We ended up getting two trucks come over, and two guys checking the lines.

This time, the problem was definitely inside.

They checked the hub in the basement, which was working, but they noted the condition of the wires.

The problem turned out to be the jack in my room. Badly corroded.

Likely from the kittens going behind the bins and making a mess. However, they debated replacing the entire line, because the whole thing is pretty old. It’s not really accessible from the basement at that end anymore, though, so they left it.

The jack was replaced, and the line is working now.

As we were chatting, we, of course, started talking cats. I mentioned they were mostly rescues, and how hard its been to adopt them out.

One of the guys said he and his girlfriend were talking about getting a cat. I ended up giving him my contact info and telling him to feel free to pass it on, if he knew others who were looking.

The other guy was saying he’d love to have a cat, but had to adopt his Bengal (!!!) out when he moved. He’s looking to move to a new apartment that allows pets, and is eager to have a cat again. While he was outside, Syndol had came over and tried to climb him! He was so stoked about that.

So not only do we have a working phone again, but potential leads on cat adoptions.

After confirming the line at both jacks, one guy made sure all the phones were hooked up, including the corded phones. “Hang on to those!” he advised me. The rotary dial phone, in particular, is a great backup phone. We certainly were glad to have it!

I’m so glad they were able to come over so soon. It’s a slow time of year, and they had basically been sitting in their vans, waiting for a call.

Now we just have to keep the main phone base in the cat free zone.

The Re-Farmer