Yesterday morning I discovered that the lights on my stove-top hood weren’t working, nor was the exhaust fan. A minute later, Rod noticed that the outlet where the electric kettle wasn’t working as well. He tried using different kitchen outlet but that didn’t work, either. That sent him to the circuit panel to see if a circuit had been tripped. Everything was fine there. As we sat down to start our delayed breakfast we decided we would need to call an electrician.
That decided I had my first few sips of coffee. It must have gotten the circuits in my brain working, as I recalled a similar problem when we lived in Charlotte. One afternoon I went to the garage to get something out of the freezer and discovered that it wasn’t working. I checked the outlet, which was also not working. I checked the panel box, and nothing had been tripped. So I called an electrician, and then set tossing all the now-defrosted food from the freezer.
The electrician arrived the next day, and after running the checks I’d already done, then set to work checking every ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlet in our house. They all checked out, so he checked the exterior ones. And there, he discovered that one had been tripped. He simply hit the reset button, and the freezer kicked back on. All this for the price of $75.
I relayed this story to Rod, and then went and checked all the exterior outlets. They were all fine. It was only then that Rod noticed that one of our kitchen outlets was a GFCI outlet. He and I had both plugged items into that outlet during our initial scramble to discover the problem but we never noticed that it was GCFI. He pushed the reset button, and the problem was solved.
One little tiny reset button not pushed, and four outlets and a kitchen hood stopped working. It was food for thought as I walked, showered, and began my walk to church. I realized that I needed to reset my spirit. I was shocked (in a good, non-electrical way) to find myself attentive to the subtle changes around me. On Eagle St, I felt the sun on my back. I felt perspiration forming where the sun hit. Then I turned left on Hollingsworth Rd and headed down the hill. I noticed a cool, refreshing breeze blowing up the hill, and stretched out my arms to receive its full effect and gave thanks for the blessing.
This is a good day to push your button ~ Anne
Wayfinding 