Sunday, August 24, 2008
Time For a New Cord
I picked up my dad yesterday for a morning of stair building. That retaining wall that divides our lawn half from the wooded half of the lot is a few feet high, so anytime I go up there I either climb up on the garden box and then up, or at the other end I just hoist myself right up. Not many people go up there with me, for some reason.
But that's all over now, as there's a lovely set of five steps leading to the top of the wall. An easy climb, and even the chipmunks seem to enjoy it.
We went to Lowe's first to get the materials, but he had brought along an extension cord and his massive power drill, which we later determined he purchased in 1952. I'm completely serious. 1952. But it worked great, which is more than I can say for the extension cord. He handed me the plug end, which I pulled up onto the deck and plugged into the outdoor outlet. This attempt was met with a few sparks and a blackened outlet. First things first, I went to the garage to flip the circuit breaker, which had wisely done its job. When I came back I saw him fussing with the cord itself - pictured below. The thing was split in several places and bandaged together with electrical tape. At one spot all three groups of wires were totally exposed and split apart! I stated that we would be tossing that entire cord into the trash can and I would buy him a new one. Fortunately for the project, I did have an outdoor cord on a shelf in the garage, but I did go out later and get him a shiny new 50 foot outdoor extension cord.
The stairs are fabulous, I have some new shepherd's hooks on which the bird feeders are hanging, and the work on the Enchanted Forest continues.
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But that's all over now, as there's a lovely set of five steps leading to the top of the wall. An easy climb, and even the chipmunks seem to enjoy it.
We went to Lowe's first to get the materials, but he had brought along an extension cord and his massive power drill, which we later determined he purchased in 1952. I'm completely serious. 1952. But it worked great, which is more than I can say for the extension cord. He handed me the plug end, which I pulled up onto the deck and plugged into the outdoor outlet. This attempt was met with a few sparks and a blackened outlet. First things first, I went to the garage to flip the circuit breaker, which had wisely done its job. When I came back I saw him fussing with the cord itself - pictured below. The thing was split in several places and bandaged together with electrical tape. At one spot all three groups of wires were totally exposed and split apart! I stated that we would be tossing that entire cord into the trash can and I would buy him a new one. Fortunately for the project, I did have an outdoor cord on a shelf in the garage, but I did go out later and get him a shiny new 50 foot outdoor extension cord.
The stairs are fabulous, I have some new shepherd's hooks on which the bird feeders are hanging, and the work on the Enchanted Forest continues.
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Posted by Rogueslayer at 8:10 AM 
