Ooooh, ahhhhh... fireworks!

[smeddley]

Let me start by saying I love the man who invented rubber. Truly, madly, deeply love him.

Not because of that. Get your minds out of the gutter, people!

No, I love rubber so very much because it is electrically non-conductive. You though I was joking about being happy the hospital was close by? Luckily, through no help of the previous jackasses, may they rot in hell owners of this house, rubber kept me from going there.

See, we were tracing the wiring back to the fuse box, meticulously untangling the spaghetti that was the electrical lines. We'd been careful, turning off the appropriate fuses and testing the lights and outlets before I worked on them. I'm not an idiot, and I respect the power of electricity.

What I didn't expect - and I don't think anyone in their right mind would have expected - was that I should have turned off the circuit to my furnace in order to remove a ceiling light. Yes, let me say that again. In order to have avoided the incident, I would have to have psychically known that the incompetent morons previous owners of the house, in their infinite DIY stupidity industriousness, had wired the furnace fan through a light.

Thankfully, I wasn't just replacing the light fixture, I was doing demo - so I was just snipping the wires. I say 'thankfully' because if I have been trying to wire in a new fixture I would have been untangling the wiring with my hands. Instead, I still had my leather gloves on, and wasn't touching anything - just snipping the wire with the rubber-handled wire cutters. And I was also wearing rubber soled sneakers.

What did happen was that there was a loud *POP*, a shower of bright sparks, I squealed like a little girl, and then the air was filled with the sharp tang of ozone. I wasn't even shocked, thankfully. There was a scare that we had fried the furnace fan, but a quick splice (after turning off the main circuit breaker - luckily it was still barely light enough to see) and a few frantic moments of trying to 'reset' everything, and the air conditioning is working again. The lights in the living room and front hall, however, are temporary casualties. I thought I had them re-connected, but there's still some wiring I'm not sure of, so maybe next weekend I'll look into finding a way to patch it into a circuit we've cut off already. I know of two wires I could probably use. But that can wait.

For now I'm going to relax, watch some TV (we'd also just watched the very end of Season 3 of Ballykissangel last night, talk about prophetic! Luckily, I fared far better than her), maybe read a little... fantasize about poking the dip shits previous owners with a cattle prod while they're sitting in a pool of water...

Comments

[gelsey.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I'm so glad you're okay. Those idiots, that stupid wiring.

Go, relax, and no more close calls!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I'm taking next weekend off, that's for sure! Well, with the exception of trying to get the lights working again. *le sigh* I honestly couldn't vouch for the safety of the previous owners if I met them in a dark alley with a baseball bat, though.

[icecat.livejournal.com]

Daaaang! I'm glad you're OK!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

That makes two of us! :)

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

Geraniums!

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Snapdragons!

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

Apparently ozone smells faintly of geraniums.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Really? I've never equated it with anything other than... well, ozone. Now I need to go huff some geraniums to see if that's true!

[cdpeck.livejournal.com]

Near death experiences aside, your posts never fail to entertain me. :-)

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Though I do try to keep the near-death experiences to a minimum, they do make for exciting posts...

[revoked-soul.livejournal.com]

Electricity is one of a handful of things that scares the hell out of me.

Definitely glad you're all right! Maybe you should stick with the smashing, it's less likely to kill you. ;)

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't like it, but someone's gotta do it. And in some ways, I just refuse to let it get the better of me.

Fireworks

[ladee-jane.livejournal.com]

You know, the fact that you went right back and spliced the wiring to get the air conditioning working means you got right back on the horse that threw you.

Atta girl!

Re: Fireworks

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda glad there was no choice, if I'd been able to just stop it might have made me more skitterish.

[whirring-mind.livejournal.com]

Yikes.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, nothing's ever as easy as it should be!

[lyonza.livejournal.com]

Wowee... Your guardian was working overtime. Glad you're here to tell the tale *Zen hugs*

*gratuitous bum shot of Gerry to make ye feel betters*

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

You're not kidding! I was pretty luck not to even get a shock. At least, not a literal shock. :)

[elaran.livejournal.com]

hee. I like how you started the post. :P Good to know you're ok and not fried. O_o

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I do try to be amusing. ;)

[cottonsilver.livejournal.com]

This is a comment about nothing because all my recent comments to you have disappeared into the aether. What's going on? our journals appear to have fallen out :(

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Actually, LJ has been acting up all around. Comment notifications aren't going out, and I've had more than one reply not post correctly. It's a real pain to have to post more than once. :( Hopefully it'll sort itself out again soon.

My journal still likes your journal, never fear. I've not been replying as much as I should, business isn't really an excuse! But it's the best one I have.

[cottonsilver.livejournal.com]

No excuses needed, I am just happy this one got through as my comment on your beautiful yet rather lonely petunia, and my support for your wall problems, where did they go. Pressed post comment and gone....smoke and mirrors.