expensive lessons to teach

for the third time in four years i had to have my places pipes cleaned out. what a pain in the butt. whenever the pipes get backed up water comes up through the floor drain by the water heater. unfortunately i dont have a basement, so this means water comes up through the closet right next to my kitchen. its never too bad, usually just a puddle that expands for a minute or two, then goes back down. this was very frustrating for me the first time it happened because i was a bit unprepared. and by unprepared i mean i had two large boxes of comic books on the floor right next to the closet. a hundred or so got destroyed. i then learned my lesson- put the boxes on a wooden plank. theyve been safe ever since.
what happens to the pipes is this: the trees in my yard really like the water that flows right by their roots through the sewer system. they like it so much that many roots have busted through the pipes and are now growing in there. just for fun these crazy roots decided that they should do some exploring and so they started to grow up into my sewer pipe! lucky me! so, every so often i have to call the plumber to clean out the pipe and cut all the roots that are growing in there.
the problem is this- i just had someone come and do it this past spring! there is no way the tree roots grew that much over the course of one summer. in years past it has always taken at least two growing seasons to clogg it up. but clogged they were, so i had to call the plumber. on a sunday. after not being able to shower and go to church. needless to say i felt like crap, and looked like it too.
the guys come and clean it out, but the tree roots are only a small part of the problem. a couple months ago my renter had his son and daughter-in-law move in with him. and it seems that she needs to learn how to properly use a toilet. here are the simple guide lines: pee- yes. poo- yes. toilet paper- yes. feminine products- no. she seems to struggle with that last one. the plumbers found about 15 of these 'products' lodged in the pipe and had to stick a tool down the sewer pipe to dislodge said clogg.
toilet ettiquite is an important lesson to learn, and im glad i got the opportunity to teach her this lesson. all for only $170! what a deal!