Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Wherein I Nearly Lose My Sight and Preform Electrical Acts of Derring-do

La Keira and I painted the kitchen a lovely shade of grey yesterday.  Things went well and then I spent 5 hours painting the trim "Snowy Pine.'  I finished the last touch ups just as Moose walked in the door.  


Now we are just 2 small armchairs, a rug, a clever side table and a Dala horse away from realizing my decorating vision!

Moose began helping me move the fridge back to it's proper location when SPARK, FLASH, CLICK, Squeal, jump away.

Apparently, when we moved the fridge in the morning we had the power cord was beneath the fridge and we scraped off all of the insulation on the cord so that the copper wire was exposed.  As we were moving it back the exposed, live wire connected with the copper water pipe and Blamo!

We have a "new" refrigerator coming on Wednesday but this old fridge was meant to be my food storage/garage fridge.  I have been waiting a LONG time to have my refrigeration needs met and I was NOT going to let the dream die.

I spent the night worrying over the food in the fridge, whisking my meat supply over the Keira's Garage freezer and waiting for the appliance parts store to open in the morning.

In the morning I learned that the appliance parts store couldn't help me but Home Depot could.  That's correct, I could have solved this problem last night and slept soundly knowing that I wasn't going to lose this month's budgeted food supply.

Moose was still in bed when I left and I said to him "Don't go to work until I get back I will need your help with the fridge."

 I went to Home Depot and got supplies and detailed instructions and came home to find Moose had GONE TO WORK.

"Okay, I can do this myself, This will be a great blog post.  I will even take a before picture."  And I did.
"This is going to be a great post. Look, I even have wire strippers!"

I lined up the tools and supplies
Wire strippers, wire cutters, new cord, wire nuts, electrical tape
See how this is going to be great?
The gross wires coming from the fridge.  There was loads of lint and cat food back there.  I don't have a cat. EEEW!
I sat down, clipped of the cord and began stripping.  This is where it is all Moose's fault because if a strong man had been doing this the tragic event that followed would not have occurred. And then the wire cutters slipped off with all the force I had been applying to the cord and went INTO MY EYEBALL!

This is also where I am glad that I homeschool and that My 11 year old was home to assist me.
I screamed for Commander C while lying on the floor holding my eye and crying because I was A) in PAIN, B) So really mad at Moose and C) utterly defeated.  I just wanted to save the fridge and the food and now I was BLINDED!  He called Moose to let him know that I was dying on the floor and it was all HIS FAULT.  I managed to look out of my one good eye to see blood on my hands, "GREAT, I AM blind!"  Eventually I realized that I was crying and the tears didn't hurt so it might not be SO bad.  Commander C said that it wasn't so I mustered up the guts to look in the mirror.
After a few minutes of crying and a liberal dose of Arnica
It was all purple and bruised but I took some Arnica and in just a few minutes the bruising was all but gone.  My actual eye seems to be un-injured but the eye hurt for a few hours and now if I close my eyelid and touch my eye it still hurts.  I would like to thank my cheek for taking the brunt of the blow in order to save my eye.

I dispatched Commander C to the garage for some SAFETY GOGGLES and went back to work.  That food wasn't keeping itself cold (well actually it was but it can't keep that up forever.)

 Wires were stripped but there was a problem even though Home Depot Electrical Department Man said that they would the wires from the fridge cord did not match the green, white and black wires of the replacement cord.  There was a green cord but the other two wires were no color, just brown like the whole cord.  I called my Brother in law but while I waited for an answer I just guessed and did it.

If I did this wrong and Starlings is in danger, please, let me know.
I plugged it in and the power was on! But the compressor wasn't running and I was a bit worried and just when I was about to despair it kicked on.

I fixed my refrigerator.

1 comment:

Jocelyn Christensen said...

You're kitchen looks fantastic!!! Great job...glad you survived!