It has been a tradition with me since the middle of the 1980's when finally I had my phone jack changed to accommodate push button phones and, as we see next, the answering machine. The outgoing message on the machine is done day by day usually referring to a historical event or birthday for the date.

For today's posting the 1884 birthday of Harry Truman is noted: If not the buck, the dime stops here, so please leave a message. Pause to let the laughter subside.

It was in 1984 I was on temporary assignment at Van Nuys Middle School and a gentleman from the phone company came to change the ever-popular pay phone in the hall of the Aministration Building from the iconic ten cents to twenty. Lightened from my shift being nearly over, I noted to the Office Manager this changing of the guard. Usually cheerful, Mary snarled about this.

Yes, change has proceeded since then. Dimes, dollars, ducats---the Big Money says, "How quaint, a land line."

And occasionally a phone book is given a peep over here.

A considerable use of paper: Cue "I Talk To The Trees".