Suffering From My Ignorance

Between PR and JH and his magic bag of tools, I was primed and ready to jump in head first and install the porch lights. I had the trim squares cut and ready, and I even cut out the holes in the sheathing and had the electrical boxes installed.

It was the wiring, however, that threw me for a loop. I figured that each light would correspond with one wire, each with a hot, cold and ground wire. Well, when I went to check it out, one of the lights had two sets of wires. I immediately broke out into a cold sweat and my brain ceased to function. Why the heck were there two wires? I should have asked PR when he was here.

Naturally, I went into default mode and ignored it, hoping it would go away, or at least until JH and his magic bag of tools showed up. Fortunately, the moment arrived only a couple of days later. I helped facilitate the process by getting everything set up, and JH came in and cleaned up.

He actually explained to me why there were two wires going into one light, and suddenly it all made perfect sense when you think of electricity as a circuit. In fact, JH was really nice about explaining it, but in the back of his mind he was probably thinking, “Man, were you born stupid, or did your parents beat you with a stupid stick?” If I could have overcome that one barrier, I could have done it, I could have been a contender, but alas, it was not meant to be.

Fortunately, there are people like my Mentor or PR, and of course, JH and his magic bag of tools to come in and save the day. Next time, however, I’ll be ready.

Until then, thanks for reading.