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Van Horn Advocate
Cold!
In between!
How in the world are we supposed to take a shower in a motel when we
can't figure out how to regulate the water temperature. Or even how to
get the water to flow.
While on vacation last week, I encountered several different types of
faucets. In the Midland Holiday Inn, I got hot water in the shower and
couldn't figure out how to cool it off. So I took a hot shower.
Then in Houston Hobby Airport's restroom, I soaped my hands and felt
around for the magic handle that turned the faucet on. I never did find
it. The attendant suggested I try another sink, and at that one I got a
flow of water, but am not sure what triggered it.
On the return trip, another woman told me you just have to wait for the
flow. I waited and waited. Then I decided that must be the same faucet
that wouldn't work on my first trip, so moved to another one. I'm still
not sure what made the water flow, but I think it was triggered by the
soap dispenser. I guess you can't wash your hands unless you soap them
first.
When I got to St. Louis, the commode baffled me. I've been startled
before by commodes that flush automatically, either when you get up or
on a timed schedule. But this one didn't flush, and I couldn't see a
handle anywhere. Finally I spotted a small red light on the wall and
pushed it. Nothing. Next to it was a little black button. Bingo! That
was the one.
By far the best faucets I encountered were in my daughter's condominium
in St. Louis. The kitchen sink has one of the simple lever types that
lifts up for flow, turns to the right for cold and to the left for hot.
Same for the bathroom vanity, only the knob is crystal rather than
stainless steel.
Somewhere out there is a maniac who sits up late at night devising
means to baffle us country folk with faucet handles. What was wrong with
the two-handle system, where you turn the left one for hot, the right
one for cold, and both for a mixture that you can regulate?
Gripe though I might, I wouldn't want to go back to the pre-faucet days
when we lowered a bucket into the cistern to draw up cold water that had
to be heated on a wood stove for the weekly bath. Better to turn on the
frustrating faucet, let the hot water run in the bathtub, then wait for
it to cool off enough to bathe in.
I have one more day of vacation, so that will give me one more column.
Don't know what I'll write the remaining 16 weeks in this year.
"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious
thoughts." Psalm 39:23, NIV.
Editor's Note: Peggy McCracken is an Enterprise writer and website manager whose column appears each Tuesday.
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
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324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail: news@pecos.net
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