Sassie Makes Precinct History

Tuesday was voting day, and the way it looked, we were going to have to get a boat to make the precinct. The only thing being worse than us, was being our neighbor. We both shared a water problem.


I called Alaska, Ohio, and New York, besides having to dig up a leaky underground hose and ran into problems, ... while my neighbor had a huge water problem. Planned on spending a lot of time this last weekend calling, but, ... alas, first things come first.

"The ball is wet, Dad," my son said as he tossed it to me on the west lawn.

"Wet? What are your talking about?"

Yikes!! We've got a small pond here. There was a pool of clear water covering all the ground under the tree. Huh? How could this be?

"It's the washing machine water, Dad!"

"Nyet! Can't be, ... but what would a water line be doing over there!"

Our house is almost a hundred years old, and I had figured that we had already established where the pipes were, and one shouldn't be there. Will work on it tomorrow.

Our son and his wife had felt very badly because they voted Green the 2000 election. Not this time.

Woke up the next morning, and Marcella had already dug up the pipe area, but couldn' see the pipe for the water. I suggested it was deep enough. We'll get water fillups and turn the water off. Can't get parts on Sunday.

Next morning, Monday, there was a dry hole with the exposed water-line. My first attempt at splicing it, was a total failure. The old water line split, when I tucked the lines together with a metal splicer. SO, ... I had to splice in a whole foot of line, which meant another drive to Fort Cobb. Usually, I would have a small drip, drip, which would stop because of the hard water build-up which shut down the leaks. While I was doing this, my neighbor was drilling another well, because his had caved in. 18 dollars a foot, down to 90 feet. They ran through three water areas.

After going over and giving the driller some advice, jawing with a helper and my neighbor while we watched the drill push up sand and water, ... my neighbor gave me some advice about the BUSH growing near my water pump. BUSHes and wells don't go together very well, he assured me. ... I headed back over to my place. I go in and make some calls to New York.

"Oklahoma! What are you doing calling us? From Oklahoma?"

"Volunteering on the phone bank. Making sure you will vote tomorrow."

"Yes, we're planning on it."

"What do you think is the most important issue this year?"

"It's time to kick people out, when they start messing with Social Security. That affects me. You start messing with Social Security, it's time for heads to roll."

"I agree."

Then we talked a bit about weather and I wished him good luck. I didn't get to call as much as I wanted to, but I did quite a few, usually leaving word on answering machines.

Then I go back out and finish up the line. The old line is brittle, so I put the two splices in the old lines and cut the new hose with enough extra, so I could bend the last hitch in place. Tightened down and went out and turned on the water. PERFECTION. Now, the rest of my day will be spent on the bed with thermophore on my back.

Marcella comes home and we go to vote about 6:30 pm. I took Sassie hoping that she might get to vote, but alas, she was not registered. As we parked, an older couple who I know, but I can't remember their names were coming out the door. I had put an A FolkMaster Suzuki harmonica in my pocket. They said something about dogs not being able to vote.




"We're going to try anyway, because Sassy is special dog. She's the greatest Blues dog in the world. Would you like to hear her?"

"I have seen a dog on TV sing, but never one in person," the lady says.

"Okay, Sassy will sing, "This Land Is Your Land."

I pull out my harp and started playing. I was holding Sassy under my left arm. As I started playing, Sassy started singing big a loud. She looked up at the stars and sang like she had an audience of thousands. The couple couldn't help from laughing.

"Would you agree that she has to be the greatest Blues dog in the world?"

"You should put her on the Dave Letterman Show."

So we went in to vote. I have the dubious record of ruinning (spoiling) 2 ballots and taking 3 to vote - precinct record. The ladies were in there waiting for us. They wondered why we hadn't voted. First things, first, though. Sassie again sang for the ladies. One of the ladies said, "You should put her on utube.com. Good idea.


Sadly, it was true, they didn't have Sassy's name down as a registered voter.

The ballot had questions on the back side and the vote for people on the front side. I always vote for one Republican and I missed him, so I had to spoil a ballet. Got it right the second time.


There were rumors on the Internet that some Oklahoma machines counted backward, but that is absolutely not true. The Oklahoma ballot leaves a paper trail. When the ballot goes through, the voter can see the machine count the ballot.

Ours is a small precinct, so the number was, like, ... 134. So no waiting in line. The ladies had fun with Sassy, the greatest Blues dog in he world. I tried to get her to read the ballot, but she couldn't.

The Senate and the House is now controlled by the Democrats, just as most political pundits anticipated.

Me? I am still using the thermophore, trying to get over fixing the pipe. We can now get ready to go see Nathan and Eunice get married in North, whoops, South Korea. Eunice is already there and is sooo excited. Pray for me, because I cannot walk very far. I will take my cane. But ... that will be handled by another blog.

(C) Dale Hill 2006

And the lady from Alaska, couldn't believe she was getting called from Oklahoma. By the way, it is chilly up there.