The
fiber cable that is being laid through the valley this year reminds me
of how things used to be.
In the old
days the phone only went to Boonville. Beyond that, we had what was called,
"the farmer's line", which was a community built and operated phone line
from Boonville to Navarro, somewhere.
The
community line only went along 128. Each group of neighbors was responsible
for the wire and polls to their houses, and everyone together took turns
maintaining the basic Hwy. 128 line.
That "Farmer's
Line" is my model for this site. They both require a lot of cooperation
and interaction.
It was a party
line as I remember. If you picked up the phone and someone was talking,
you had to wait your turn. In the winter, it would often go dead as falling
tree branches busted the wires. This meant jumping in the truck and driving
slowly along, from pole to pole, looking for the break.
I can't remember
ever actually going out in a storm to fix it. I don't think we thought
the phone was quite that important. We would wait for a break in the weather,
and then go.
Today, we
probably feel like it's worth going out in the rain to stay connected.
Not us personally, of course, but certainly for the people who fix the
phone, the television and the electricity.
Still,
it was exciting to have the phone ring. Especially in winter. Our entertainment
was pretty much limited to the arrival of the Monkey Wards catalogue and
news about how high the river was getting.
Well, I'm
still interested in how high that river gets but now I'm also interested
in who else wants to know.
