sigh. (electrical edition)

[jennlk]

So some time around Thanksgiving, I deployed the heated birdbath because it was getting cold enough at night that ice was forming in the summer birdbath. The heated birdbath only sort of worked - ice formed in the birdbath on cold nights, but it didn't freeze solid, so I was able to just pull out the "ice pizzas". But that means that there's still ice on the birdbath when the sun comes up and the earlybirds show up for breakfast, and a lot of the water in the birdbath is winding up in ice rounds. J poked at it a bit, but had no ideas. I ordered a replacement birdbath sometime in December from the feed store in town. After they had multiple go-rounds of suppliers saying 'we have that', and then not having it when they actually ordered it, and a week's worth of boxen all showing up on the same day, I finally picked up the new birdbath yesterday and installed it. This morning, there was ice in the birdbath! Hrm. Maybe it's the extension cord? Swapped that out, then ran errands. When I got home, J told me "I fixed it." "oh?" "the summer pump timer was still on that circuit." Sigh. I didn't even *know* there was a timer on that circuit - apparently, he'd put one in so that the pump wasn't running all night, when there was no-one to hear/see it. That meant that the power to the birdbath was going off at night, when it's most needed. All better now, but now I have an extra heated birdbath.

I have been a bear of very little brain for no apparent reason, and *still* haven't gotten the holiday cards out. There's a holiday coming, up, right? (MLK Day, observed.) that's my new target. I should at least print out the letter so J can proofread it.