EAT The Potato!!!

It was your normal ordinary morning yesterday.  The 120 car train came through the bedroom at 4:00 am, followed by quiet little cries from dog jail.  By 4:15 the quiet cries turned into barks of GET ME OUT OF HERE!!

A quick trip outside proved the weather was still hot and those heat warnings were right on target.  It was a lovely 84 degrees.  If I was ever going to get the lawn mowed, I needed to just DO IT!  I thought about the neighbors ... briefly ... but that didn't stop me.  By 6:00 it looked beautiful.

My next big project was to get the broken bulb bases out of the fixture.  I can't believe those bulbs broke off like that ... one still held on by a single wire and one actually falling to the floor.  

I spent an hour the day before flipping off every breaker, then running to the bedroom to see if the lights were still on.  Nope ... try the next one.  I was careful not to hit the 50 amp one and turn the AC off.  Naturally it was the last one I tried.  I marked the panel as I went.  Weird, the kitchen seems to have four separate breakers.

I gathered my tools, got ready for the assault and turned the breaker off.  Gosh it's dark in the bedroom.  Naturally, I hit the switch to turn the light on.  Ummmm ... Nancy, that's not going to work.  I also found that standing on a soft mattress wasn't going to give me the stability I needed to be looking up, both arms in the air.  

I drug the ladder to the bedroom.  First up ..... the potato!!!  I pushed it up as hard as I dare, holding on to the ceiling fan fixture to keep it from crashing to the floor.  Once it got a good bite, I carefully turned it to the left like the YouTube video showed me.  Nothing.  The only thing turning was the potato!

It seems, at least for me, that handy dandy tip is a wives tale.  Next up ... double check to see if the power is off with the little green Made-In-China thing.  I probably should have done that before the potato.  Nothing ... which means it either isn't working or there's no power.

That was an important step, because the next suggestion was to stick a pair of pliers INSIDE the socket, spread it apart and turn to the left.  The pressure should cause it to turn.  That too was a BUST!!

Luckily Tom Westerfield had instilled in me the need for needle nose pliers when it comes to geocaching.  I found three pair.  I tapped them on the socket, triple checking the power was off, and very carefully grabbed the edge, one pair of pliers on each side.  It turned so easily, I probably could have just done it with my fingers.  YAY!!  One out ... now on to number two!

For this one, I DID have to stand on the bed.  It was better than trying to move that monster out of the way for the ladder.  The second one came out just as easily as the first.  So tell me then ... if they were that easy to remove, why did they break in the first place?  I thought maybe I squeezed the bulb too hard.  Now all I need is replacements to light up my bedroom.  

I can't believe I did this myself!!  So my advice when it comes to a broken light bulb in the fixture, is to use needle nose pliers, get the base out of the socket, than have a nice breakfast of hash browns and toast.  Just EAT the potato, because it's not going to help with the repairs at all.

I spent the rest of the day watching baseball.  I'm torn between the Diamondbacks and the Giants.  I really wanted to cheer for the Arizona team, but on Friday when their announcer said one of our guys was an a$$hole (yup .. he said that on TV) because he always seems to get on base, I started to have second thoughts.  Yesterday, he just called him a pain in the ass.  No, I'm not kidding.

By mid game when he stated the Giants were playing terrible baseball, I got a little miffed.  They aren't playing well because half the team is out hurt, replaced by new players that just came up from AAA.  I've noticed over the years that lots of announcers are like that.  I understand completely, they are cheering for their own team, but don't say bad things about the players, no matter what team they are on.

In the end, it worked out well.  They played four games, each winning two.  A fitting end to some good baseball.  Maybe I'll be a two-team cheerleader!!

Now for some hash browns and toast!!