In a surprise development, Shana's brother Evan, who I had practically begged to come up and help me with the electrical work, decided he could spare a weekend and drove up from Iowa with his mother and fiance to lend a hand. We spent Mother's Day in a web of tangled wires and electrical circuits, tearing holes in walls and puzzling over the logic of several generations of electrical updates. I gained a new respect for the electrical trade as I saw first hand the amount of shear brain power it takes to decipher a system whose guts are hidden inside the walls.
At the tail end of our second fourteen hour day, I was relegated to the task of running up and down the stairs to flip circuits on and off, which was all right by me, because this was the one job that I was still mentally capable of performing by then. Somehow, even though we never touched the upstairs tenants' electrical system, their refrigerator had lost power and their freezer defrosted. Luckily, it was a frostless freezer so this did not result in a puddle of water on the floor. There were, however, some popsicles that were considered a total loss; a minor disaster compared to the one that was lying dormant in the adjacent outlet. Mysterious, inconsistent readings from the outlet that powered the fridge prompted Evan to investigate further. There was an outlet that the tenants had plugged up with plastic covers because they said that the one time they tried to use it, it sent sparks flying. On the other side of the same wall was an outlet/switch combo that the tenants claimed would shut the power off to the entire house. I was skeptical of this when we first bought the house, so I tried it and nothing happened. But some electrical work had been done since then. Apparently it had been many years since the incident. When we opened it up to investigate, one of the outlets looked like it had been struck by lightning. They each had separate supply lines and were on separate circuits, yet somebody had taken a short piece of Romex wire and connected the two. In theory this would mean that the outlet was receiving 240 volts of power and this would explain the fried outlet and the switch that shorted the power to the whole unit. I certainly would not want to be the poor soul who tries to plug a toaster into that outlet.
Between trips down to the breaker box, I chatted with Sarah and Michael, the upstairs tenants. Sarah handed me a book written by a Japanese Samurai called the 'Book of the Five Rings'. Apparently this book is popular amongst businessmen who are looking for more inspiration than their 'Successories" posters can provide. She said that she thought of me when she read the chapter entitled "Likening the Science of Martial Arts to Carpentry." So I read this while I waited in the stairwell for my next instruction from above.
From the text:
"When sorting out timber for building a house, that which is straight, free from knots, and of good appearance can be used for front pillars. That which has some knots but is straight and strong can be used for rear pillars. That which is somewhat weak yet has no knots and looks good is variously used for door sills, lintels, doors, and screens. That which is knotted and crooked but nevertheless strong is used thoughtfully in consideration of the strength of the various members of the house. Then the house will last a long time."
and:
"Efficiency and smooth progress, prudence in all matters, recognizing true courage, recognizing different levels of morale, instilling confidence, and realizing what can and cannot be reasonably expected - such are the matters on the mind of the master carpenter. The principle of martial arts is like this."
Reading this, I was feeling lofty about my trade, and I mused about the role of the electrician. Electricity was not yet discovered in 1645, so the Book of Five Rings contains no entry likening the samurai to the electrician. But if there was, it would certainly extol the virtues of patience, reason, and endurance.
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