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Show Chatter Box Dear Suzy, Nobody ever tells Ray Smith anything and do not cooperate with him in the least. A few days ago he started putting in some bathroom fixtures and cut a hole in the foundation so he could get under the house and do some of the plumbing. He left the hole open that might and it was bitter cold. On getting up in the morning they found that they had no water in the house. Ray started to thaw out the pipes near the hole in the foundation where it had frozen. He worked for some time on it and couldn't get the water to run. He had to go to work and so left the waterless house until he returned. re-turned. Then his brother-in-law, Floyd Hardy,, came over to work on it while Ray was gone, but found the hole too small to get through and so couldn't do much for Ray. Ray returned from work and started in on the pipes again, hoping hop-ing to get them fixed that night. He worked until four a. m. before giving up, and still no water. His frame of mind was not what you would call peaceful and he was about ready to bum the house down so as to get the pipes warm enough so that he could get some water to put out the fire. Finally it was learned by Ray and his wife that the sewer digging dig-ging machine had come close to the water pipes and so Bert Parker Park-er had shut off the water in case the machine dug up a pipe, so all this time Ray was working on the pipes to unthaw them, there was no water in the pipes in the first place. Ray is still perturbed about the whole1 deal and feels that someone some-one should have told him about the water being shut off. But he realizes that he has found a lot out about the underside construction construc-tion of his home, and has gained some very valuable experience in working oin pipes that are sup- pose.dly frozen. Next winter when they really freeze he will know where to start, and I guess his first step will be to find out whether there is any water in the pipes ore not. Bill Mortensen, lineman for the phone company, had a trying experience ex-perience the other day. He was out near the Lone Tree working on the line and on returning to the truck to get ready to go back to town, did some kind of manipulation whereby the keys to the car were locked inside the truck. There was Bill without means of entry; without with-out means of transportation; without with-out coat; without a phone that he could shinny up a telephone and use to call the office; and without a good pair of shoes to walk into town with. How he got in is still unknown, but Bill did get to town and did get another set of keys and finally got the truck back in town too. I believe Bill sets some kind of record in these parts, because if he actually locked his car on purpose pur-pose and not by accident, he is the only driver in West Millard known to have intentionally locked lock-ed a car. The only reason that I can see for him to lock the car was that he must have had some cold beer-,in the truck and didn't want it stolen. I think he would welcome anyone pilfering the tools as then he wouldn't have to work until he got some new ones. If Doc Bird isn't careful Tom Brenneman is going to be sending him an orchid for his kindness to animals as was displayed during our recent cold spell (Idon't know how that recent got in -there as it seems to me it has been cold for many a moon). Doc's kindness to dumb animals goes back to the time the Abraham Irrigation company comp-any shut the water off in their canal. Doc had three horses in a pasture by the canal and they couldn't get any water after the canal went dry. Doc had an electric elec-tric line run to the well and had a pump put on it so the horses could get water. Then came a real cold snap and Doc couldn't stand to -think of his three horses forced to drink cold water. So he had an electric water heater hooked up to warm the water for the horses so they wouldn't kill themselves with the ice water they were drinking. The horses must have loved this warmed up water because Doc got a bill the first month of operation for $36.00 and could see right then that it would be far cheaper for the horses to warm the water after they drank it than for him to pay for warming it before they drank it. He sent Don out to disconnect the heater telling Don that "those horses have got to break themselves them-selves of drinking warm water. If they don't they will get finicky and want tea in the water, ana the added costs are just too much at the price horses are these days." So Don went out and shut off the supply of hot water, but the horses are doing fairly well on the plain water that they are now drinking. The only sign of Spring that I have seen to date is the fern growing grow-ing through the Venetian blind at the City Hall. Of course, this sign could be carelessness on the part of Mrs. Heyborne or Bert Parker when they clunk down the blinds. Well, it will be pleasant to sufefr from Spring fever rather than chill blains, Toots. |