Psychic Dog Story

(courtesy, a reader in Austin)

An elderly lady phoned her telephone company to report that her

telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on

the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always moaned

right before the phone rang. The telephone repairman proceeded

to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile elderly lady.

He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and

dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away,

but then the dog moaned loudly and the telephone began to ring.

Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire via a steel chain and collar.

2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.

3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the phone number was called.

4. After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate on himself and the ground.

5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.

Which goes to show that some problems can be fixed by pissing and moaning.

Remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.