Colors of Dining Out

SUMMARY: Wordless Wednesday

>>  Visit the Wordless Wednesday site; lots of blogs. <<

I Call This Post: There is No Solution To A Problem That Is So Simple And Obvious That Someone With A Little Bit of Knowledge Can't Overlook It

SUMMARY: Electrical repair

I went outside to plug in my one string of Christmas lights for my garage this year (out of the hundred or so strings that I own), and the plug on the right outside garage wall didn't work. (I tested the lights elsewhere, so I knew they were OK.) 

See, when I bought the house, I had an electrician add a dedicated circuit with outlets in handy places specifically to make it easy to display Christmas lights to my heart's deepest desire.  And now it wasn't working.  I knew that the first outlet before the circuit breaker panel is a GFCI^* and that, sometimes, like if there's too much moisture or some other insult to its integrity, it'll switch itself off.

So I pushed its little Reset button, then its little Test button, then Reset again, and nothing happened. That could mean that the GFCI is broken, or it's possible that that could mean that the circuit breaker itself had flipped itself off (or was defective) so the GFCI had no power with which to reset itself. So I went to the circuit breaker panel, where I cleverly, years ago, clearly labeled which breaker belonged to the Christmas circuit. It didn't look tripped (lower right ones in the panel), but I flipped it off and on anyway. Made no difference.

I know how to replace a GFCI outlet, but don't know how to test whether the circuit breaker is bad. I could've just bought a replacement outlet and tried replacing it, but hip and knees hurt too much, so I appealed to Nextdoor for anyone who might be able to help with this, at the going rate.  A very nice neighbor came by with his gear, and he went through the same steps, but also pulled the cover off the GFCI and tested the wires in the wall, and sure enough, no power coming from the circuit breaker.

He asked whether there were other outlets on the circuit, and I said yes, and they don't work (because if there's no power to the first outlet...) and don't have GFCI outlets themselves, but we went around to the front of the house and tracked the conduit for the wire under the porch roof and he double-checked those outlets himself, and  noted where the conduit headed into the wall on the left side of the garage.

And he said, so, can we see where that comes through inside the garage? So, we went into the garage, and traced where the shiny unpainted conduit came through the wall, led across the ceiling, turned and headed towards the back wall where the circuit panel is located (bottom center left below the paper bags on the shelf).  At this point, we've been at it for probably 20 minutes, after my initial 10-15 on my own. And it's starting to rain.

So we walk back to examine where the conduit comes out from behind the shelf, and interestingly, it branches--one branch goes into the wall and down behind the circuit breaker panel to connect to the circuit breaker, as expected. But the other branch descends outside the wall.

 "Huh," he says, looking at the other descending branch, "What does THIS do?"

(Now, refer back to the 2nd photo in this post.)

So, anyway, now my Christmas light outlets work.

---

* Ground fault circuit interrupter--means if it gets wet, the switch on the outlet pops off so nobody gets shocked and nothing burns down.

OK, Puppy, When Did THIS Happen?

SUMMARY: I really have no idea.

But I'm glad that he appears to still be alive and unburnt.

And the lightbulb still worked. Until I squeezed it too hard trying to put it back together. THAT was another disaster but fortunately it was in the front hallway where cleaning up broken glass was easy. Ish.

Do you have any idea how long it took me to find that kind of lampshade the last time I needed to replace it?

O Xmas Tree Phase 1

SUMMARY: Getting the lights up

So, I'm a little late this year--but last year I never got a tree. Orrrr I got it but never decorated it.

Yesterday I found a decent-enough tree, a smallish silver-tip fir. I love these because they have soooo much space between the branches for ornaments, and I have soooo many ornaments -- more than I can fit on an 8-foot tree, so with this tiny one, hooboy, it'll be really hard to pick and choose.

But first--the lights!

In the order of things, the string of lights with light-up ornaments attached goes first, to try to distribute the light-ups fairly evenly.

Some of my light-ups:

(Says "five...four...three... two...one...liftoff...roarrrrrrrrrr")
(Says, "You are strong, young Skywalker, but you are not a Jedi yet. [inhale]")

Hmm, do we detect a space-ish theme here?

I also have this high-tech computer user ornament--a ginormous(*) CRT with glowing green letters on a black background making a letter to Santa. Does this date me? And my ornament?

(*)Thinking of you, Steph, wherever your spirit has roamed.

And a couple more.

Next, one string of twinkling lights. I thought that, with a smaller tree, I could get away with just those two strings, but noooooooooo -- too many empty branches. Ah, well, not bad for one busy weekend. To bed!

Random Things Around Town

SUMMARY: A lazy blogging day.

If you're like me and love--I mean really LOOOOVVVVVE sprinkles on your ice cream, would you be happy paying $1.37 an ounce in 1.25-ounce bottles as found in pretty much any grocery store around? Sometimes even more than that? How can stores justify charging that much for those tiny bottles? I think you're mostly paying for the plastic, because there are about 2 servings of sprinkles in those little guys.

Or would you go to Smart and Final, buy a mongo 17-ounce jar that'll last you a month or two, and pay a mere 35 cents an ounce? Can you say ice-cream ecstasy?!

[break]

You've seen those ubiquitous, low-paid workers waving signs around streetside to draw your attention to a store or business, right? As I pulled up to the stoplight the other day, I thought there was something odd about this particular person holding up the sign--not a lot of waving going on. REALLY cheap labor.

[break]

Ever since a big wind storm a few weeks back, coming home from agility class in the hills, this dragon's head has been lying in my headlights on the far side of the T intersection. I wonder what happened to the rest of his body?

[break]

I'm thinking that I need a new office chair. It's just my disarming personality, I guess.

[break]

There's a street in Palo Alto that's blocked in the middle from through traffic, and they planted trees in the barrier. Apparently someone decorates them differently every month. Update March 27: "Anonymous" reader found this link that explains it. On the weekly 5-mile walk with the Sierra Club Wednesday night, we were a bit awed by the vibrant spring decor.

A little bird is ready for spring.

Fellow Sierra Clubber camouflaged by the lights. It really brightened up our night, so to speak.