returned to the toilet it was too late. The gases had arrived. I ran from the bathroom dry heaving. Once I settled myself I continued my task of plugging up the toilet. I then ran through the house closing every drain I could think of, all but one. The washing machine. A renegade appliance that freely releases the under belly of gases, and I can do nothing about it.

The next problem I had to face was using the toilet, and we aren't talking about number one. I pick up the phone, "Nathan, is there water at the office?". Now essentially using the office as an outhouse, I got dressed and faced the -40C winds. How glorious it was, to finally wash my hands with soap and water (I do keep purel at home for when we do run out, but it's so much better to wash with soap and water). I then proceeded to return to my smelly house.