Out of the steps in getting electricity, pulling cable is the worst. Too many bends in the PVC, too many pieces of cable for the PVC size, too thick of cable to bend and pull at such long distances. As with all other electrical pulls, we started with a kite string attached to a tiny piece of plastic that was sucked through the PVC with a shop vac. When the tiny kite string and plastic snippet doesn’t want to pull it should be sign for the drama to come. We pulled and pushed and cussed and cried. The Planner cussed, I cried. Never been one for yelling in frustration, I lean towards to tears of frustrations. They are no more damaging than yelling but a lot less painful on the ears of others. After struggling and becoming weak with exhaustion, the Planner resorted to TubeYou for help. Apparently, the thicker the wire, the more friction even in the biggest PVC allowed. To reduce friction, electrical lube is needed. No puns intended. Honestly. Wire pulling lube worked wonders. Should have been using it the whole time. Messy but effective. One could say almost pleasurable. Not really as there was still ample pulling and pushing, cussing and swearing. Yup, I busted out the profanity. It was very late in the day and I was very, very tired.

Bright and early the next morning, having left feet of extra cable, the Kid and the Planner ran the cable from the PVC in the ground upwards into the utility space. Pushing and pulling still took place but as it was only five feet or so with only two bends the job went way easier. I mean come on, look at those spindly little twigs. The poor kid can barely push air.

While lying on the ground talking with the Kid I looked up to answer a Planner a question. My immediate vision was this absolute mess of wiring. How in the world the Planner keeps all this organized in his head for transferring into the real world is amazing. Nothing short of Noble Peace winning.

Hours later with the sun setting creating for photo perfect pictures, the Planner and the Kid hammered the 6′ ground rod into place. Again, spindly hammered for a few swings and then the Planner would take over. Taking turns for several rotations was getting harder and harder for the Kid. Five pound hammer finally took its toll.

Giving credit where credit is due the Kid took smashing his pointer finger with great calmness. No tears, no yelling, no cussing, no crying. No hugs or kisses, either. Sad. No longer a Kid. When offered he gave me that typical teenage look. You know the one, it is universal to all teenagers. It must genetically engrained in our DNA.

Ground rods protect against lighting. I have always known a house was grounded but I didn’t really know what that meant. The Planner explained it to me, I read this blog (which may or may not be biased as it money driven), followed up by one from the NFPA which was way over my head, and then I read this blog which came with a video. Every good teacher knows that in order for a topic to secure itself in the brain that three out of the five senses must be used. Job well done. Connect the clamp to the rod and watch out lightening.

Wires were split and a list was made for the local box store. Not every outlet takes the same size breaker and even though the wires are labeled they don’t list what size breaker is needed. And while labeled by the Doubter some of the labels are not specific enough. Pantry are pantry and kitchens are kitchens. And while most plugs in the pantry are the same, the plugs in the kitchen are not. There are designated plugs for the electric cooktops, plugs for the oven, plugs for the microwave. All of which require different size breakers.

At first the Planner thought he was going to strip one wire, secure into place, and then move onto the second wire. After having giving it some thought while placing the breakers he decided to strip all of the wires first. In order to do this the short little stubs of wire casing remaining had to be labeled accordingly. Really wish I had purchased the label maker when we were doing the Kids’ Box. Tiny writing in very tiny spacing was more than tiny frustrating. Thing about the Planner is that sometimes he gets an idea and there is no changing it. Having a neat and orderly electrical panel is one of those hills.

And of course in keeping with his MO it really did look amazing when all said and done. All straight lines and perfect bends with zip ties to keep things tidy. Some people are duct tapers, some people are bailing wirers. BIF in a house of zip ties. They come in all colors in all sizes. Way easier to use, remove, and reinstall than wire and cleaner, easier, and neater than duct tape. Zip it up.

One final act of neat freak left, the Planner decided against the standard writing on electrical boxes. He had to create a printable version that could be easily updated, if needed. His argument was that people are not designed to write expect on flat tables and desks, not in the air. Anything else is messy. Umm, teacher here. We write on wall boards all the time in neat, precise penmanship with a chunky dry erase marker. But hey, this is your thing. Again, it looked amazing. Besides, I like neat and tidy.

In trying to decide what would be the last picture for this post I debated back and forth for hours. Light from a plug in the wall? Rolled up extension cords ready for replacement back in the Shop Box? End on a bright note, end on a farewell note. You may think I decided on farewell because the cord is last but you would be wrong. I ended on the extension cord all neat and tidy because it is a better picture. Bright and clear and being placed in front of a step is leaving the viewer to decide if they are coming or going. Good stuff, right?