Saving drowned cell phones with rice

What would you do if you dropped your cell phone in the toilet? No, no. Hasn’t happened to me (yet).

But about a month ago, I was wet-wade fishing upstream from my brother on Rock Creek when I heard a big splash. Thinking he’d hooked a big fish, I turned to watch but instead saw him trying to stand, then stumble, then fall, then try to stand, then stumble, then finally crash into the water.

He’d obviously lost his footing, and by the time I started downstream, he’d made his way back to shore. Physically he was fine, but wet. Financially, he was hurting because he was carrying his compact camera in his shorts pocket.

And mentally, he was XZ@%# (reading that “not happy”) because earlier in the summer he had waded into a swimming pool with a camera in the pocket of his swimming shorts.

“Got any rice?” he asked. “Worked last time.”

Coupla weeks later, he called from home and told me, after a week buried in white rice, the camera had dried out and was working fine.

Matter of fact, at a wedding reception the same night Don was baptized in Rock Creek, a friend told us he once rolled over on his couch and his cell phone dropped perfectly into a glass of water. Buried the phone in rice a few days and it worked fine.

So, what’s the reason for this story at this time? OK, OK, so wife Nan ran her cell phone through the washing machine. OK, OK, so now it’s clean.

Overnight in rice, the camera flash lit but the phone was dead. Three more days and the phone turned on but wouldn’t work properly. I read on the ‘Net not to turn on a recently submerged phone or camera. Remove the battery, then bury battery and device in rice.

Actually, it was time to replace her phone anyway and, so far, all she lost are contacts.

Note: And if you drop your expensive DSL into water? That’s a topic for another time, but complete submersion in alcohol is one possible alternative.