light bulbs

I had one of those fifteen minute projects that kills an afternoon this afternoon, the consequence of living in a house wired by a drunken handyman (a former owner, not me). The task was to replace burned-out exterior light bulbs in the side yards, rear yard, and over the pool deck. Aaaargh.

An understanding of the wiring and switches is critical to understanding how I took too long with this job: The switch for an exterior light at the NW corner of the house, shining down the side yard, is in the garage. The switch for the light at the NE corner of the house is in the living room. The same switch, in the living room, controls a light over the pool deck. There is another light, just outside the door leading in from the pool deck, controlled by a switch just inside that door. (That bulb, thankfully, was working and is not part of this tale.) There are actually two switches just inside the door from the pool deck; the other one controls the light in the rear yard. That's four switches, five lights. (I'm not even counting the light in the garage that blew during my labors, requiring me to change that bulb also.)

The light at the NW corner of the house has been burned out for so long that I forgot which switch controls it, and I assumed it was the switch in the living room. The light over the pool deck and the light over the door leading in from the pool deck are so close together that, when you don't have to change a bulb for several years, you tend to forget which switch is which - you flip a switch and there's light out there. This is sort of like walking and chewing gum; you tend not to give such things serious thought. To compound the situation, the light at the NE corner of the house won't come on after changing the bulbs, regardless of which switch you play with (but I know it is the switch in the living room). All of this left me stalking back and forth, inside and out, up and down ladders, flipping the wrong switches and wondering why there was no light.

The score, after taking entirely too long, is now 4 for me, 1 for the lights. Four lights work, one will not. If I also count the light inside the garage, the score is actually 5 to 1. But I am not done until I get the light at the NE corner working.

And I haven't even started putting up the Christmas lights yet.