Quarantine Cakes - Roll Of TP And Poop Cupcakes!

Wish I'd thought of this, but then, I only microwave stuff from the freezer.....

Have an uplift, goodness knows we need it!
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/coronavirus/article241553476.html?

If you are on Facebook, look for Loft22 Cakes! 

With our ghastly and grim virus isolation, this is sorta like making lemons into lemonade I think.

Yes Virginia, There Is A Sewerfest!

Okay, I am ripping off the phrase which belongs to that famous quote from the New York Sun, September 1, 1897, "Yes Virginia, there is a S_____ C_____." I hope all three readers here are old enough to fill in the blanks.....well, not 1897 old, but old enough anyway. If not click here. Actually, click there anyway, to read a very touching story that involves a coroner's assistant, an eight year old girl and a a former Civil War newspaper correspondent.

Now, to fill you in on another great story—Sewerfest! This is a real thing! During the last week of April (since 1998), hundreds of people gather at the wastewater treatment plant in Wilkesboro, North Carolina for a four-day music event! Sounds like such fun! Too bad we don't have the space to run something like this at our plant! We could sell tickets and souvenirs! We could make money....to help lessen the proposed, and likely to happen rate change that sprouted—FOURTEEN protest posts (as of tonight anyway, up from seven on March 11) on Nextdoor.

A quote from the article below,

We sell T-shirts, coffee cups and other merchandise with the SewerFest logo to raise funds for different causes.

We dropped the ball on this one Los Osos. This was one philanthropic enterprise that we did not think to rag on the County to add to the plans! I did come up with a blog post mentioning Poo Pets which we could have sold, but I did not go far enough with that idea either. (I think they are no longer manufactured, the QVC page was missing.)

Well, have a look for yourself on the shindig—which may or may not happen this year I suppose, COVID-19 and all:
https://www.tpomag.com/editorial/2020/04/once-a-year-swarms-of-music-fans-converge-on-this-clean-water-plant-site?utm_source=campaigner&utm_campaign=TPO200325&utm_content=newsletter&cmp=1&utm_medium=email

Check out the Sewerfest Facebook page too: https://www.facebook.com/SewerFest

Goleta Sanitary District's Open House!

I subscribe to a great sewer news feed, and a couple of days ago, an article popped up on an event that seemed like a lot of fun

"The (Goleta Sanitary) district held its second Jurassic Plant Tour to educate guests from neighboring communities about wastewater treatment facility operations. The highlight was a 30-foot-tall, inflatable Tyrannosaurus rex."

—have a read on the rest of it:

https://www.tpomag.com/editorial/2020/03/creatures-from-prehistoric-times-visit-a-california-clean-water-facility?utm_source=campaigner&utm_campaign=TPO200311&utm_content=newsletter&cmp=1&utm_medium=email

Guests received, "....plunger pencil, a squishable stress toy in the shape of a toilet, and a dinosaur notepad." (Now I have to go online shopping for that toilet stress toy!)

I don't think that this is something that we can do here, they have a customer base of 80,000, but the idea of a well publicized open house might be a good PR move sometime in the future, past COVID-19 of course!

Sewer Rate Increase Protests On Nextdoor!

Nextdoor, the online over-the-backyard-fence news for neighborhoods in Los Osos (and thousands of other places), has SEVEN DIFFERENT current posts on protesting the rate increase for our water recycling facility! That must be a record on any single issue,even the Morro Bay sewer, at least from the posts that I was able to see! But people have learned that posts sink below the waves if not commented on frequently, so this feels like a new way to beat the game for exposure, keep posting new posts!

Alas, this pales mightily as compared to what went on during the Los Osos sewer war! Table sitting, flyers, blogs, comments below newspaper articles, TV - but then, that went on for years and people had time to organize. It will be interesting to see how this goes, if people do walk their neighborhoods with protest reprints and envelopes, and they do get this on the LOVR/South Bay Boulevard readerboard, and they do protest on that street corner. Stay tuned!

Where Does Your Poop Go In Idaho?

Hey, that could be a song lyric! 

This is a fascinating video by Katherine Jones about the West Boise Water Renewal Facility that I found on the Trib website above an article on a sad, sewage spill in South County......

Enjoy!
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/environment/article233684387.html

COVID-19 - Wastewater Worker Info From MSW Magazine

Have a look:

https://www.mswmag.com/online_exclusives/2020/03/covid-19-guidance-for-wastewater-workers?utm_source=campaigner&utm_campaign=MSW200310&utm_content=newsletter&cmp=1&utm_medium=email

Sewage Corrodes Maritime Paint!

"By the end of the 1930s, San Diego Bay was a polluted mess that was corroding the paint off Navy ships."

This intriguing sentence can be found in this sewer article from the San Diego Uptown News!
https://sduptownnews.com/unsung-and-unseen-san-diegos-sewer-system/

Sewer Rate Increase Proposed

Well, it's here. The sewer rate increase vote is upon us. I'd say it's about time. The rate was a guesstimate back in 2010. For those who can't count, that is 10 years ago. There are some fun facts in the pages provided—did you know there are 5,663 connections? I'm just very, very glad to be able to flush and forget. The burden of septic tank care and feeding is more than this household wanted to contemplate. We felt lucky that nothing failed while we waited from 2005 to 2016 to dump the tank. Others were not so lucky.

We will not be sending in a protest vote, although we do have much sympathy for those who will be negatively impacted. The plant must have the funds to remain optimally functional. I hope some money can be found to help the people in need should this rate increase come to pass.I disagree with those who claim the County has wasted money.

Guess we'll see how this goes on Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at the Board of Supes when the protest votes are counted!

Click image for a larger size.

Chamber Pots!

How we used to "do" it, and how some still do! I am quite aware of how lucky I am to be able to flush and forget.

These items are a lot fancier than my dinnerware....
https://www.pinterest.com/judithgacek/chamber-pot/

https://www.pinterest.com/jlistre/chamber-pots-bourdaloues-toilet-spittoons/

Recent accounts of use:
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/chamber-pot-identification.46916/page-2

Etiquette:
https://mytimshel.wordpress.com/2017/05/18/chamber-pot-etiquette/

Dollhouse version:
https://www.thelittledollhousecompany.com/dollhouses-miniatures-furniture-kits/miniature-bathrooms-c-12_122/miniature-chamber-pot-set-for-dollhouses-p-14056

Tubeless Toilet Paper Vanishes!

This article, "My Tireless Quest for a Tubeless Wipe" by Emily Flitter appeared today in the New York Times no less. Well, it is a good read, and had I know this stuff existed, I would have done my part to keep it on the market. Consumer choices reported in the article are humbling though. And apparently these tubeless rolls were made from 600 year old trees. Recycled TP is the eco way to go! Now if I could only find that stuff at Costco.....