wherein Liz has fun with electricity
In the "how is this my life?" department, I had an interesting experience last night.
I was out sprinkling crushed eggshells on my garden, as one does (plants need calcium to bear fruit!), and as I climbed the stairs to my back door, there was a sudden vrrrrrr-fzzzsht! noise and a small cascade of sparks from the electric cable that runs (inside a metal casing) up the side of the house right beside my back door.
And the light over the door went out.
Both my kitchen overhead lights were also out, as were the outlets in my bedroom.
I texted Landlord Dude, who came over within fifteen minutes. We verified that it was indeed a tripped breaker, and that the power still worked, but given the dramatic nature of the short circuit (you can see the singed paint where the sparks showered out), we decided it was best not to actually turn that circuit back on until he'd had a chance to investigate what had happened.
So I have been maneuvering around my kitchen with the unsatisfactory light of a pole lamp in the corner (plugged into an outlet on a different circuit), my bathroom lights, the light attached to my stove vent fan, and my living room lights. Also sometimes a couple candles. I can see what I'm doing, but my color sense is shot and it's not really sustainable long-term.
I also rigged up my bedroom fan and lamp to an outlet in my living room via judicious use of extension cords, but again, that's not a long-term solution.
Landlord Dude wasn't able to come over and investigate today, but he will try again tomorrow and hopefully I'll have my lights and outlets back.
...
The whole thing reminds me oddly of the time a few years back when I happened to look up at the right moment to see a power line rubbing against the sycamore next door and sending showers of sparks up against the bark, whereupon I called 911 and they sent out the fire department and NYSEG who re-insulated the line. It's weird to see one glitter-spark power failure by looking in a random direction at exactly the right time. It's really weird to see two, you know?
I already know I have dead mouse karma. Do I now have shower-of-sparks electric problem karma as well? If you want to comment on this post, you can do so over here on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)
I was out sprinkling crushed eggshells on my garden, as one does (plants need calcium to bear fruit!), and as I climbed the stairs to my back door, there was a sudden vrrrrrr-fzzzsht! noise and a small cascade of sparks from the electric cable that runs (inside a metal casing) up the side of the house right beside my back door.
And the light over the door went out.
Both my kitchen overhead lights were also out, as were the outlets in my bedroom.
I texted Landlord Dude, who came over within fifteen minutes. We verified that it was indeed a tripped breaker, and that the power still worked, but given the dramatic nature of the short circuit (you can see the singed paint where the sparks showered out), we decided it was best not to actually turn that circuit back on until he'd had a chance to investigate what had happened.
So I have been maneuvering around my kitchen with the unsatisfactory light of a pole lamp in the corner (plugged into an outlet on a different circuit), my bathroom lights, the light attached to my stove vent fan, and my living room lights. Also sometimes a couple candles. I can see what I'm doing, but my color sense is shot and it's not really sustainable long-term.
I also rigged up my bedroom fan and lamp to an outlet in my living room via judicious use of extension cords, but again, that's not a long-term solution.
Landlord Dude wasn't able to come over and investigate today, but he will try again tomorrow and hopefully I'll have my lights and outlets back.
...
The whole thing reminds me oddly of the time a few years back when I happened to look up at the right moment to see a power line rubbing against the sycamore next door and sending showers of sparks up against the bark, whereupon I called 911 and they sent out the fire department and NYSEG who re-insulated the line. It's weird to see one glitter-spark power failure by looking in a random direction at exactly the right time. It's really weird to see two, you know?
I already know I have dead mouse karma. Do I now have shower-of-sparks electric problem karma as well? If you want to comment on this post, you can do so over here on Dreamwidth, where there are currently (
comments)