Pumps' Perplexities

That summer I was living in a small New England town in the
State of Vermont.....Three days of constant rain had washed
out my exterior painting business and I was sitting home, in
the rented olde farm house, when Dick Gregory called to let me
know he was getting the 'pumper' from the fire house and
we were going to pump out a flooded basement of a house
which was on Route 100 along side the Deerfield River......

My boots were on five minutes later when he arrived with the
fire truck and off we went down the hill toward the river......
We parked in the driveway......He started the 'pumper' and I
took the suction hose down to the basement.....I treaded
very carefully for the first few steps or so, until the water
reached the top of my fireman's boots......When the water
finally filled by boots it was, "the hell with it time".....Just do
your job......

The word came from Fire Chief Corser that we would be
on a 'moments notice' to evacuate.....We we were down stream
from the Jacksonville dam and if the beavers did not hold their
earthen dams further up stream "all hell would break loose"
The 'olde timers' said, "don't worry, the dam held in '29".....
But would the beavers do their job in '72?.....

Well the beavers did their job, the dam held not only in '29
but in '72 and me and Dick saved a basement and house along
side the river......Seeing the TV pictures of the New England
flooding, this olde man can say, "been there, done that"....Pumps