How Would You Like to Do Plumbing During a Snow and Ice Storm?

Does this look like a day for an outdoor plumbing job?

Seattle’s had a lot of national press in the past week, first for the predicted megastorm (which proved less than mega), then for being wimpy in the face of snow, and finally for the major ice storm that slipped by forecasters and wreaked havoc on the region. It’s a good thing nothing else important was happening around here, because all we could talk about was the weather.

People have lovely visions of what to do with a snow day, most of them cozy and indulgent: hot cocoa, a good book, some movies (assuming you still have power), and long lazy stares out the window at magical landscapes. (This is before the cabin fever sets in.)

But a lot of people had really tough jobs in this snow event. Along with the road workers, emergency responders, and medical personnel who managed to get to work, there were two people out of the limelight who did some amazing duty. This blog is in honor of them.

On Wednesday, January 18th–the day the snow really fell–we were scheduled to have a new pipe inserted into our sewer pipe system. We had learned of a major crack (with giant tree roots intruding in) when we had water in the basement on New Year’s Eve. The plumbing company, Fox Plumbing and Heating, at first said work could go on as planned, but the workers were stuck in various icy regions. Nevertheless, the next day, as more snow fell and the freezing rain worked its way over to us, Wyll and Jose showed up at 8:00 a.m. It was about 28 degrees out.

Two workers confer about procedures for laying pipe

For the next  12 hours or so, these two men dug, dumped, dragged, and delivered. They cut concrete from the driveway, shoveled out a large square in our once-beautiful mulch, and hauled long lengths of pipe, somehow pushing a new pipe through the old to shore up the broken area. While they were at it they also shoveled, since it wasn’t possible for them to even reach the needed areas without clearing the snow and ice.

There's a hole in our driveway! And pipes!

We watched out the window, fretting at intervals about the hole in the yard and the incredibly high price tag for this job, but mostly being astonished at how long and hard these men were working. We joked about how it was a job for young people, but I don’t know that many young people who could (or would?) work like that.

When they were “done enough” for the day, they faced long drives on dark, hazardous roads, which started with them getting stuck trying to drive off our by-then-glazed street. They couldn’t have had much sleep that night, because they were back the next morning to finish the job.

My husband and I may have become a bit stir crazy, and it was problematic not having use of the sewer system for extended periods, but life inside seemed pretty cushy compared to the work outside. So it seems like a good time to extend appreciative thoughts to the workers who help keep the world going when things break down and who perservere even when the weather makes us all a little more humble.

Thank you Wyll and Jose! You were amazing!

Questions for Reflection: How do you react when you see people doing dangerous or difficult jobs? How have you been helped or rescued by workers in an emergency? To whom would you like to express appreciation for a tough job well done?

Writing Prompts: “I am always amazed when I see workers who ______” (then keep writing); “The last time we had a storm, we got terrific help from ______” (then keep writing); “One thing I like to do for workers is ______” (then keep writing).

Tagged as: Fox Plumbing and Heating, ice storm, megastorm, mulch, plumbing, Seattle, snow, snow day