It's Nice To Be Appreciated

First I helped install the lights on the Sunday School building (that's when I handed the tools to Ed). Then, I fixed them when they did not work (that's when I turned on the light switch). Yesterday, I switched out the motion sensors for photo cells so the lights would come on and stay on at dusk...and it worked! I informed everybody in the office that I was now a Junior Electrician, Level II. When I looked in my box this morning, I found this name badge that Tammy created for me (click on image to enlarge). It's nice to be appreciated!

Junior Electician

I am adding the title "Junior Electrician" to my job description. Yesterday, I found two problems and fixed the wiring on the church trailer. Today, I fixed the new lights on the Sunday School Building.

Tuesday evening, I helped (read: handed tools to) Ed Siverson put new motion sensor lights on the four corners of the Sunday School building. We wanted to test them when we were done, but they did not come on. We thought, perhaps, since they also had light sensors that we had to wait until dark for them to come on.

I'm a bit embarrassed to say so, but I forgot to check the lights Tuesday night to see if they came on. Even worse, when I did remember to check them on Wednesday night, they did not work. It seemed our security light wires had become a casualty of a 'wiring incident' we had a couple months ago.

After thinking about the problem all night and what had been done to the building to fix the wiring problems, I thought I knew where the problem might be. Now, I don't want to brag, but I figured this out on my own without any formal electrician's training. I thought it would be easiest to describe how I fixed the issue with a picture...so here it is:

And sure enough, the lights work now!

Humor

The graveside service just barely finished, when there was a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tremendous bolt of lightning, accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance.

The little old man looked at the preacher and calmly said, 'Well......she's there.'

Don't Be Silly!

All At Once

So, today was an interesting day. Right now, I am sitting in my office with a new 8,000 BTU window unit blowing cold air. It took about 3 hours to cool the room. Amanda is sleeping with an old window unit in her window, and it too is blowing cold air. Brooke is asleep in our room with an extension cord going from the living room to an old window unit that only blows cool air now. In the living room, we another new 8,000 BTU window unit blowing cold air, and in the kitchen, we have an extension cord so the refrigerator can keep running.

As they do in the TV show Flashpoint, let's go back 5 hours.

At 5:00PM, Brooke called to ask if I was coming home. She said the lights in the house kept dimming and the window unit AC in our bedroom was having problems because the power was surging. She said it was hot in the house, too (it's always hot at this time of the year, but it was hotter than usual). I was home in 5 minutes only to find the AC unit outside NOT working. I came inside to check on the power surges, and that's when I found out that one of our breakers must have blown, too. No, the breaker did not "trip", it blew. That is, it said "ON" but nobody's home (and the lights aren't on). Yes, I turned it off and then back on several times and that did not fix the problem.

And that's how we got to where we are now with the 4 window units and two extension cords. We could go to my parents' house in Duncanville or our pastor's house, but we've cooled off now and want to stay in our home. Guess we'll see what kind of 'good news' the electrician and AC guy bring tomorrow. Over the phone, the electrician said it sounded like our outside AC unit locked up and the amp draw drawing to start it probably messed with the breaker. Praying for a fix that does not require a new AC right now!

Back Yard Squirrel

This is one of our back yard buddies. It's hard to tell from this perspective, but he's literally "hanging out" in our tree in the back yard. The first time I saw him do this, I thought he was dead. He's got his "arm pit" propped up on the edge of the knot hole and his little leg is just dangling. He's done this for two days now so I had to take a picture today.

12 of 12 May 2010

#1 - 7:18 AM - Finishing up some homework before school.

#2 - 7:20 AM - Went out to feed the turtles. Grumpy had crawled up on the brick wall and was going for a morning walk.

#3 - 7:43 AM - Making Amanda's lunch for the day...including the lunch napkin poem for the day.

#4 - 10:12 AM - Second day Dad came out to help me reside the church lawn mower shed.

#5 - 12:48 PM - Look at me...Mr. Power Tools!

#6 - 12:50 PM - Still working on the mower shed. Second day Dad helped me work...second day threat of rain came out of nowhere!

#7 - 6:23 PM - Siding finished and all the stuff has been put back in the shed. All that is left is painting (my favorite part...NOT!)

#8 - 7:38 PM - OK, it's not the coolest looking hat, but it definitely keeps me cooler while I'm working outside. I went looking for one of these hats after sun burning my neck one too many times.

#9 - 9:20 PM - Nightly ritual...praying with Amanda (and doing some extra talking, too!)

#10 - 9:24 PM - Brooke watching some TV while the puppies chill. I think she's waiting for me to finish praying with Amanda so we can watch one or two of our Wednesday night shows.

#11 - 10:20 PM - Gotta love DVRs! Sitting down to watch my favorite TV show.

#12 - 1:06 AM - Cutting out a new set of bookmarks for my 10 List Bible reading.