Solid gold septic

Dawn's gotten three quotes for the septic system, ranging from $60,000 to $90,000. As one person eloquently put it, "holy crap!"

Last week, Dawn even met with the sewage enforcement officer to see if there were any other options. ("Sleep with him if you have to," I said.) It didn't matter; there was nothing that could be done, and even if there was it would set our project back six months. So we are building the Taj Mahal of sand mounds.

On a related note, we are now featured on the Outhouses of America Tour and I've been in touch with Sherman Hines, who produces an annual Outhouse calendar. (Seriously--check out his 2006 calendar at Amazon.com!)

We considered installing pay toilets, but even at $1 per flush it would take 27 years to recoup our costs!