Old Weird Ward
Unless otherwise noted, that which is posted here is opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If you don't like my opinions, go somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to actually read this drivel.
The presumption exists that you can read at all.
That may be a large assumption.
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Wednesday, January 19, 2005
- - - - - Electrical Difficulties - - - - -
This week is notable for electrical difficulties in one of our cars and in our house.
The car first.
OWW drives a Saturn SL2. That's the one with the "hot rod" engine - a 1.9L 125HP 4-banger. Don't laugh too hard, there, Sport. That little momser will get up over 110 mph, which is where the car's computer says "Whoa, there, Speed - that's fast enough!"
Anyway, the blasted thing has electrically operated windows. And the driver's window has been a little iffy for the last year or so. The switches for the windows live in the center console, and that's where the problem was - I couldn't figure out how to get the eternally damned switch plate out!
On Sunday, my neighbor Chuck, a kind young gent of 23 heard me sniveling and moaning, and said "Here, try this," and handed me a small tool used for removing tires from bicycle rims.
"Huh?" Said OWW, "What the devil is that going to do?"
"Pop that switch plate right outta there," says Chuck, "without damaging anything at all. Here, I'll show you." And so he did.
An hour later, after I'd cleaned the contacts inside the switch assembly, the windows in the car all went up and down at the flick of a switch.
Chuck had three of those little tools. He's a very kind guy, and now has only two. He let me keep one.
Now for the house.
Today, when OWW got home from work, he found that the heating system for the house wasn't working.
Mrs. OWW has written a small essay on the sort of weather we've been having HERE.
A non-heated house is NOT a Good Thing.
After much thrashing around, I found that a breaker in the panel out in the garage was kerblooie. Not just any breaker, either, but a double-pole 120 amp breaker - the one for the "heat" side of the A/C system. There's another matching breaker for the "cool" side. And again, another neighbor came to the rescue here.
I thought, from the "feel" of trying to reset the breaker that there might be a little problem. One of our other neighbors, Robby, is a licensed electrician. I asked him for an opinion. He waggled the reset bar back and forth and said "Yep. It's toast."
So, OWW sez, "I'll kill the power at the main breaker, whup that puppy out, and get a new one."
Robby said "Nah, I'll just pull it out for you. No need to kill the power."
Robby is a licensed electrician, working for a large multinational consumer company. That means he works on this stuff all day long. I felt a little reluctant to impose on him to do the work, and said so; "C'mon, Robby, I'll do the work - I just wanted an opinion, man!"
"Get outta the way, OWW, before you fry yourself." Three minutes later, that dead breaker was out. It would have taken OWW at least 30 minutes, and killed all power to house until I was completely done.
After a fast trip to the local Lowe's for a new breaker, Robby ambled back across the street, took a whole 5 minutes to pop that dude in, and now The Swamp now has heat, and Mrs. OWW is pretty happy.
Which brings up my final observation: we have a bunch of fine neighbors. We help each other out. We watch each other's kids. We swap lies, stories, dinners and recipes. We lend a hand whenever it seems like the other guy needs a hand. We trade opinions, yard tools, beer, and tall tales.
And no thought is required. It just...happens.
I like it here.
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