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18 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, August 15, 1989 Local carpenter winging to Saskatoon competition] intrepid A Greenbank man is flyingto write a four-hour exam on blue- marks and sent'me to the first Saskatoon this week to compete print reading and answer car- contest," Mr. Dempsey said, in the Canadian Carpenters pentry questions. adding that all his expenses Aprenticeship Contest. He expects he will have to do were paid by the union. Clay Dempsey, 22, qualified for the national contest after placing second in the Ontario Carpenters Apprenticeship Contest in May. At the three-day contest, held at Nathan Phillips Square, Mr. Dempsey had to use different carpentry skills to build a small project, work with a transit, and similar tests in Saskatoon. The trip turned out to be very Oshawa Local 897 chose Mr. profitable. Mr. Dempsey re- Dempsey to represent his union turned home with a $500 cash local after showing outstanding award for his second place fin- achievement in his apprentice- jg. ship program. He completed his He now hopes to repeat the two ten-week apprenticeship at performance of last year's Sir Sandford Fleming in Peter- Qghawa candidate, who fin- borough. ished second in Ontario but "The union looked at my wenton towin the nationals. If Mr. Dempsey wins at the nationals, he will qualify to at- tend the internationals to be heldin Seattle in December. Mr. Dempsey began his car- pentry career at John Wheel- wright Ltd. of Weston. The com- pany built industrial and commercial buildings in the To- ronto area. Mr. Dempsey now works for Steve Snider Carpenter Con- tractor Inc. He said working for a private contractor has meant a drop in pay but "it's nice working in the Port Perry area instead of driv- ingto Toronto everyday." - "I heard Steve Snider was one of the best carpenters in the area," Mr. Dempsey continued. "I wanted to hone my skills and learn a little more about resi- dential building and framing, in case I want to build my own house someday." . Mr. Dempsey intends to con- tinue expanding his carpentry knowledge. He has been accept- ed at Seneca College in the three year civil engineering pro- gram. "Architecture intrigues me," he said. "I want to learn more about it. "I've always wanted to return - to college after high school. It's Carpenter Clay Dempsey will compete In the Canadian just taken me this long to focus Carpenters Apprenticeship Contest in Saskatoon this week. °" What really interests me. Vehicle Maintenance Inspection TUNE-UP 10% OFF Labour & Parts* 4 Cylinder - 48.55 Labour.plus Parts " 6 Cylinder - 64.75 Labour plus Parts 8 Cylinder - 80.95 Labour plus Parts GUARANTEED SERVICE GUARANTEED GM PARTS GUARANTEED PRICE * 10% applies to list prices only NOTE: These specials apply to GM cars and light duty trucks until August 31st, 1989, upon presentation of this advertisement. " PONTIAC BUICK LIMITED 10 VANEDWARD DRIVE, PORT PERRY - 985-8474 The fo -------------- Coltager by Craig Nicholson (c. 1988 All Rights Reserved) SEPTICS Septics are a great mystery. I was told that one came with © the place when I bought it, but I never did know where it was. | And being a city boy, used to sewers and drains and flooded basements, I didn't give a second thought to my septic until the § day I used the toilet and one went down but two came up. When I was a kid, our cottage had an outhouse where I got i bit or frozen depending on the season. It was not a mystery. It || was just a place that stank, where creepy things took advantage | of me and I didn't want to drop any valuables. There was never _ a line up, at least not of people. This place has an outhouse too. Fire engine red and used for | storing junk. But now I had septic problems and more pressing § needs. The wife refused to use it, having swern off outhouses ¢ after a horse tried to enter one she was occupying. So I called 2 for help. 7 : The operator said it was not a 911 emergency. But then she # § has some cushy washroom that works. I recalled a sign in town o | that read: "A royal flush is better than a full house" with a phone | number, and gambled that it. was not a card shark. I'stated the problem: "It won't flush!" and he asked where _ it was. "Floating in the bowl," I replied, "Oh, you mean the sep- | tic! What does it look like?"' He said it was flat and rectangular _ and buried near the house. Was this some old abandoned | cemetery or my septic I was supposed to find? He said either would do, but I would have to locate the en- | trance before he could help. It sounded like a trap to me, and i he answered that that's exactly what it was - a trap door. So I got an old tie rod and a sledge and proceeded to aerate the lawn. The idea was to drive the rod into the earth until it hit something and then mark the outline of the tank, or a casket or my foot. He said the trap would be on the top near the house. I outlined something too big to be my foot or a casket unless it was a double and started to dig. Finally I unearthed the trap and called him back. He said that he'd be right out with the honey wagon. I couldn't figure out what bees had to do with it, but kept my mouth shut for once. The "wagon" turned out to be a large tanker truck with a long hose and vacuum pump; the "honey" was what was pumped. It made me eternally suspicious of highway signs saying "Honey For Sale." And of what the wife means when she uses that endearment on me. i This episode got me thinking about septic systems. Like most . new cottagers I took mine for granted and didn't even know if #1 had one or if it worked properly. But I expected my water to i be clean for swimming or drinking. The septic was buried and S0.were my worries. Not good enough. I expected an antiquated system to handle the increasing needs of a larger family, or simply to keep on working forever. I put all manner of household chemicals, cleaners and soaps - down our cottage drains, never thinking that these will kill the § very bacteria that make the septic process function properly. § I sipped my lemonade while I polluted my soil and water. It cost a few bucks to remedy and that was painful both because it was cash spent on something invisible - not like a new deck or a ski boat - and because I had to use that stupid red § outhouse again for a week. The wife said she had never rubbed calomine lotion there before. : Winter brings another kind of problem for septic owners. If the drain pipes aren't buried deep enough or insulated well, then ¢ they can freeze solid. Now this is invisible too, until the toilet ¢ backs up all over the floor. The septic had already been pumped and fixed and I was on another diet, so it couldn't be full again already. A neighbour suggested frozen pipes, although even country neighbourliness has its limits and he didn't volunteer to help. I discovered why. There was a nut where the drain pipe went into the wall and outside. I couldn't see any alternative but to unscrew this and see what was what. What was a flood of backed up water that was about 5 gallons more than the 1 gallon bucket I was holding. I peered into the exit pipe with a flashlight. It was frozen solids. The next four hours involved a red hot poker, a hair dryer, boiling water, an ice pick and muttered curses. The wife said it reminded her of my barbecuing. I did finally get that pipe § unblocked, resealed and in service. The next spring, I dug up the pipe and insulated it. Aside from the ground hog which ate some, to keep his drains working, I suppose, I have had no more septic problems. Just in case, I replanted the area over the trap with a flower bed. It sits there in the middle of the lawn like the gardener died, but I'll never have to search for the septic again. And at least I know where the caskets aren't.