Full Moon & Tenacity

We thought we had our issues in Jumbo pretty much under control when Larry fixed the electrical problem last weekend, but we were wrong! Last Wednesday the generator decided to stop firing up. This was frustrating, since we couldn't use the coffee maker or the electric skillet again, nor charge up the computers. Larry remembered Richard telling him that the generator wouldn't work if the gas tank was less than half full, so we were hoping that when we took Jumbo into Parker on Saturday to fill up both the propane tank and the gas tank, the problem would be solved. We could easily work around this issue, heating water on the stove for coffee, etc.

As we were getting ready for bed Thursday night, I detected an aroma of Propane. I hollered to Larry, and we discovered that the furnace was blowing cold air. I suggested that Larry try lighting the stove, and nothing... we were out of propane! It was going to be a cold night, since we weren't able to start the generator and couldn't use our little electric heater. No problem...we have lots of blankets, and we got Duchess under the covers with us and were toasty warm until we eventually had to get up in the morning. Larry stayed in bed as long as he could before he ventured out into the 25 degree Jumbo and scurried off to work as fast as possible. Duchess and I stayed in bed until around 8 a.m., and it had warmed up to 28 degrees by then, thanks to the sunshine coming in the windows. I wrapped myself up in a blanket and sat on the sofa, watching Duchess shiver as she kept shrugging her blankets off. Finally I started up the motorhome engine, which blows out a LOT of heat, and before I knew it, the temperature had climbed up to 60 degrees. Yay!!! It was a beautifully sunny day, so the heat never did go back down after that. Larry came home at 3:30 Friday afternoon, we took off in Jumbo for the propane store and the gas station (and the liquor store!), and when we got back "home" to  the horse pasture, we had heat and a generator!All was well...or so we thought! When we re-started the generator, all of the outlets except the bathroom, were dead again! Larry knew how he would be spending his Saturday, but he didn't anticipate it taking the entire day...

On Saturday morning, he decided to start outlets for continuity, and began in the bedroom...

He decided to replace all of the outlets, pulling each one out individually, and testing the wires connecting the outlets, searching for the ground fault.

 It was a very frustrating and physically exerting job for him, and required more than one trip to Home Depot! Larry started at 8 a.m. and did not finish until 3 p.m. He disconnected the wiring from each outlet. As each outlet was replaced, we restarted the generator and tested - each one worked until we got to the very last outlet, and of course when that one was connected it flipped the breaker. We had found the culprit! When that one was disconnected and the breaker was re-set, all other outlets worked. That one was reconnected and flipped the breaker again. So, those wires were cut and sealed, and left for another day (or not, considering that that outlet once fed the above-dash TV, which no longer exists). We asked ourselves, "why us?" and then considered that perhaps the recent massive solar flares coupled with the full moon created an electrical vortex around Jumbo. Hey, it's as good a reason as any! I compliment Larry on his tenacity and ability to stick with a job until it's done, even when he doesn't know in which direction to turn. Once again, all is well in Jumbo!