Through out the years of putting together late night Christmas items and flat box furniture, I have become quite familiar with the term "Some Assembly Required." So it is that all home projects are ladened with assembly required. My storage area project was not exempt.

With out farther ado lets get started wiring a storage area shall we? The first item was the mounting of the wall switch box and wiring the single pole single throw switch. This is about as easy as it gets for wiring a switch. Yes that is an aluminum can crusher mounted on the wall. It hasn't been used in about a decade since I've quit drinking pop/soda/soda pop (depending on what part of the country your in).

With all the wire run from one box to another the actual connecting wires together begins. This next box is the busiest box in the wiring project. It's where all the wires come together and one light is mounted.

A little time has to be taken to figure out just what needs to be connected to what. After some time the task is completed.

With everything neatly tucked into the box, the next step is to connect the fixture and mount it to the ceiling box. Now in true Hank fashion I am for cheap cheap cheap. The fixture purchased was a shop light which has a plug wire and chains to hang from ceiling screws. It's much cheaper than a light designed to mount right onto the ceiling box. The shop light had to be modified. The plug cord was removed and the fixture was wired directly into the circuit. Hopefully all is well when the smoke test is done.

All that's left now is to wire and mount the fixture, insert the bulbs, and tie the circuit into the circuit breaker power. The auxiliary lighting is in place and the power is cut to the circuit being worked on. With quiet anticipation the moment of truth has come. The breaker is flipped to on. A moment of darkness follows the powerup and the light blinks on and floods the area with the brightest light this area has seen in 45 years. A flip of the wall switch extinguishes the light and another flip turns the light on. Yea, complete sucess.

As you can plainly see there are a few wires that need rerouting from the 25 years of stringing telephone and cable wires through out the house. The second light back in the storage area with be installed after the insulation and drywall has been installed in the ceiling.

Just so you know that Old Dave is not all work and no play breaks were taken to go sledding with Grandson Bradley. Bradley and Gramps have tobogganed down the school yard hill this Winter. You should have seen us go down the big hill. We looked like the snowball express streaking down the hill with snow broiling up over the front of the toboggan as we whizzed down the hill. It scared the crap out of Bradley and it took about a half an hour before I could get him to go down the little hill. By the end of the day he was ready to tackle the big hill again, but Gramps told him we better just leave the slope on a positive note and think about it the next time we go tobogganing.

The next blast from the past was to build a snow fort. The neighbor, who's in her twenties, was impressed by the way we made the fort. It was round blocks formed by packing snow in a five gallon pail and then turning the pail upside down and letting the block slide into place. We built it two high with a back entrance. I kind of think that Bradley had a different idea about what it would be like playing in the snow. He didn't plan on it being so cold.

You might want to prepare yourself for this next picture as it's not often you see old Dave in a Tux. I volunteer at a non profit organization as an all around handy man fix it kind of a thing. I've become great friends with those that work there including Karen. That's how I got invited to the Nebraska State Governor's Ball. Karen invited me to go to the Ball with her. Can you imagine old Dave at the Governor's Ball. It was the farthest thing from my mind when I got the call.

So that's it for this time. It's time to go outside and shovel some more snow. We just had another three inches of the wonderful stuff. Ah well that is right after a break and of course a nice hot cup of coffee.

Have a great day what ever you are doing and don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what's been going on in your part of the world.

The Christmas frenzy is over and the New Year has begun. The seed catalogs have been arriving and plans for the new year gardens and flower pots are dancing through my head. The countdown begins toward Spring with under 80 days left and counting. What to do until Spring arrives with the business of planting and preparing for harvest, becomes the question at hand? Well, for me it's a good project inside the house down in the deep dark depths of the incredibly messy basement. My daughter won't go down there as she says, "It's just too scary." Things have been lost in the 25 year archival warehouse for decades. Who knows what lurks in the darkness? Only the Shadow knows. OK you have to be over 50 to know what that one means.

Well my designed project of choice to keep me busy through the Winter months as the wind blows and the snow falls, will be to build a food storage area for next year's garden harvest. What say you? Want to travel along and see how it all happens? OK, but I must warn you that it will not be for faint of heart nor those of weak character. So let us begin.

OK, I see that some have run away covering their eyes in horror at the organizational disarray that has terrorized their psyche. Hopefully not too many sessions of therapy will be needed to eliminate the nightmares and cold bone chilling night time sweats. Who will we send into the scary dungeon of the house to bring order once again. Old Nebaska Dave will go. Equipped with brooms, shovels, and trash bags, fearless in every way and never a thought for his own saftey, he disappears into the murky depths of the staircase that leads down down down into the very heart of disorganizational terror. Will he ever be seen again? Will he be able to overcome the evil foe that silently awaits him in the darkness below. Well, read on my friends and see if Old Nebraska Dave will survive the encounter.

Biff Bam Slam Pow Bang Crunch Yeow

The battle rages on and although hours pass Old Nebraska Dave continues to fight the evil that refuses to leave the area that it's lived in for oh so long. Finally after two loads hauled screaming and kicking to the local dump and a pile of rubble piled in the corner of the basement the enemy succumbs to defeat.

Old Nebraska Dave a little tattered and torn emerges from that terrible part of the basement with victory in the never ending battle between organization and disorganization. Super hero he is not but instead just an Old Nebraska boy determined to "Git 'er done." Now the real battle begins. Once an area is cleaned it seems that it creates a vacuum in that if the area is not filled with proper organization it will suck disorganization into the area double what has been removed. It's one of the natural laws of vacuum.

After two cups of coffee, a nap, and good long soak in a hot bath, Old Nebraska Dave begins to assemble parts for the electrical work that comes next. With only one weak light in the ceiling with a pull chain, Old Dave makes fearless plans to add one addition light and a wall switch to flood the area with light. So tune in next time for the shocking story of Old Nebraksa Dave's wiring experiences.

The thought for today is "There are old electricians and there are bold electricians but there are no old bold electricians."

Happy New Year to all!