Extension Council Election Durnig January.

During January, the public has an opportunity to cast its vote in a public (but not well-known) election for who will represent their interests on the University Outreach and Extension council in their county.

County extension councils (mandated by state statutes) are the governing body for local educational opportunities provided by University Outreach and Extension. Council members -- both publicly elected and appointed citizens -- work with extension faculty in making decisions concerning extension programs, personnel, council elections and the local extension budget.

The reasons Missourians have for serving on publicly elected University Outreach and Extension county councils are as varied as the people themselves.

Thousands of Missourian's take advantage of extension programs each year. Nearly 2,100 statewide become involved by serving on a county council.

In order to get a ballot, contact your local extension office to find out voting dates, procedures and places.

Looks like ought 2 is over. Ought 3 just doesn’t have the ring, it’s still better than oh 3.

I’m gettin’ ready to ignore all the shows that wanna remind ya of all the stuff that happened in ought 2. Not because of any ill feelings toward the year, just don’t care to hear about it for two days non stop.

I’m figurin’ I’ll hear more by accident than any person should have to on purpose. I know what happened, if I wanna remember it I will.

If ya wanna help me out, tell me what happened yesterday, or twenty years ago, that’s what I have trouble rememberin’.

If ya really wanna get my attention, tell me what’s happenin’ tomorrow. I can bet money on that and make it a real year to remember.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Carthage Printing

by Mari Ann Willis

THIS IS A HAMMER

By Samantha Mazzotta

Unclogging the Tub

Q: My relatives’ holiday visit finally sent our aging tub over the edge: It drains slowly, even after a short shower. How can I fix this? I don’t want to use a chemical drain cleaner. — Melanie F., Fort Myers, Fla.

A: Sounds like it’s time for a post-holiday overhaul! Even brand-new tub drains can suffer from high-volume use, as hair and soap form "gunk" clogs that much faster.

In this case, the whole drain assembly should be addressed. The assembly includes the area from the round drain opening in the bottom of the tub to the trip lever that closes the drain and allows water to fill the tub. A linkage and stopper system runs from the trip lever to the drain; removing this and cleaning it will often clear up the slow-drain problem.

Gather the following tools: a screwdriver, a small wire brush, needle-nose pliers, vinegar and heatproof grease. Keep a plunger handy and bring along a hand auger (or plumber’s snake) just in case. Also, put a couple of rags in your toolkit.

Identify the type of drain assembly your tub has: plunger or pop-up. The plunger type uses a brass plug (the plunger) to stop water from draining; the drain opening is unaffected. The pop-up type is easy to identify because when you push the trip arm to plug the drain, a metal drain stopper covers the drain opening.

With a plunger-type assembly, remove the screws on the trip arm’s cover plate and carefully pull the cover plate off the overflow opening. The entire linkage should come out with it: two linked metal rods with a heavy brass plug dangling at the end.

A pop-up drain is removed in two stages. First, move the trip lever up into the full-open position, grasp the metal stopper in the drain opening at the bottom of the tub, and carefully pull out the stopper and the rocker arm. Second, unscrew and remove the cover plate, gently pulling the linkage out.

Clean the linkage assemblies with the wire brush dipped in vinegar. Lubricate the assembly (except the stopper and rocker arm) with heatproof grease.

At this point, you can also adjust the range of the linkage, which will help the drain close completely. The top rod of the linkage (the "lift rod") can be screwed up or down — down increases the range of motion, while up decreases it. Give this a try before reassembling everything.