Shocking...
I haven't been writing much. That either means I'm learning to adapt and internalize all of the crazy and writing about it isn't as cathartic as it used to be or I'm gaining wisdom in silence. The first thought scares me because it means I've adapted to the mess my life is and accept it as my normal. The second thought is a comfort of sorts. It means that I know my life is nuts but accept it as what God has for me and being quiet about it means that I've accepted that.
Shutting up about stuff is new for me but necessary.
The new year isn't starting off well. I had such high hopes. They lasted a week.
I haven't seen the immigrant, aka my former mother-in-law Miss June, since Christmas eve. I heard from her once when she asked me to do something for her I was unable to do at that moment. I have a wireless hotspot I use for interweb service and it got caught in the sheets and washed when I was in a hurry to get things done last Saturday.
Keeping busy during the holidays was easy. I had things to do in the house. It's been so long since I have written, I can't remember mentioning finding some used love seats on KSL that really go well with the interior of the house. New blinds and curtains were an inexpensive upgrade to make the place less like a house and more like a home. The new blinds in the formal living room really change the look of the room and I'm very pleased with them.
I pained the laundry room. I repaired my dryer. And yesterday, I got to meet a nice young man who charged me a fortune to move the main breaker out of my house and onto the side of the house. The story goes like this:
I was working on the dryer and had put it back together but missed putting on a wire. When I plugged it in, the plug arced and I unplugged it quickly. I had to buy a new switch to replace the one I fried and a new squirrel cage blower for the dryer. When I tried to undo the old squirrel cage on Wednesday, the shaft has become a permanent part of the dryer motor, and I got to buy a new one of those, too.
Anyway, the circuit breaker panel in my home is old. The breaker for the dryer should have blown but it didn't. The switch melted instead which prevented the house from burning down. I heard a buzzing sound in the panel so I started tripping and resetting breakers. That was on Saturday.
Back to Wednesday... I replaced the squirrel cage and motor on the dryer and when I put it back together it didn't work. I was out in the garage looking for more tools and my volt meter when my downstairs roommate let me know that the stove had just quit working down there. Great.
I need to interrupt my story for a minute and tell you that I have the oddest relationship with someone and it's been weighing heavy on my mind for about the last couple of weeks. I received some news that really bothered me and I've been focused more on that than on what I should have been doing. There was some of that going on Wednesday when I was trying to fix stuff.
I knew that the next time the main circuit breaker in my house tripped, it would be the last time. It was. I flipped circuit breakers like crazy trying to get the stove working downstairs again to no avail and instead of thinking, I was upset and tripped the main breaker for the last time. It was going to have to be done anyway, so no big deal, but I should have thought first and figured out if there was a bad breaker.
Now I have a larger problem, which is there is only power to half the house. I do the next necessary thing and call an electrician. He calls me back and has me text him some photos of the old breaker. Here are some words you never want to hear: "yeah, we're not gonna find one of those." Anyway he shows up about five and lets me know that he can swap out the panel but....
I hate that word, by the way...
He would have to call Rocky Mountain Power, who would be happy to stop by and disconnect the power to my house and remove the meter from the base but they won't reconnect it until the meter box is brought up to code and that is gonna cost $2500.
Ouch.
Moving the main breaker solved part of my problem. The house is now up to code. And soon, we'll have full power again. Right now, we're missing some removed jumper wires that need to be reinstalled. That will happen shortly. The house is safer but the ugly side of my house is uglier now with the addition of several electrical boxes and conduits. And once that happens, I will be able to figure out why the stove downstairs isn't working.
And when all of that is said and done and I get home from work tonight, maybe, just maybe I can plug the dryer in and dry a load of clothes.
Shutting up about stuff is new for me but necessary.
The new year isn't starting off well. I had such high hopes. They lasted a week.
I haven't seen the immigrant, aka my former mother-in-law Miss June, since Christmas eve. I heard from her once when she asked me to do something for her I was unable to do at that moment. I have a wireless hotspot I use for interweb service and it got caught in the sheets and washed when I was in a hurry to get things done last Saturday.
Keeping busy during the holidays was easy. I had things to do in the house. It's been so long since I have written, I can't remember mentioning finding some used love seats on KSL that really go well with the interior of the house. New blinds and curtains were an inexpensive upgrade to make the place less like a house and more like a home. The new blinds in the formal living room really change the look of the room and I'm very pleased with them.
I pained the laundry room. I repaired my dryer. And yesterday, I got to meet a nice young man who charged me a fortune to move the main breaker out of my house and onto the side of the house. The story goes like this:
I was working on the dryer and had put it back together but missed putting on a wire. When I plugged it in, the plug arced and I unplugged it quickly. I had to buy a new switch to replace the one I fried and a new squirrel cage blower for the dryer. When I tried to undo the old squirrel cage on Wednesday, the shaft has become a permanent part of the dryer motor, and I got to buy a new one of those, too.
Anyway, the circuit breaker panel in my home is old. The breaker for the dryer should have blown but it didn't. The switch melted instead which prevented the house from burning down. I heard a buzzing sound in the panel so I started tripping and resetting breakers. That was on Saturday.
Back to Wednesday... I replaced the squirrel cage and motor on the dryer and when I put it back together it didn't work. I was out in the garage looking for more tools and my volt meter when my downstairs roommate let me know that the stove had just quit working down there. Great.
I need to interrupt my story for a minute and tell you that I have the oddest relationship with someone and it's been weighing heavy on my mind for about the last couple of weeks. I received some news that really bothered me and I've been focused more on that than on what I should have been doing. There was some of that going on Wednesday when I was trying to fix stuff.
I knew that the next time the main circuit breaker in my house tripped, it would be the last time. It was. I flipped circuit breakers like crazy trying to get the stove working downstairs again to no avail and instead of thinking, I was upset and tripped the main breaker for the last time. It was going to have to be done anyway, so no big deal, but I should have thought first and figured out if there was a bad breaker.
Now I have a larger problem, which is there is only power to half the house. I do the next necessary thing and call an electrician. He calls me back and has me text him some photos of the old breaker. Here are some words you never want to hear: "yeah, we're not gonna find one of those." Anyway he shows up about five and lets me know that he can swap out the panel but....
I hate that word, by the way...
He would have to call Rocky Mountain Power, who would be happy to stop by and disconnect the power to my house and remove the meter from the base but they won't reconnect it until the meter box is brought up to code and that is gonna cost $2500.
Ouch.
Moving the main breaker solved part of my problem. The house is now up to code. And soon, we'll have full power again. Right now, we're missing some removed jumper wires that need to be reinstalled. That will happen shortly. The house is safer but the ugly side of my house is uglier now with the addition of several electrical boxes and conduits. And once that happens, I will be able to figure out why the stove downstairs isn't working.
And when all of that is said and done and I get home from work tonight, maybe, just maybe I can plug the dryer in and dry a load of clothes.
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