Electrical Emergency

What a day. My wife came running into the house and said, "I think I did something bad!" Our conversations don't usually start out like this.

I stepped outside with her. She had been trimming bushes in our flowerbed when she accidentally cut into the electrical line for our landscape lights. Time for Jeff the Hero to spring into action!

I started by leaning in closer to inspect the damage. I touched the line where it had been cut. I was barefoot and standing in a puddle of water at the time.

When I woke up a few minutes later, I had been thrown several feet away. It's a good thing we didn't go for the industrial strength lights, or the shock might have bucked me into the street.

A more careful look revealed that I'd need to patch the wire. Since there wasn't enough slack in the wire to pull the two ends together, I improvised. I grabbed a wire coat hanger.

Once I straightened the coat hanger out, attaching it to the dead end of the wire was a piece of cake. The live end was a little tricky, though. I wasn't too worried when it started to smoke, but I did panic a little when the sparks started.

The fire department responded quickly, thank goodness. We only lost about half the flowerbed. I'm sure my eyebrows will grow back.

Finally, it was time to turn on the lights and make sure they worked. I leaned over the photo-sensor to simulate dusk. When it clicked on, one of the lamps exploded and smacked me on the forehead.

The good news is, the other lights work better than ever! Even when my eyes are closed, I see bright flashes of light.