I am canceling my service with Comcast. I have the $4.99 charge to cover me in case I need to have a service call. Well in April I did have a service call as one of my two phone lines was not working. The technician who came out broke my phone and did not tell me that he broke it. I found that out much later -- it should have been a hint when he did not want me to hold the phone. Then he or Comcast put a $70.00 charge on my account. When I called Comcast, I told them about this, they admitted that it should not have been there and they told me that they would credit my account on the next bill, but that I was expected to pay it and they would issue a credit. I need to check the statutes but I don't think you can collect on disputed charges, especially when you are aware that YOU made the mistake. For the $70.00 that should not have been billed, they interrupted the service. I refuse to pay it and have notified my local jurisdiction and the FCC. If you are looking for a cable or internet or phone provider, don't walk past Comcast, run as fast and as far as you can.

World War II began in '39 when I was 10, the hired farmhand went into the army and what farm work Dad and this lad and a couple of younger brothers got done, got done: the rest ... just didn't. Mom had got sick a few years earlier and was in psych. hosp., and we had a housekeeper, with help from 80-year-old Grandma, after Grandpa died. We had cows to feed and milk and horses and pigs to feed ... and to clean up the residue that they provided, both behind the tied ones and in the box stalls where some of the young cattle, and pigs, ran free ... so two-feet deep manure was part of the game, and, though it was smelly, I don't remember being seriously repelled by it ... so getting some manure on hands, or even face, didn't bother me too much. Once or twice a year we had to pitch the manure from the pile behind the barn into the manure spreader, to have a team of horses pull to the field and spread. I've heard said that (certain) clergymen and a manure pile have something in common - get a bunch of them together and they can raise a lot of stink ... but spread them out over the land and they do a lot of good. We had land to cultivate and seed, then harvest hay (pitching the clumps by hand) and grain, first with a binder that made sheaves that were carried by teams and wagons, with a group of neighbours changing works to a threshing machine beside the barn, later with a combine harvester. We cut wood (from dying trees) from our woodlot in winter, cut it into short lengths and hauled it to a woodshed at the back of our house, or into a room in the basement next to the furnace, then split the chunks into smaller pieces with an axe. When I wondered what chore got my goat the worst, I had to think a bit ... then decided that it was carrying armsful of wood from the woodshed at the back of the house through the summer kitchen into the regular kitchen, where we dumped it into a wooden box behind the kitchen range. Seemed to take a lot of nagging on the part of the female components of the household to get the job done. Year-round, but especially in winter, when the range provided heat for much of the house as well as for cooking. And heating wash-water, to carry by bucket to the (wringer) washer in the back kitchen: bath-water as well - we boys had our weekly bath in a round, galvanized tub behind the stove ... and when one took water from the reservoir at the back of the stove to put into the tub, if one forgot to add some more cold water to the reservoir for heating ... ... one heard about it from the one(s) who were to take a bath later (and, if I recall correctly, we didn't throw all of the water down the kitchen sink after each one bathed). Three brothers, no sister, so there wasn't the business of being exiled from the kitchen for a period on Saturday nights. ole joyfuelled ... who bathes a bit more frequently, these days ... and washes undies, occasionally P.S. Which is smarter - a pig? Or a cow? When I was young, Dad built platforms of planks in the corner of several pig pens, and we'd throw a forkful of straw into that platform ... and when we were running around, playing, we could run into the pig pen and lay down on that platform, as the pigs kept it clean. Pigs'll keep the place where they sleep clean ... and do their dirty job elsewhere, and eat in a different location, given the opportunity. While a cow ... will shi! in it's own bed ... manger ... or anywhere. Pigs are clean - they make good, and intelligent pets. o j

Just to be clear, that is NOT my house. That house is about 1.5 miles from mine, in a different town.

Servicers hate boxed-in laundry appliances and may charge more for repair jobs. Some may refuse to do service unless the homeowner removes the appliance for access. Keep in mind that proper diagnosis/testing to determine a problem and post-repair testing to confirm the fix requires the appliance be connected to power, and often water supply/drain for a washer. The machine would need to be taken to a garage or patio with water and electric available or to an off-site location if the boxing-in impedes power/water access in the laundry room with the machine pulled far enough out of the boxing for service.