Last week I talked about incidents, politics, and the news in my home state, Minnesota.
This week I’m talking about a comparatively pleasant matter: sewer repair.
Before anything else, though: good news, at least for us. Our household’s sewer connection is now in good working order, and should stay that way for a long while.
- A Blocked Sewer Pipe
- Tuesday, January 27, 2026: Digging in the Cold, Cold Ground
- Wednesday, January 28, 2026: Sewer Work (Almost) Done
- Back to Routines
- Finding Morals, Within Reason
A Blocked Sewer Pipe
A little over two and a half weeks ago, I was dealing with what I thought was clogged toilet. Then someone, I think it was one of the kids, noticed water in the basement, coming from our main drain.
By afternoon, the kids had learned that nobody in town could deal with what we were experiencing. But they had gotten in touch with an outfit about an hour down the road who could and would.
That was good news.
So was a crew showing up later that day, with equipment and know-how. They checked our sewer pipe, talked with Sauk Centre Utilities, and learned that — no surprises here — our sewer pipe was blocked.
That wasn’t, actually, the only possible explanation for the minor mess in our basement. There might have been trouble in the municipal system. But by that time Sauk Centre Utilities had been out front, taking a look in the municipal sewer.
Our basement could have been in much worse shape. The water that’d leaked out was clear, but almost certainly was not clean.
The crew had confirmed that our sewer was blocked. They’d also seen — literally, they had a camera — that whatever was wrong needed someone with more experience.
Back to good news: they made a smallish hole through whatever was blocking the pipe. This let us handle waste water normally, provided we didn’t overload the system.
As I recall, they also got water out of the basement — there wasn’t much, happily — and removed some damaged stuff. I think that’s when they steam-cleaned the affected areas.
Several days later, during the last week in January, we learned more about why our drain didn’t drain.
Unavoidable Delay, Pipe Rot
We’d have learned more on Saturday, January 24, but the chap who needed to come out with equipment and experience had the flu.
That wasn’t good news for either or any of us, but our drains were draining, so it wasn’t bad news either.
He said he’d come Monday, and he did. Even better, by that time he was over whatever had been ailing him. There’s a variety of the flu going around, which might explain how we’ve been feeling. And I’m wandering off-topic.
He determined where and how deep our sewer pipe was, and what was giving us trouble.
Basically, the cast-iron pipe running from our house out to the municipal sewer system was in bad shape.
I wasn’t surprised. We live in an old farm house that’s now on a street corner in Sauk Centre. What we had until last month was probably the original connection to Sauk Centre’s sewers.
Besides “pipe rot” — corrosion, not the organic process — whoever had installed the pipe set it on dirt, which had slumped over the decades.
A Tip of the Hat to Plumber St. Cloud
Back to good news.
When Sauk Centre pulled up our streets and utilities, two decades back now, the contractors ran new plastic pipe out to where our old cast iron pipe ended.
My guess is that this made connecting the new and existing pipes easier, and maybe cheaper. Less expensive than good old-fashioned cast iron pipes, that is.
Before I forget, this is the outfit that got us re-connected with Sauk Centre’s sewers:
Plumber St. Cloud, MN | Emergency Plumbing | Roto-Rooter
(rotorooter.com/stcloudmn)
Saint Cloud, Minnesota
My hat’s off to the company, and the folks who came here. Beyond just being technically competent, they explained what they were doing, let us know when we shouldn’t run water: in short, gave us information we could use.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026: Digging in the Cold, Cold Ground
Excavation equipment makes digging an eight-foot-deep trench a practical possibility in late January, here in central Minnesota. But it’s still not easy.
This isn’t the first time someone’s needed dirt removed and replaced in winter, so the crew came prepared with an assortment of shovel and pick attachments for their excavator.
Reasonable Precautions
They also brought along a portable retaining wall. I don’t know what it’s called. You see it there, on either side of the ladder. Frozen soil makes middling-fair structural material, but there’s no sense taking crazy chances.
By midday Tuesday-before-last, they’d reached the drain pipe coming out of our basement and started replacing the old cast iron drain leading to our street. It’s Sauk Centre’s street, but you know what I mean.
Utilities, and Living Where the Edge of Town Used to Be
These days, the shortest route to Sauk Centre’s sewer would be straight west from our basement. Instead, our old cast iron drain takes a northwest heading after passing through our basement wall.
You read that right. Our sewer drain exits the house through the basement wall, not below the floor.
Sauk Center’s sewers are, or were, apparently, above the level our our basement floor, at least in this part of town. Why, I don’t know.
My guess is that when municipal utilities were run out here, this was the last house before you got into someone’s field. Houses south and east of us have that low-to-the-ground, shallow roofed look you’ll see in (comparatively) newer neighborhoods.
Besides making more work for the folks digging that trench, taking that northwest course involved digging up a shrub that’d been there when we came here, in 1990.
On a more practical note, Sauk Centre’s sidewalk that runs in front of our place wasn’t disturbed. But we’re missing several square yards concrete, between the sidewalk and our front stoop. That’ll need replacing come spring or summer.
This could have been a much bigger — and more expensive — replacement job. As it is, we’re looking at a whole lot more ‘maintenance’ costs this year than we expected. But, again, Sauk Centre’s sidewalk doesn’t need replacing, so that’s one less expense.
Plus, we get a little wiggle room in terms of when the job needs to get finished. I hope.
Wednesday, January 28, 2026: Sewer Work (Almost) Done
“…I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours….”
(“Three Men in a Boat” Jerome K. Jerome, (1889) via Wikiquote)
You can’t see it in that photo, but there’s gravel showing through dirt at the bottom of that trench. The crew from Plumber St. Cloud put stone on the trench bottom before setting down the drain pipe.
I gather that this’ll make for less settling under the pipe, and maybe give more time before someone has to dig down and replace it. I hope so, anyway.
Old Pipes, New Pipes
The old cast iron drain pipes are still down near the new one, off to one side. Those two vertical bits, top center in the photo, are a new feature. I gather that they’re there to give access to the horizontal drain.
Another photo, from the same spot, this time showing houses across the street. I took this mainly to give a better sense of how deep the trench was, and how far above the ground those pipes went. They’ve been cut off at ground level and capped since then.
Finishing Touches: Now and Come Spring
By sunset on Wednesday, January 28, the crew had filled in the trench. The job’s not quite over, though. Come spring, there will have been settling; which is why there’s a pile of dirt off to the right, past the edge of that photo.
“Landscaping” strikes me as a fancy term for anything having to do with our yard, but that’s what’ll be done after the snow’s gone. There’s sidewalk to replace, dirt to smooth over, and grass to plant.
But as I see it, the main work has been done. We’ve got reliable sewer access again, and that’s a good thing.
Back to Routines
At the time, the process of getting our drains reconnected with Sauk Centre’s sewers felt like it was moving along at a lethargic snail’s pace.
But considering how the very cold weather had been affecting so many other folks here in central Minnesota, I’m impressed that we got a temporary fix done so fast, and most of the job done in not much over a week.
Again, my hat’s off to Plumber St. Cloud and everyone who was working here.
That said, I’m really glad that we’re getting back to our usual household routines. And that one of the kids is recovering from part of the process.
In this context, “the kids” means our son and one of our daughters: both adults, living with me and my wife. We’re not your ‘typical American family’, which is a cartload of topics I may or may not get to: some other time.
Something Extra in the Air
I’m not particularly affected by extra stuff in the air. My wife is. A lot.
Very early on, I learned that getting her flowers was a bad idea.
Our daughter, the one who lives in this household, is even more affected by stuff in the air. What she deals with has nothing to do with having ‘delicate sensibilities’, any more than someone who’s allergic to ragweed pollen is being highfalutin.
After the crew cleaned up the sewer water that’d leaked into our basement, and removed some damaged material, they steam-cleaned the area.
This was a good idea. We had to assume that microcritters were in that water, and we emphatically didn’t want them setting up shop in our house.
I’ve gathered that sewer water has a distinctive aroma. So I’m told. It’d have to get pretty thick before I’d notice. If I saw as well as I can smell, I’d be legally blind.
Whatever they used for the steam cleaning had a fresh minty smell to it. For most folks, that’s probably a refreshing change from the previous stench.
I didn’t, couldn’t, notice the new aroma. My wife and the kids, on the other hand, could detect it. For two of them, it was tolerable.
For our daughter, the basement and most of the ground floor was uninhabitable for more than a week. So until recently, she’s been living on the next level up. Maybe that’d have been necessary, even without the added aroma. There was a lot of chemistry happening down there.
Finding Morals, Within Reason
During one of our daily online chats, I told our oldest daughter that I’d been trying to find ‘a moral’ in our sewer repair experience.
She told me that not everything has to have a moral — some ethical lesson.
Her assertion’s truth and usefulness is a philosophical rabbit hole I’ll ignore.
She did, however, have a point.
The Duchess in “Alice in Wonderland” is not a good role model.
But I did spot a few facets of this household’s sewer problem that arguably ‘have a moral’.
One way or another, they involve how what I say I believe affects — or should affect — how I act.
In these cases, acting ‘morally’ — following rules taught by the Church — was easy. Sometimes it’s not. But I’ve noticed that the principles behind ‘all those rules’ are just plain common sense. Even the ones I find hard to follow. And that’s another topic.
Health
Being and staying healthy is okay. So is not being healthy, and trying to get healthy. It’s part of being alive. Getting well, helping others get well, and scientific research with those goals, are all good ideas. Ethics apply, just like with everything else we do. (Catechism, 1410, 1500–1510, 2292-2296)
If I made being or getting healthy my top priority, that’d be a problem. Putting anything or anyone where God belongs is idolatry, and a very bad idea. (Catechism, 2112-2113)
Neighbors
Finally, whatever I’m doing, I should keep the common good in mind:
“1906 By common good is to be understood ‘the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.’ The common good concerns the life of all. It calls for prudence from each, and even more from those who exercise the office of authority. It consists of three essential elements:”
(Catechism)
Changing “the sum total of social conditions…” is beyond my abilities. But I can act as if respecting other folks is a good idea. (Catechism, 1905-1912, for starters)
Part of that involves following through on agreements. (Catechism, 2410)
Folks with Plumber St. Cloud, for example, agreed to fix our sewer with the understanding that we’ll pay them. Which we will.
But what about the job itself?
Let’s say we didn’t feel like getting our sewer connection fixed. Shouldn’t we have a right to let it go? After all, it’s our property, our choice.
Home Maintenance and the Universal Destination of Goods
Since I’m a Catholic, I think that private property is a good idea. I also think everyone else matters, so I can’t say “MINE“, and stop there. The universal destination of goods is an idea that deserves more attention than I’m giving this week. (Catechism, 1937-1938, 2211, 2213, 2237-2238, 2401–2406, 2415, 2456)
Here’s how that, and the idea that other people matter, applies to sewer repair.
In the short run, getting our sewer connection fixed won’t benefit many folks outside this household. And the Plumber St. Cloud crews and their families, to the extent that our trouble gave them work which I assume resulted in paychecks.
In the not-so-short run, getting our sewer connection repaired benefits our immediate neighbors; since waste water we produce has to go somewhere. I’d better leave it at that.
The same goes for replacing our sidewalk and smoothing out our front yard.
This isn’t even close to being an HOA neighborhood, thankfully, and our place has a ‘lived in’ look. But I figure we all benefit if one yard isn’t an outstanding eyesore.
Some of this I’ve talked about before:
- It’s been an interesting winter
- “Very Cold Weather, Sewer Problem, But Otherwise Fine” (January 22, 2026)
- “Our Lady of Angels: My Home Parish” (January 17, 2026) (looks like the parish my wife grew up in will close this year)
- Health and circumstances
- “Called to Holiness, Not Stupidity” (June 7, 2025)
- “Odors, Experiences, and a Life Without Scent” (March 15, 2025)
- The common good — it’s not just a slogan
- Private Property, People, and the Universal Destination of Goods
- “Remembering Wisdom” (January 21, 2018)
- “Amos and Social Justice” (September 25, 2016)
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