Who DOESN’T Have A Live Electrical Wire in Their Backyard?

 Our house has had assorted electrical issues ever since we moved in.  We burned out three or four different distillers.  Light bulbs frequently burn out after two or three weeks.  We once had to have our house “jump started” by a beat up old truck when the power was out and our generator did not start.  Then there was the time we spend two full weeks on generator power because every night between 6 and 8 pm the power was going on and off every 5 or 10 minutes, and yes, the generator would kick in but after this fried our TV I decided I would rather not have any more electronics or appliances sacrificed to the fickle whims of the electricity gods.  So I made them run the generator until the managed to have something fixed in the incoming wires and now when our power goes out in the evenings (as it does many evenings) it only goes out once, which is a significant improvement!  Power out to our staff quarters is fickle and we had some huge project at some point early in our tenure involving our borehole pump (well and water pump).  Recently C happened to come home in the middle of the day to find some folks on the preventative maintenance team doing work in the house including a guy with a nifty infrared scanner checking out the electrical box in the house where all the circuit breakers reside.  He apparently said something along the lines of, “huh, you have wires smoldering behind the box.”  Didn’t actually suggest that anyone would DO anything about the smoldering wires, just that they were, you know, there.  At this point I suddenly became very grateful for living in a house constructed primarily of cinder blocks and concrete with very, very little wood.  I also checked to make sure our “escape hatches” (the mechanical mechanism that opens the bars on the windows in case of a fire or other emergency) were all working and I was quite pleasantly surprised to discover they did indeed all function.

Lots of issues.  An unusual number of issues even for here.  And all along C and I kept mentioning to the appropriate people that we thought our house had holistic electrical issues and that perhaps the wiring should be looked at and upgraded.  Indeed, I think we even suggested that perhaps while we were in the U.S. on holiday last year would be a great time to work on the electrical issues in the house.  Same conversation over and over and nothing happens.  The issue at hand always gets fixed, eventually, but nothing was ever done about the underlying problems.  And at this point C and I have a serious case of senioritis or short-timer syndrome and can’t really be bothered to care.

That is, couldn’t be bothered to care until about two weeks ago when we had some friends over and were sitting out in the back yard, the adults enjoying some snacks and beverages while the children frolicked happily and harmoniously.  Then we saw and heard a spark.  It looked and sounded a bit like a firecracker and was essentially right in the middle of the yard by the sidewalk at the base of one of our mango trees.  I realized I had seen the same thing earlier but when it had not repeated itself had decided I was either imagining things or it was some strange reflection of light.  The adults immediately went and had a look and waited and then it did it again, at which point we realized it was a live electrical wire arching into the yard.  Awesome!  We call the appropriate workmen because our initial assumption was that it must be a wire that somehow was cut or chewed through and not only is it unsafe because it is sparking live electricity into the yard, but we may be about to lose other power because a wire is cut.  The workman arrived quite promptly, turned all the power off and started exploring the wire situation, including digging essentially a trench around the wire.  And here is where things get really interesting… it was NOT a cut wire.  We were never able to find the other half of it.  No no, buried about an inch and a half into my yard, where my kids regularly play, was just a random live wire.  Presumably, at some point it had been connected to something, perhaps a light, and when that something was removed the brilliant folks involved decided to just leave the wire in the ground, uncapped and completely electrified, and it had worked its way to the surface. 

As you can perhaps imagine, I was quite annoyed.  Irritated even.  I sent very strongly worded email to several people indicating that I wanted the wire fixed, detailing all the other historical electrical issues and saying I also wanted a written report about the “smoldering” wires and recommending a complete electrical overhaul of the house after our departure in June.

And then I sort of got exactly what I wanted.  The wire was fixed and they decided to do a complete electrical evaluation of the house.  Then the evaluation suggested that we might be living in a death trap so we spent a very long weekend pending the full outcome of the report worried that we were going to have to move to a different house for our last four months in country.  And I couldn’t complain since they had, indeed, done exactly what I wanted.  The good news is, in the end, the house is apparently not an immediate death trap and we don’t have to move, though they are going to completely redo the electrical before anyone else moves in, so you are welcome unknown stranger who has our house next!

In other news, T would like you to see her new bunny shoes.

And I can’t remember the last time K wore actual pants, like a pair of jeans.  Leggings, skirts and dresses are all she will willingly put on (often all three at once).

Also, gratuitous photo of baked goods from a super fun drinks and dessert girls’ night I hosted.  The great irony being that I have no desire to eat anything sweet right now and am craving only salty or tart things, but I still find cooking and baking really relaxing so other folks get to be the beneficiaries of my baking extravagances.  Also, I think it is important to spread a little Southern love and introduce as many people as possible to the joys of strawberry pretzel salad.

And why not a photo of C and I from the awesome St. Patrick’s ball we attended.  Having my sober pregnancy goggles on means I have some outstanding blackmail shots of everyone else once they were a few Guinesses into the evening.  You know who you are so be nice to me.