The home that keeps on giving.

Suffice it to say, one thing I cannot complain about is the home we bought all the way back in 2010. It's a mite crowded with 8 of us in 2700 square feet (including the basement, which the listing cannot), but we can get away from each other as needed.

Because sometimes...it's needed.

In any event, my middle son has taken to woodworking. It has been a while since I have mentioned his aptitude for disaster--including once literally stepping on a rake in the yard, necessitating a trip to the ER.

And yet now, we are perfectly comfortable with him using saws, power sanders, and even a soldering iron. Though this last he has had less cause to use, so far.

The problem was, he was lumberjacking in our Florida room. The last phrase is a Michigan term for an enclosed, but not insulated, porch. Usually off the back of the house, and sometimes called a three-season room. 

And that is one of the escape places for everyone else 9 months a year.

Another problem was that our garage is not electrified, making the logical place to set up a workshop not workable until we can get some money in hand for the electrician. 

However.

As it turns out, we were wrong--it IS electrified. Has been, the whole time...we just didn't discover it until my wife did some cogitating this weekend. 

You see, we have four switches by the side door. And until last weekend, we only sure of the use for one--our coach light by the driveway. 

My Much Better Half was struck by inspiration, and sent the Middle Son out to the garage with a light bulb, to an empty fixture. A few experimental switch-flips later...Fiat Lux.

So there's electric in the garage. And lost in the midst of our rapid move-in...there turns out to be a long power strip bolted to the left wall. Which is also electrified. 

Almost needless to say, the Woodworker was jacked (rimshot) and lunging to move in. Last weekend, he and my wife moved his workbench, scrap wood and donated bench saw to a newly-cleared and organized part of our 1.5 car garage. I was taking our youngest daughter out to earn a shooting badge, so don't get judgy. Middle son is happy as a clam and has already hacked out two new katanas for friends and family.

I will also note that he previously sawed out an extension platform for our TV stand, which has is useful beyond words. On that one, I helped--including finishing cuts, sanding and painting.

In the meantime, we are a bit unsure of the code-level quality of the electrification, so we are using an LED bulb and telling him to plug in one corded power tool at a time. But so far, so good. With the new roof we had put on the garage five years ago, he'll be in excellent shape for a while. And after some further experiments, we have solved one more mystery switch, leaving one puzzler to go. Presumably something outdoors, so as to fit the pattern of the other three? 

If so, we haven't figured it out yet. And it could be a non-functional switch just for looks, I suppose.

 

 A happy discovery in a summer of ups and downs.