incommunicado

Well, not completely. I have the internet, thank God! But something is wrong with our telephone, and our cell phones are useless at our house (we live in a big limestone valley).

Initially, I checked out the phone junction box outside, and determined that the wiring the previous owners used to run from the box to the house was, in fact, interior wiring. The jack coming out the wall leaves some to be desired, as well, since it isn't connected to the wall and just hangs from the wiring. So, for $2.50, I bought 50 feet of exterior phone cable and for another $2.50 a new jack. Easy and cheap fix.

Well, a cheap and easy fix if you are not Mrs. Murphy, and your family's law always applies...

BUT, I have been Mrs. Murphy for many years now, and I know full well that the law always applies, so before going to all of the trouble to pull the wiring and install the jack, I decided to take a short length outside, install the jack, and see if it worked. It did NOT! It was so crackly, I could hardly hear the dial tone.

So I called the phone company, and the repairman just left. Turns out that the cable between the box and our house has to be replaced. At leat I didn't run that cable for nothing! I will do it, it needs to be replaced, but sometime when I'm less booked up.

Sign in the local Hardware Hank: Husbands choosing paint colors require a signed note from their wife.