The By-Laws of this condo association
specify that each owner is responsible for maintaining the yard light in
front of his unit. These lights are not only decorative but
functional in that they light the path from the driveway to the front
door. A sensor turns it on and off. Visitors who arrive after dark
should find the pathway lighted for their safety. Because of insurance
liability concerns, it is mandatory that those lights work.
It seems that residents living here
have had to replace those bulbs on the average of every six months. I
am an exception. I have been here for nearly two years and that
little bulb burned faithfully from that point and before. I was
thinking about naming that bulb. Sparky perhaps.
Tuesday we suffered through miserable snow
squalls. When I went to bed Tuesday night, it burned brightly -- I
could see its reflection on the bedroom ceiling. But Wednesday night,
oh, no -- *no* reflection! In the morning, with temperatures in the
teens, I wasn't about tackle the task, rules or no rules. But
yesterday, Saturday, I decided to get the job done, knowing today would
be colder and the forecast for the next several days included a
combination of rain and snow.
One of my neighbors who has
replaced her bulb four times had told me, "The screws that are the
obvious ones to get to the bulb aren't the ones you use." I remember
her saying that; I don't remember what followed. When I looked at the
lamp, I recognized the screws that obviously held the top on. When I
removed them, the top should lift off and I could change the bulb.
So I unscrewed all three and in the process dropped two in the foot of snow beneath the lamp post. Then I discovered that these
were the screws I wasn't supposed to remove. So I replaced them
(after using the snow shovel to dig for the two I'd dropped). I
cleared a place in the snow for the ladder and after climbing it, I
found two fasteners on the top of the light. After removing them and
lifting the top, I was able to extract Sparky who was very dirty and
sitting in the middle of the dried carcasses of dead bugs. And look
here -- Sparky was a 100 watt bulb!!! The replacement will be a
mere 40 watts. I replaced the screws in the top, climbed down the
ladder, gathered tools and moved them back into the garage.
Dusk came, but the light that should have come on failed to do so. Crap. I knew I should have checked the bulb before putting it in the lamp. Come morning, I'd have to go through the process again.
While lying in bed this morning,
knowing that it's still cold and probably snowing again, I remembered
that some people had turned off their yard lights challenging the
must-be-on rule. There is a switch for this somewhere in the garage.
With fingers crossed, I went out and found a plug, one with a "reset"
button. I noticed that the display of the clock radio plugged into the
outlet was dark. So I pushed the reset button and the clock's green
display began blinking 12:00 at me. Somehow the night of the big snow
the circuit breaker must have kicked off, killing Sparky’s glow!
Tonight I should have light at the lamp post.
So poor Sparky wasn't dead, isn't dead.
Now I'm pondering going to the trash can and pulling Sparky out, dusting
it off, and perhaps displaying it in the china cabinet in honor of its
long service. I am confident that if I return it to the lamp post, it will burn out in a matter of days if not hours, and I'll have to climb that ladder again and way too soon.
