2010: A Metcalf Odyssey

It looks as though we will be ending the year 2010 on a crappy note.

Literally. Crappy.

I just got a phone call from my property manager that the sewer is backed up in our house in Logan. And as our luck goes, the clog, whatever it is, is on our side of the line. So it is our problem, not the city's. I am trying not to panic. Trying not to picture tree roots growing through sewer lines, broken pipes, and back hoes. Best case scenario would be an auger and a waxy build up. Not really the images that put one in a partying mood for New Year's Eve.

2010 has been an eventful year. Not a bad year, really. A year of transitions, for sure. And some unexpected turns, and a few surprises that were not all pleasant. So given my current crap-pondering state of mind, I believe we will compose a year in review, starting with all the not-so-happy occurrences. Then we can end on a bang tomorrow with the cheerier stuff....which will hopefully include a bright conclusion to our current plumbing dilemma.

January brought the drama of purchasing a new home, then finding out the home was actually five years older than what we were originally told, which changed the whole picture for us. We wound up buying the house anyway, after adjusting the price, but we still are not sure that was a wise move. We were looking forward to moving into a newer home, and instead we inherited a herd of old appliances that hate us and have staged a rebellion. There was also my dad taking a fall on the ice, and not finding out for six weeks that he had broken his hip. And Uncle Dan passed away somewhat unexpectedly the end of this month too.

February was packing up to move, saying goodbye to friends, neighbors, schools and most of all our home of the past 12 years. It wasn't easy. And Dad finally got his hip replaced at the end of the month. He flew through it all and was back on his feet in no time, but I don't think he would be keen to go through it all again.

March, April, May and early June was just terrible weather. We were feeling out of sorts already with all the changes being in a new house, new city, new everything, and the weather just made it all seem worse. It was windy, cold, rainy and gray for three solid months. I don't remember even one nice warm spring day where the wind was not blowing you off your feet. It felt like spring never came.

Our old reliable 50 MPG Geo Metro bit the dust in the spring too. One too many trips up Sardine Canyon.

In mid June, my uncle Reed died very suddenly. Nobody saw this one coming at all, and I think our whole family was given a brutal wake up call about the unpredictability of life. You never know what the next day is going to bring you.

The summer seemed so short in some ways and so long in others. We were introduced to the joys of Syracuse summer nights, filled with mosquitoes and the smell of the Great Salt Lake. We missed the trees of Logan's parks and the Logan city swimming pool.

Then we spent one weekend in September vacuuming water out of our flooded basement. The field next door to us had flooded due to over-irrigating, and it had seeped up into our basement. We hauled out all our storage to let it dry in the garage. We pulled up carpeting and replaced padding. We yelled at the city and at the farmer next door and got nowhere. We are still debating what to do.

The end of the year flew by. Halloween and Thanksgiving came and went, and we barely remember them. No real complaints, until today, when I got the call about the sewer. I should have known better than to think that 2010 would go out quietly.