Let There Be Light – Part One

Today’s post is designed to set the stage for tomorrow, which I hope will be a report on a successful do-it-yourself project that I hope to finish today.

I will be headed out to the 5th wheel shortly to replace most of the interior lights.

Here’s how we got to where we are this morning:

Our trailer originally came with a couple of 120 VAC lights, but the majority of the lights inside were in 12 volt DC fixtures that used T-10 type incandescent bulbs like this:

 These bulbs burn very hot, don’t have a very long life expectancy and the interior of the trailer just didn’t get bright enough, so last year I replaced them with LEDs like these:

That should have worked – comparing one of each in a two-light fixture, the LED lamp was noticeably brighter – but the light they gave off had a bluish tinge, and the interior was still as dim as a redneck bar.  Something had to be done.

Other owners on rv.net who had replaced their T-10 bulbs recommend using these,

so I ordered 20 of them a couple weeks ago.

Of course, I can never do anything the easy way.  When they arrived I realized that I had ordered the wrong part number.  The p-c boards come prewired with a small pigtail that plugs into any of several adapters for use with several different types of sockets.  The one I got was to replace BA15S bulbs like this:

I called the vendor last Saturday – their website says their help desk is open Saturdays, but they’re not – and tried again several times on Monday with no luck.  Finally, on Tuesday morning, the help desk number was answered.  The person on the other end was the owner, in her car on the way to work.  Rather than do a return for credit and a reorder, we agreed it would be simpler just to send me the correct adapters, so that’s what she did. 

I got them yesterday and am headed out in a few minutes to try them out.

On Time

Hours and days seem fixed in place

While minutes creep at a snail’s pace

Weeks, months and years go flying by

Gone in the twinkling of an eye

A paradox of time and space

Energizer Update

I took this picture back in February of 2010.  I didn’t post this one, but another shot of the same orchid was in one of my very first blog posts in March of that year - ENERGIZER ORCHID.

Five years later, and right on time, it is blooming again.  If I took a picture today – and I may yet – it would show all six blossoms on the stalk are fully open. 

I have no idea how long orchids are supposed to live, but I was amazed back in 2010 that this one had bloomed for fifteen years in a row.  Now it’s twenty!

Ugly Update

Yesterday, I complained about the weather, and Monday I talked about the finch feeder.  Today is sort of an update on both.

It’s 39° and drizzling rain.  Honey and I have haircut appointments and the finch feeder is down to the last inch of seed in the bottom of the sock.  Otherwise, I don’t think I would be setting foot outside today.

Winterrrrrrrrrrr

About the only positive thing I can say about winter here at the Boggy Thicket is that it has been a Hell of a lot worse almost everywhere else.

Our first freeze came early, and we had over a week in January with overcast skies and temperatures that didn’t get out of the 40s.  The most recent arctic blast came in Sunday, and while we didn’t have a freeze – low this morning was 33° – drizzle, mist and gusty winds have made it feel much colder.

Long-time  area residents will tell you that our winters are never really over until after the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and the first of the annual trail rides just got underway.  Still, we have trees beginning to leaf out, one of our saucer magnolias is in full bloom, and we have violets blooming in the yard.

Spring can’t be very far away, and it can’t come a minute too soon.

Finch Feeder

 

We bought and installed a sock style finch feeder this year, and for the first week or so I thought I had wasted my money. 

Now, it is covered with birds all day long, and I have to refill the sock about once a day. I keep it filled with nyjer (thistle) seeds which are so small they are almost microscopic.  According to a bird fancier website, the Finches’ favorite seeds are the tiny nyjer seeds and the big black sunflower seeds that are part of the mix in our regular bird feeder.

The Finches – American Goldfinch – don’t have the aerobatic capability of the hummingbirds we feed at other times of the year, but they are fun to watch.  When a new bird wants to join in the feast, he should land on the hanger, and work his way down the sock on foot.  If he tries to land on the sock, it usually results in a bird explosion as they all fly away a foot or two and regroup.

In winter, they are mostly brown with black on their wings and tail and pale tan bellies.  Sometimes, if the light hits just right, you may see a hint of pale green or yellow, but they are, to put it kindly, drab little birds. It is hard to believe that in the Spring and Summer – after they’ve flown back up north – the males look like this:

Lost In Translation

 If you’re the sort who loves to party, last week was probably the biggest week of the year.  You barely had time to sober up from Mardi Gras – Ash Wednesday should have helped – when Thursday brought the Chinese New Year.

It didn’t seem to affect the celebrations around the world, but this year is a little confusing. 

2015 is either the Year of the Sheep or the Year of the Goat, and I’m finding both references on line in about equal measure.  Even the Chinese Zodiac, which calls it a Goat, features a picture that looks just like the Ram logo on my Dodge truck! 

There is also disagreement over which new year actually began on Thursday.  Scholars reference at least three different sources for the first year of the Lunar calendar, so this is either  4713, 4712, or 4652.

Whatever it is, 新年快乐 – Happy New Year!