The Western Light

    Have you ever started out on a project with this brilliant idea that you were going to do some magnificent?  (90% of my projects always start out that way.)   Something that would shock the world.   Yeah.   That's how this week started.    The light that hangs on the outside of the garage is probably the light that has been hanging there for the past 37 years.   It works good.   It's just that at one time it was a shiny gold lantern that lit up the driveway in the dark of the night.   Now it is a dull tarnished gold lantern that still lights up the driveway on a dark night.
   Pam and I had shopped for a new out side lamp that I could install or replace this lantern with.   Somehow all the lanterns that we looked at seemed to be in the $180 to $200 range.   (It's okay to spend that much on a new tool - but to spend it on a lamp that is to replace a lamp that already works??  Get serious.)

   Needless to say I walked away from that shopping trip spending $8 on a aerosol can of Rust-Oleum spray paint.  I took the old garage light down and dismantled it into individual parts.   My Idea was to paint each of the parts individually and then reassemble the (beautiful - look like new) lamp when all parts were touched up.   I even took some sand paper and rubbed on those parts that were still a little shiny,  hoping that the paint would stick better to the buffed surface.

   The painting part of the project went well.   Instead of a shiny golden lamp, my intent was to end up with a shiny brown lamp.   The paint I used was brown rust-oleum paint that was to leave a "hammered" look.   The paint covered quite well,  but problems started up when I went to reassemble the lamp.   I forgot the sequence or the order of how all the parts were to be assembled.    In fact I had to print off the first picture up above and expand it so I could see what the lamp looked like before I took it apart.

     I finally got it all together.   At least I thought so.   I did end up with two extra burs and three washers.   (Hmmm.   I wonder where those came from.  The lamp looks like it is all together.)
     When I went to mount it back up on the garage wall, I thought I should check to make sure I had the current turned off.   I asked Pam if she would touch the open wires for any live electricity.  I don't know why, but she elected not do that.   My electric tester was down in the basement shop so finally I just grabbed the cat and touch the wires with her paws.  Yep the electricity was off.  (Good thing cause I later was told that the live electricity would have just traveled trough the cat into me anyway.   I still like the thought process though.  Some day I may just have to experiment with that cat idea on some live wires.)  
   



     I did get it mounted although I will have to paint or trim the house around the base of the lamp.    Some of the old house paint was exposed when I first dismounted it.
    Now here is the sad news.   The lamp is made out of some light metal parts and some of those parts have weathered over the past 37 years.   I had to be careful when I reassembled the lamp because a couple of pieces were cracked.   The next problem was that of the four light bulbs, only three of them would light after all was said and done.    I checked everything and in the end I questioned whether only four of the bulbs had been working in the first place and I just never noticed it.  (I'm going with that one.)
    It is done.  My hope is that it will last for a little while - at least until I see a sale flyer on outdoor lights in my mail box.  
    What I really need now is a project that makes saw dust.