I’ve mentioned before that our landlines is out. On the base, the “hold” light was blinking, and the display read “home line busy” all the time. When I picked up, I could hear a slight crackling. Basically, our phone was acting as if it were on hold, a feature we’ve never had to use, and coyodnt hang up.

We suspected a cat may have sprayed on a phone jack somewhere. The one in my husband’s room being a prime suspect. At the suggestion of my brother, I traced that line in the basement to the hub, and unhooked it.

No change.

The next day, I decided to find and trace the line from the upstairs jack, which we have never used. I did that, yesterday evening.

I also tried moving the base and hooking it up in the living room. That jack has a device hooked up with a voice that announces the number that is calling. Unfortunately, before we were able to barricade the living room, the cats knocked it over, and now it speaks Spanish. I don’t see how to change it!

The jack, however, fits two phone lines, and is well above the floor, so it’s easy to reach. Unlike the jack in my room, which requires crawling under a table.

After unhooking the upstairs jack, there was some change. Sometimes, the display would read “no line,” and the hold light stopped blinking. When activating the phone, however, I heard the same crackling.

Then it would switch back to “home line busy” and the hold light would start blinking again.

After a while, I got tired of crawling under my table, so I set the base up in the living room again, and left it there. It’s very visible right now.

Then, after going to the post office this afternoon (alas; the heat lamp did not come in, yet), I went into the living room, walked past the phone, and did a double take.

The hold light was no longer blinking.

The display screen was inactive. No message showing.

I picked up, and there was a dial tone!

I test called my cell phone, and my pocket started ringing.

Our land line is working again!

So now I’m thinking that it may have been an external problem, and something got fixed somewhere. That’s just a guess, though.

So very strange!

I’m glad it’s working again, though! Even if I have no idea why!

The Re-Farmer