an electrical repair

One thing leads to another, right?

This plaster ceiling was losing the battle with gravity and it was to the point where it just made sense to cover the entire ceiling with drywall rather that try to repair it.

A big improvement for sure...but now a new problem.

The drywall men did not rehang the ceiling fan because they knew I'd need to paint the ceiling first.

The problem was...the electrical wiring in the ceiling light fixture was short to begin with, but now with this extra layer of ceiling added...it was impossible to work with.

I just couldn't get my fingers in there to connect the fan wires when the fan was in its hanging bracket, and it was too heavy for me to hold up there while I was twisting on the wire nuts.

So, I was off to Lowe's to look for a solution.

After describing the problem to the worker in the electric aisle there, he seemed to think I needed a 15 foot roll of Romex (house wiring).

That didn't make any sense to me so I left there and went to Home Depot.  The gentleman working there actually listened when I told him the problem and fixed me up with just what I needed.  

Two one foot pieces of wire for a grand total of 51 cents!

So, I connected those to the wires coming from the ceiling box, hung the fan bracket, and now had plenty of wire sticking out to work with.

In fact, I probably could have cut the wire a bit shorter because that was a lot to stuff up into the ceiling box.

Ta Da!  All done.    I win!

A nice feeling of accomplishment!

another tree down

Can you see it? This one is a big old pine tree...way back in the corner.

Now you can see it. It didn't break...it just overturned...ripping it's roots out of the ground.

We can't see it from the house and didn't even know it had fallen.  Not really sure when it fell.

The ground must have been so wet and swampy, with all this rain and snow, the tree roots couldn't hold on.

Also, I think there is a lot of rock beneath the ground back here. Maybe the roots just weren't deep enough, although this tree was here when we moved here in 1986.

It's sort of weird and scary to see underneath a tree. I can't really explain why...it's just something one usually doesn't see.

It barely missed some other trees I had planted back there.   A young Sycamore  and also two small Papaw trees that I got from the soil conservation group last spring.

It's sad to see this happen but at least it's way in the back and not in the middle of the front yard.

Such a big tree. Too big for any of us to cut with a chain saw.

We'll eventually cut the side branches off... but that big trunk...nope.

It will probably be here longer than I will.