The Light Switches

I look around in this house. Things seemed so foreign and “different” to us just a couple of months ago and now it’s feeling quite like home. I’ve learned to use the washer. I’m still not friends with the stove but we’redoing better together. We’ve even learned where most of the light switches are – at least the ones that work the inside lights.

Here’s a funny light switch story. There are probably at least 20 lights around the outside of the house (up in the eaves) and as many electric plugs because the former owners did lots of decorating for Christmas. In the garage, there’s a walk thru door and next to it is a double switch. One switch turned on the inside garage lights and one switch turned on the outside lights around the house. By the front door there’s a triple switch. One turns on the porch light at the front door. One turns on the inside foyer light and I had never figured out what the third one turned on.

When we take Rita out, we go out the garage and flip on the outside lights. There were a whole lot of them burned out – which seemed odd because some of them would had to have been burned out for ages, unless they all burned out at the same time, and I couldn’t imagine why the former owners would not have replaced them.

It’s pretty high up to change some so I asked Vince if he would change the ones, especially on the side where I walk with Rita because the next time I’m here, I’ll have her and Vince won’t be here. He bought one of those poles that allows you to reach up, grab the light and change it but he wasn’t having much luck. Chad and Nicole were here so Nicole didn’t mind climbing up on a tall ladder and changing the bulbs. She changed the first one and it still didn’t work. She put in a different bulb and still . . no light. She moved down to the next one that was burned and, changed and it didn’t work.

Vince said “Great! Now I’m going to have to get an electrician out here.” I said “Maybe there’s a switch we’re missing!” Vince said “You think one switch turns on half the lights and the other switch turns on the other half?” I had no idea. You never know what people do or why when building a house. The house we lived in when we were in Jasper, Texas for 2-1/2 years had two different switches and I never figured out what either of those worked. I thought maybe lamps by the bed, or outside lights but nope, wasn’t that.

Vince and I went inside. He said “Let’s check every switch in the house!” I told him there was one switch I had never figured out. We turned it on and yes . . that switch turns on the lights that are at the garage (which were the ones he was changing) and the lights in several other places in the front. If you want ALL the outside lights on, you have to turn on both switches.

Our house in Texas has two outside plugs – one on each end of the front porch. It’s nice to have electric plugs in convenient locations here. It will be really nice when we understand which switches work which lights – inside and outside.