Somewhat slightly dazed

I've been off line for almost a week now. Has anyone missed me?

Well, I'm back!

I've been having electrical problems in my house for the last couple of years. Lights flickered and the power would dim. We used to joke that it was the spirit of my deceased husband still living in the house. Anyway, it would get better and then worse and then better again. Both my bathroom fans went out recently so my son changed them out. Then, last week, my smoke alarm went off in the early morning hours. My daughter and I were freaked out. We could smell electrical but had no idea what had happened. Looking in my daughter's room, I noticed that her fan was barely turning and her lights were really dim. She turned them off. We checked the garage and then turned off the heater which was running. Or tried to. The only way we could get it to go off was to unplug the power outlet. I thought that maybe the heater was the problem because my power seems to be worse in the winter over the summer and my bathroom outlets suddenly wouldn't work which are on the opposite wall to the thermostat. Anyway, the outdoor light popped when we turned it on to look outside. It was still dark, mind you, and the smoke alarms had finally turned themselves off.

We sensed that things would be okay now, temporarily, so I went to work and had my daughter call an electrician who a friend  referred to me. She said he would come by in the evening. I went out to the horses and chased them around, chatted with my neighbor, and still I waited. I figured that he must be squeezing me in on his way home (he lived nearby) and I figured that he'd show any minute. Finally, I checked my phone and noticed that it was on silent and that he had called. Duh, you can't get calls that way! It was late by now so we rescheduled for him to come out tomorrow earlier in the day.

I wanted to stay home but I had to go out of town on a business day trip so my son and daughter were ther for him. I guess having grown children has some advantages. Anyway, he solved the problem. It wasn't my furnace (YAY!) but instead, happened when the house was built, something about the wire coming to the house and the wire going to the electric company "box". He showed my daughter how all the wires were fried because a screw/bolt? had been put in wrong, stripped and left there. Oh dear! Don't inspectors check these things during the house construction?? He said we'd need to call the electric company. Then he had a thought, left for a while, came back, and "fixed" it. I don't know what he did but he said it would work okay now. Hallelujah!!! Now I don't need to call the electric company and pay them $800-1000, his estimate of their job cost, and my electric is working fine again, finally.

However, there have been some casualties. My computer modem died and needed to be replaced so that I could have internet again. My garage door opener is blown and so is my daughter's electronic keyboard. I'm sure other things need to be replaced too but I guess it's a lot better than having the whole house burn down, right?

So anyway, I'm back, better than ever!


Somewhat slightly dazed - song: Unwashed and Somewhat Slightly Dazed, artist: David Bowie, album: Space Oddity