In Keith’s words, “Using this photo (below) as inspiration, write a short story, flash fiction, scene, poem; anything, really; even just a caption for the photograph. Either put it (or a link to it) in a comment or email it to me at keithchanning@gmail.com before 6pm next Sunday (if you aren’t sure what the time is where I live, this link will tell you). If you post it on your own blog or site, a link to this page would be appreciated, but please do also mention it in a comment here.
Go on. You know you want to. Let your creativity and imagination soar. I shall display the entries next Monday.”
The photo
DYI by John W. Howell © 2019
“Hmmm. This looks interesting.”
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, hi. I’m just getting my outdoor light installed.”
“Is this going to be your patio?”
“Yeah. I have all the support bars in place. The concrete guys are coming tomorrow, so all I have to do is wire up this lamp.”
“Oh, I see. It is a pole lamp, and you are wiring the base.”
“Yup.”
“I didn’t know you were an electrician.”
“I’m not.”
“My goodness. You sure you know what you’re doing?”
“I have my instructions right here.”
“Can I look?”
“Sure. Here.”
“These are in French.”
“Yeah, I know. I got this terrific deal on Amazon. Free shipping too.”
“But, the instructions are in French.”
“Yeah, they didn’t say that in the description.”
“How are you going to do this?”
“Normally I don’t read instructions anyway so I’ll just hook it up the way I think it will work. Look at there slots. I’ll just match the slots on the base with those on the lamp. Easy peasy.”
“Doesn’t ‘Installation professionnelle requise’ mean professional installation required?”
“I don’t know. I don’t read French.
“I think I would call an electrician. You could cause a short which could cause a fire.”
“Oh, stop. I’ve done this a hundred times. So there all hooked up. Now to test.”
“Well, at least you have a tester.”
“No, I don’t. I’m just going to switch on the light.
“Be careful.”
“No problem I’ll just throw the switch here on the lamp. There see. Great light. Whoops. What happened?”
“You better turn around. I think I see smoke in your garage.”
“Whoa. I see smoke in a lot of garages.”
“Nice job. I think you took out the grid. I hear sirens. This could be bad.”
“Why did you let me hook that thing up? You knew it was dangerous.”
“Well, see ya. I gotta get home and put out a fire. Call if you need bail.”
Your first line is exactly what I was thinking. Well don, John!
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Thank you, Jill
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Way to go, John.
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Thanks, GP.
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Love it, love it, love it!
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Thank you, Liz.
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Nicely done, John. Excuse me while I go check my garage.
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I smell smoke. Thanks, Dan 😁
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Nice one, John. As I recall, I wired the lamp in and took out half the house electrics.
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I can only imagine. Fun one, Keith.
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🙂
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I looked at that photo and thought “Now, what the heck is he going to do with that?” I should have known you’d come up with something clever!
And I loved the “terrific deal on Amazon.” Too bad he couldn’t get an electrician there, LOL!
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Maybe if he was a Prime member. 😂 Thank you, Mae.
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😀
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Buahahahaha!
How you do say “I’m screwed” in French?
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J’ai screwed
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Merci.
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😀
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Je suis screwed… 😉
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Of course.
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Any neighbor kids he can blame?
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Hahaha. If only. Thanks, Charles
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Just tell the cops your electrician did it. You’re sure his name is on the building permit. Then act amazed when there is no permit. Blame Yelp and Facebook.
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All good ways. Of course, one could blame Trump
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That seems to cover about anything these days.
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Used to be Obama but I think there is a new blamee in town.
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Comes with the turf.
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Yup.
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All my training on you gone to waste. Ha…..
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It would only appear that way in fiction. I just finished wiring a light with three switches (Two three-way and one four-way) after the dimmer I installed failed. So your lessons are still intact.
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Just like a man…
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Of course.
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Said with love, of course. 😉
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Of course. ♥️
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Good one John. I’m happy to say we are fire free here in home electrical projects so far!
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Excellent. I could see you set off a couple of redwoods and then it would be trouble.
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I avoid working around the big trees…lol
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There you go.
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Well done, my friend. When it comes to electrical projects, I think it’s best to call an electrician. In our household, that’s a necessity. 😀
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Yes I think that is best.
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LOL! I know some people who’d tried similar (though thankfully ‘only’ with shorts – and one minor electrical fire – in their own garage … ;)).
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Nice and contained. Good.
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LOL. Not what his wife thought.
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I’ll bet
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Ah, those DIY projects — gotta love ’em! Nicely done, John. “Bail” — heh heh!!
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Thank you, Debbie.
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Oh dear! A DIY gone bad!
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Yup. 😀
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That was funny!
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😊
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‘Terrific deal on Amazon’ – famous last words.
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Ha haha.
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