Good ol' boys
I write a LOT about living in the country. Usually, it's about the trials and travails of dealing with creatures large and small, uncertain water systems, and the isolation that makes large utilities cut a swath through small acreages.
Today, it's all good.
Over Thanksgiving, my brother's gift to me was to install a new vent hood for my stove. Now, considering the old one was "harvest gold" (painted over in 1992 with white appliance paint...the gold only showed through enough to look really dirty all the time), you can imagine how yucky that job was. I found an errand to run during the installation (trying my best to avoid the large number of dead moth bodies that were sure to shower down when the old hood came off), and came home to quite an exciting story.
Rowdy son greeted me at the front door with, "Uncle JM didn't turn off the electricity...there were lots of sparks and the whole house went black". Said uncle sheepishly said, "Yeah, I thought I would just get by without that one little safety precaution." While I digested that info, I looked around. The house lights were on, the chili was simmering, the heater was humming. The new vent hood was absolutely gorgeous (let me tell you, for $39.00, it's the best home improvement I can think of). I said, "Well, all's well that ends well" (not for nothing did my mother read Shakespeare to me)...when Rowdy son said, "There's just one thing...."
The hall and bathroom now, mysteriously, had no power.
Frankly, it wasn't so mysterious. Power before sparks and darkness, no power when circuit breakers were flipped.
Hmmm.
Well, we stuck a lamp in there and got on with the holiday.
That was three weeks ago. Today, perfect daughter informed me that it is just embarrassing to have a bedside lamp in the bathroom. And embarrassing to run extension cords from the bedrooms in there to keep the fish tank going and to blow-dry hair. Well, it IS tacky and probably the definition of all things white-trash (although not on the same par as say, leaving an old washer and dryer in the creek in front of our house, which I promise never to do)....but I wasn't really embarrassed by it. Frankly, I thought that lamp cast a soft and flattering glow and I had taken to running to that bathroom when my ego needed a boost.
But no, she had FRIENDS coming over, and it was time to get an electrician.
OK, our house is old. And there are many, many things broken here, but we live with them. It's not unlike driving an old car (which I have lots of experience with)... you know, where, if someone wants to borrow it, you have to explain in WAY too much detail how to start it, steer it and stop it. SO, the first thing DH said was, "If we have to re-wire the whole house because you had to have that vent hood....(audible dot, dot, dot). I mean, our imaginations were running wild--new fixtures? new wiring for the bathroom? new wiring for that wing of the house? new wiring for the whole house? Was there time to quickly sell? Oh, right...people buy houses whose bathrooms have lights. There was nothing for it, I had to get a pro in. I mean, we are talking about electricity. It's sort of scary. It's actually way worse than when the plumber says the honey wagon has to come out (please don't make me explain that...it's a country thing).
I called several electricians. They were all booked until after Christmas. That would NOT do for perfect daughter's entertaining plans. I called a friend who called a friend who I then called who told me to call this guy she knew.
I did.
And you know what? He was a good ol' boy. Of the best sort. The kind that stops by in an hour because "he was heading out anyway". The kind that not only fixed the problem I called him out for, but who also fixed my hall light (which hasn't worked for years). The kind that patiently explained how I could personally check my own outlets to see if there were loose wires...to be safe.
The kind that did all that, stayed a long time "visiting" (like we do in the country)...and then asked if "$30.00 wasn't too much".
Yeah. Life in the country isn't too shabby. I tried to pay him more. He would NOT take it. He didn't feel like he "did that much". Huh? Driving out here probably cost him $10 in gas.
I'm speechless, but not surprised.
Merry Christmas to me today. It was a great present.
Today, it's all good.
Over Thanksgiving, my brother's gift to me was to install a new vent hood for my stove. Now, considering the old one was "harvest gold" (painted over in 1992 with white appliance paint...the gold only showed through enough to look really dirty all the time), you can imagine how yucky that job was. I found an errand to run during the installation (trying my best to avoid the large number of dead moth bodies that were sure to shower down when the old hood came off), and came home to quite an exciting story.
Rowdy son greeted me at the front door with, "Uncle JM didn't turn off the electricity...there were lots of sparks and the whole house went black". Said uncle sheepishly said, "Yeah, I thought I would just get by without that one little safety precaution." While I digested that info, I looked around. The house lights were on, the chili was simmering, the heater was humming. The new vent hood was absolutely gorgeous (let me tell you, for $39.00, it's the best home improvement I can think of). I said, "Well, all's well that ends well" (not for nothing did my mother read Shakespeare to me)...when Rowdy son said, "There's just one thing...."
The hall and bathroom now, mysteriously, had no power.
Frankly, it wasn't so mysterious. Power before sparks and darkness, no power when circuit breakers were flipped.
Hmmm.
Well, we stuck a lamp in there and got on with the holiday.
That was three weeks ago. Today, perfect daughter informed me that it is just embarrassing to have a bedside lamp in the bathroom. And embarrassing to run extension cords from the bedrooms in there to keep the fish tank going and to blow-dry hair. Well, it IS tacky and probably the definition of all things white-trash (although not on the same par as say, leaving an old washer and dryer in the creek in front of our house, which I promise never to do)....but I wasn't really embarrassed by it. Frankly, I thought that lamp cast a soft and flattering glow and I had taken to running to that bathroom when my ego needed a boost.
But no, she had FRIENDS coming over, and it was time to get an electrician.
OK, our house is old. And there are many, many things broken here, but we live with them. It's not unlike driving an old car (which I have lots of experience with)... you know, where, if someone wants to borrow it, you have to explain in WAY too much detail how to start it, steer it and stop it. SO, the first thing DH said was, "If we have to re-wire the whole house because you had to have that vent hood....(audible dot, dot, dot). I mean, our imaginations were running wild--new fixtures? new wiring for the bathroom? new wiring for that wing of the house? new wiring for the whole house? Was there time to quickly sell? Oh, right...people buy houses whose bathrooms have lights. There was nothing for it, I had to get a pro in. I mean, we are talking about electricity. It's sort of scary. It's actually way worse than when the plumber says the honey wagon has to come out (please don't make me explain that...it's a country thing).
I called several electricians. They were all booked until after Christmas. That would NOT do for perfect daughter's entertaining plans. I called a friend who called a friend who I then called who told me to call this guy she knew.
I did.
And you know what? He was a good ol' boy. Of the best sort. The kind that stops by in an hour because "he was heading out anyway". The kind that not only fixed the problem I called him out for, but who also fixed my hall light (which hasn't worked for years). The kind that patiently explained how I could personally check my own outlets to see if there were loose wires...to be safe.
The kind that did all that, stayed a long time "visiting" (like we do in the country)...and then asked if "$30.00 wasn't too much".
Yeah. Life in the country isn't too shabby. I tried to pay him more. He would NOT take it. He didn't feel like he "did that much". Huh? Driving out here probably cost him $10 in gas.
I'm speechless, but not surprised.
Merry Christmas to me today. It was a great present.
posted by herewegoagain at
3:37 PM
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