Like what you see? Then be sure to visit the Allenspark Wind website here, and think about subscribing.
Carpentry
As a summer person, it was easy to rationalize the hiring of various people to do things like fixing the plumbing or putting on a new roof. After all, this is my vacation, and I deserve the rest. This also holds true for women, which accounts for the large number of thriving restaurants in the area.
As a youngster, I provided some of that labor. Now, however, as a resident, if I want to renovate a garage, I have no excuse for not doing it myself. It isn’t as though I don’t have the time.
So, with the help of the friendly folks at the local lumber company, I’m restoring a 60-year-old garage, and turning it into a workshop where I can do even more creative things with wood, stain, paint, glue and other artsy-craftsy things which will probably include stained glass if I live long enough. As a novice builder, however, I’m in a lot of trouble.
For example, did you know that a one-inch thick board is only 3/4 of an inch thick? True! When I pointed this out to my friends at the lumber company, they said, “What do you want, native lumber?”
“Sure,” I said. “Where can I find some?”
I was replacing a few rotten boards in the roof of my otherwise sound roof, and the originals were one inch thick. A full one inch thick. I seem to be alone in wondering why a one inch thick board should be 3/4 of an inch thick.
“What the heck happens with a 1/4 inch board?” I asked the man at the lumber company.
He wasn’t amused.
The problems I’m having with the garage are minor compared to what I’ve gone through to get a telephone and I can’t get any sympathy from anyone, least of all Mountain Bell.
When I tell people about my problems they just roll their eyes and tell me about their problems. They don’t seem to understand that I don’t care about their problems; Mountain Bell insists on putting me on a four-party line and charging me more to call Estes Park from my house than it costs me to call my dear old Mom in California.
When I pointed this out to the telephone company they said, “Yes, that’s probably true.”
Gee whiz, I know it’s true. What I want to know is why the rates defy all the laws of common sense? They can tell us all about tariffs and the FCC, but they can’t tell us why the phone rates don’t make any sense. The other interesting thing is that they keep telling me that a private line isn’t economically feasible.
When I asked when it might become feasible, the man said, “Never.”
A long time, indeed.
I suppose it makes more sense, feasibility-wise, to employ all those people who ask me for my phone number whenever I call anyone other than the 200 folks who live in and around Allenspark. It also strikes me as odd that a fellow not one-half mile from me has a private line, and he’s only here a few weekends out of the year. But he’s a biggy with an insurance company which probably insures Mountain Bell and that may make a difference.
The other thing about party lines is that you can’t use any of the new equipment. Charles Eagle Plume has a portable phone, which is a good idea for a man of Charlie’s age when he lives alone. But you can’t use a portable phone on a party line.
I suppose the phone company would suggest that Eagle Plume should move. I would like to suggest that the phone company move, out of the l9th century and into the 20th.
Columns
© 1985 – 2003, David E. Steiner
Allenspark Wind Columns:
Back to the Hilltop Guild Bazaar
The Estes Park Hardware Store [1988]
On the Death of Otto Walter, Postmaster
A Whine About Telephone Service [1991]
On the Death of Charles Eagle Plume
Rumors About a Visit by the Pope
The Visit of Pope John Paul II
Devolutionizing Big Government
The Estes Park Trail-Gazette Columns:
How Old is Charles Eagle Plume?