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Author
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Topic: Cast Your Crackers Among a Soggy Field
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Crow Woman
Knows what it's all about
Member # 157
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posted January 14, 2004 04:26 AM
Yes… Winter has arrived. The cold, crisp snap is in the air as it surrounds us like an old friend of memories. Times of ice skating on a frozen pond with friends. Remembering cross country skiing through the snow covered canvas fields or mountain trails. Smoke is seen billowing up into the skies as heated fire places or wood stoves offer comfort to chilled hands and bones.
Wildlife is more visible in in the landscape with the white back drop. The hustle and bustle of planting and harvesting are just a distant memory now. Families seek comfort indoors as they plan their next summer vacation. Farmers contemplate which seed they will purchase for their springtime crops as time grows nearer.
Soon, as sure as there are the four seasons here in Pennsylvania, Spring will reach us. The white canvas will be replaced with a lush carpet of green grasses. Springs will bubble from the grounds as Winter’s frost disappears. Some will be seen bursting from high above on the mountain sides as the sounds of a mighty waterfall are heard…
Oh wait…
That’s no spring, that was just the pipe in the second story bathroom bursting from the minus 0 temperatures outside, beating against my outer wall. Hear the rapids roar as the massive waters flush down through two ceilings, finally finding an exit point through the cellar drain.
Listening to the popping and snapping of the light fixture in the kitchen ceiling is almost as comparable to the exploding trees in the forest from the cold. Oh to ponder… Do we plug the drain in the cellar and allow the water to freeze offering that once faded memory of an ice skating and hockey rink to come to fruition?
No… we do not allow ourselves that pleasure. We search among our treasured keepsakes stored in the basement as we find the main water shut off valve. Then, we make a list of calls to make. Plumber is first, then insurance company, followed by an electrician, search for a shop-vac to borrow and finally after tearing out carpets we line up a contractor to replace the damage.
Yes indeed, Winter has arrived with fury. In all the chaos, I found a bit of comfort. The plumber gently told me, I was not the only one to be paying time and a half for my weekend service call. With that news, I was at peace. I set and I ponder yet another question, to cast your bread upon the waters… would that not be the same if you toss your crackers to a soggy field?
Crow Woman ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Sheri L Baity
Lord, Please give me peace, because if you give me strength, I might beat someone to death!
Posts: 720 | From: Covington | Registered: Mar 2003
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Rich Higgins
unknown comic
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posted January 14, 2004 04:44 AM
Sheri, I hope you didn't lose anything irreplaceable. I hope insurance covers everything.
Perspective, Medicine Woman, people are dieing of thirst in the Arizona desert.
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Crow Woman
Knows what it's all about
Member # 157
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posted January 14, 2004 05:19 AM
Professor Higgins... message from Medicine Woman Crow...
Have water... will travel
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Sheri L Baity
Lord, Please give me peace, because if you give me strength, I might beat someone to death!
Posts: 720 | From: Covington | Registered: Mar 2003
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted January 14, 2004 06:26 AM
Sheri,
If it's any consolation. It happens out here in the middle of the desert too.
I went hunting with Bruce a couple of weeks ago and came home just after dark to find what no one else in the house had noticed all day. The pressure gauge on my water line had frozen and broke the night before. Fortunately it was outside, and didn't damage anything.
The only bad part for me, is that my house is solar powered, and my well is my single biggest draw on my electrical system. It was all the solar panels could do to keep up with the well all day, they didn't store a thing. If I'd have got home an hour later, the house would have been out of power. ( I bet they'd have noticed something wrong then ) With the constant leak, the well was kicking on every few minutes and I had to run the generator long into the night, and get up early to run it again. Then stand outside the local hardware store waiting for the owner to finish his breakfast in the donut shop next door so I could buy a new pressure gauge.
I got smart this time. This is the third time that gauge has frozen over and broke. So I also bought a threaded plug for when it happens again.
What do you bet I lose the plug before next Winter? ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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tonlocus
Knows what it's all about
Member # 254
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posted January 14, 2004 06:26 AM
Sorry to hear of your troubles Sheri. My in-laws still live in Tunkhannock. Ah I remember it well. The heat tape on the pipes. The way the inside of your nose freezes up. I really miss the scenery but the weather you can have. I still visit every year or two, but only in the summer. Good luck with the repairs.
Posts: 76 | From: Phoenix, AZ | Registered: Dec 2003
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Crow Woman
Knows what it's all about
Member # 157
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posted January 14, 2004 10:28 AM
Rich... nothing got damaged that can't be replaced thank goodness. The insurance will cover everything except the deductible ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Tim... now I just know if you are anything like me, you won't be able to find that part next year when you need it I can't tell you how many times I have done that. Yea, isn't it amazing how sometimes the rest of the family can NOT notice something so important. Believe me, you are not alone there either
Tony, when you plan on coming back this way again, give me a shout. I'm only about 2 hours to the west off of Route 6. Could entertain the idea of coming to the farm and hunting. ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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Sheri L Baity
Lord, Please give me peace, because if you give me strength, I might beat someone to death!
Posts: 720 | From: Covington | Registered: Mar 2003
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Barndog
Knows what it's all about
Member # 255
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posted January 14, 2004 10:45 AM
Tim
We had the same problem growing up. We got one of those cheap pet heaters. Works as long as the power stays on.
Posts: 185 | From: Idaho | Registered: Dec 2003
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Krustyklimber
prefers the bunny hugger pronunciation: ky o tee
Member # 72
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posted January 14, 2004 11:25 AM
Sheri,
So sorry to hear of your disaster. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
I wish I was closer, I'd do the carpets and cover the contractor/electrician end of it...
This is the bad part about the internet, I feel so un-neighborly not being able to fix it personally.
Krusty 
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Think about how stupid the average person is, then realize that half of them are stupider than that!
Posts: 1912 | From: Deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia | Registered: Jan 2003
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tonlocus
Knows what it's all about
Member # 254
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posted January 14, 2004 02:42 PM
Sheri, that sounds like fun but I usually don't have time to do any hunting on those trips back east. Between driving around visiting my family (big Italian family) and then my wifes family (not so big), I need a vacation from the vacation.
Posts: 76 | From: Phoenix, AZ | Registered: Dec 2003
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varmit hunter
Knows what it's all about
Member # 37
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posted January 14, 2004 02:58 PM
Sheri, Remember we said we would not call till we had good news.
The plague is still here. So don't stay by the phone. The trip to the dentist was a disaster, And we lost Marilyn yesterday.
I certainly hope you get to make the first call.
Ronnie
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Make them pay for the wind.
Posts: 932 | From: Orange,TX | Registered: Jan 2003
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Norm
Knows what it's all about
Member # 240
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posted January 14, 2004 04:22 PM
Man, what a disappointing thread, in reading about the trials and tribulations that are being faced.
May we all find the silver lining in those black clouds that frequent our lives.
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Carpe Diem
Posts: 778 | From: Phx AZ | Registered: Oct 2003
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varmit hunter
Knows what it's all about
Member # 37
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posted January 14, 2004 04:48 PM
Norm. We are going to be O.K. Anyone that hunts Coyotes. Has to beleve in that Silver lining. Some of us are just sitting on a bad stand, But the wind will shift.
Ronnie
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Make them pay for the wind.
Posts: 932 | From: Orange,TX | Registered: Jan 2003
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Crow Woman
Knows what it's all about
Member # 157
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posted January 15, 2004 02:02 AM
Tony... I'll steal ya away for one day, your wife can stay here and guard the hot tub if she would like!
Krusty... Thank you! It really is the thought that counts
Ronnie... Stand By I'm getting the big guns out this morning! Me, I can just write about my bad stands for my column in the newspaper like the article I wrote above. They were on my case because I haven't submitted anything for my column lately and they wanted a story, sooo I gave them a real life story of my weekend Turned out, they loved it!
But my friends on bad stands... Well, I just won't take that lying down (hmmm... well... maybe one of them I will ) anyway, The Crows Will Fly and the Silver Linings will come if I have to sew them and mail them myself!
Norm... Amen
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Sheri L Baity
Lord, Please give me peace, because if you give me strength, I might beat someone to death!
Posts: 720 | From: Covington | Registered: Mar 2003
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