The Secret Is OUT!!

Okay, I admit I was a little skeptical when Nick Russell said he could fix my garage lights.  We've all read his blog where he has Miss Terry doing most of the technical stuff.  I did feel considerably better when he told me in his former life, he went to Electrical School.  Maybe Miss Terry won't have to be prepared with a fire extinguisher after all!!

First thing in the morning, the lights came off the walls and he tested the wiring from one end to the other with an electrical meter.  I might add ... DON'T DO THIS AT HOME ... unless you're pretty proficient in electricity!!

The culprit seemed to be the ceramic socket, so we headed off to Home Depot to buy parts and pieces.  The dust-to-dawn feature was toast.  It was then that I saw a BIG light bulb pop up over Nick's head.  What if we put a programmable timer in the wall switch?  Perfect solution ... we will bypass all the control stuff and just wire the lights to turn on, then program the switch.

Just to be sure, Nick tested every single new socket before tearing apart each fixture ... no use rebuilding the entire thing just to have it not work.

What a team!!  Between Miss Terry and Nick, every fixture got an overhaul, cleaning and test before and after repair.  Talk about thorough!!  I just stood back and looked pretty, but paid VERY close attention.  Turns out these lights aren't all that complicated after all.  Scary because you can get shocked, but not like my vision of rocket science.

With a new ceramic socket wired in, they put everything back together and tested it again.  It WORKED!!!  Not that I was skeptical or anything!! 

With Miss Terry and Nick BOTH on the ladders, they installed the lights back on the wall while I cleaned the glass and installed the decorative part.  

I hate to dispel all the rumors about Nick's repair capabilities, but it's OUT now!!  I do believe he could fix anything electrical!!  Next up was the light switch replacement with a timer.  Of course before I got the package open (the one the salesman gave me that I didn't pay attention to) I noticed it could not be used with LED lights.  A second trip to Home Depot and we were ready to dismantle the wall switch.

You know how these things go ... the guy who wired this house didn't have a conference with the people that made the switch, so the wire colors were all wrong.  After I read and reread the instructions, Nick finally picked up on one little sentence, switched a couple of wires and HALLELUJAH it worked!!!  Course now we have to spend a couple of hours figuring out how to program the thing.

Aren't they beautiful??  I'm so excited to have security lighting along the really dark side of my garage.  Sorry Nick ... you're secret has been revealed!!  Course he couldn't have done it without Miss Terry and my help, but you get ALL the credit on this job.  

They both get even MORE credit for braving my dinner table.  Things don't always go right in that department for me.  I had a hole dug just in case, but it wasn't needed this time.  Ribs from the smoker, mashed potatoes, salad and garlic bread.  Except for the blue/green garlic, it was pretty tasty. How could that be you ask?  I have NO idea.  We melted butter in a pan, added fresh minced garlic and it turned blue/green.  Tasted fine though, as long as you didn't look before you took a bite.  I mean really, WHO does this kind of stuff happen to??

I can't tell you how grateful I am to Nick and Terry for their expertise at turning my house back into a safe haven.  Even Jonathan has become a Gypsy Journal reader and a big fan of Nick.  They had some up close and personal time after dinner.  When I mentioned I needed newsprint for his cage, they found a bundle of old papers they were going to throw out.  Just doing my part recycling!

Now that I know the REAL Nick Russell, I'm going to walk around my house and see if there's anything ELSE he can fix ... with Miss Terry's help of course!!