Angels in Electricians' Disguise

Thursday, April 15, 2010

A bittersweet day, because my electricians, Eniz (on the right) and Casey (on the left) completed all their work this afternoon, so my house was now fully wired and good to go. But at the same time, when I walked in the door that evening, the utter absence of drop cloths, wires, pipes, tools, drills, fixtures and plastic jugs filled with every size of screw under the sun, was somehow a bit of a forlorn sight.

Almost every day of the first two weeks in our new house, I'd bumped elbows with my amazing electricians. These guys ended up providing so much more than just ample lighting and new outlets -- they also came armed every day with a smile, a sense of humor, innovative ideas, amazing efficiency, an honest work ethic, tireless determination, and wonderful company.

They helped us transition into our home more than they will ever know.

It was actually really intimidating to be stepping off into this grand adventure in just the company of my two-year-old son. I constantly wondered if I'd made the right decision, worried about the daunting duties that home ownership entails, and became more and more alarmed at the growing number of tasks that lay before me as the house revealed its many facets.

Yes, most of the discoveries were wonderful, or charming, or exciting, like this 60-year-old newspaper clipping about a half-dressed, hammer-wielding sex maniac in "sox" that they saved for me, found up in the attic on one of their first days on the job:

Classic!

But there were also many discouraging finds, repairs that were completely unforeseen previously, and unusual issues like totally wacky wiring. And these guys were there for me every step of the way, discovering the house alongside me, as it were. In fact, they were usually the ones making the discoveries, and every day they would patiently, kindly, and thoroughly take a moment to run through some new things I needed to know about.

They calmed my panic when I began to feel like I was the star in a 2010 re-make of that Tom Hanks flick, The Money Pit ("Two weeks!"), reassuring me that the house was quirky, but also wonderful, and that the obstacles being presented were truly easily scaled. They always pointed out the good with the bad -- and there were many good finds along the way, like the accidental discovery of a quaint milk delivery window in the kitchen, and the double-thick, naturally-insulating exterior walls -- which might have been lost in the shuffle without their patient reminders. They also ran subtle interference when other guys came for jobs or estimates, listening with half an ear as they worked, knowing I would harass them afterwards with questions. Of course, they always insisted, "We are not (fill in the blank with your choice of repairmen) so we don't know!" But when I nudged, as I always did, hidden gems of advice consistently came sparkling forth.

Yes, guys, I know you are not interior decorators, insulation installers, or gas repairmen.

Still -- your advice on where to place various outlets and light switches proves true every single day; your whistles of exclamation at the estimate by that insulation guy was completely on point; and your crossed-arms stance when the humorless Nicor guy gave me some bullshit runaround about my basement shaped up his attitude and shored up my confidence.

These guys were the absolute greatest, and my heart belongs to North Shore Electric now for keeps! I would recommend them in a heartbeat to anyone. They truly defined the meaning of "work above and beyond".

So...a small photo tour of some of what they did (and some of what they had to contend with):

How is it that possible that these two showed up every day, acting cheerful, despite knowing they would accidentally smash their noggins silly at least ten times a day??

I often heard loud thuds, followed immediately by shouts in sailor's tongue, as these unfortunately-very-tall guys made their way up and down my low-ceilinged basement steps dozens of times each day.

I made daily runs to Home Depot for light fixtures, and the guys counseled me as their work moved from room to room. Unfortunately, they weren't by my side at Home Depot when I made some unfortunate choices: in an effort to cut costs, I went for this $8 fixture for the study. Actually, I kinda like the "etched glass" look but there's no mistaking it for a Tiffany when you see it in person LOL.

Still, I was thrilled to enter the house one night, long after their departure for that day, and find that my first fixture choice was now wired, bulbed, and hung. An awesome surprise! The house had been dark for what felt like so long -- really just a couple days, in retrospect.

I must have flipped the switch twenty times as the phrase, "And then there was light" ran on repeat through my brain. The whole experience made me truly appreciate the phenomenon of electricity.

Let there be light!

Another interesting (i.e. cheap) choice. This little acorn fixture ran just $6. And it shows!

But it gets the job done, I think it's kinda cute, and anyway, who really looks up when they're in your closet??

The day before the job started, I thought the electricians might want to have a clock handy to be able to easily keep an eye on the time. I found this old five-dollar piece of crap, a long-ago gag gift from rockabilly roommate Theo, bought at the Clark Street Mall back in the day, and a centerpiece in our old fight-club bachelor pad that we'd lived in along with Dylan, Everton and Ed. I threw it up on the living room wall where an old nail still hung from the previous owners. Then I forgot about it until a few days later, when Eniz and Casey wanted to confirm my lighting choices for the living room.

Eniz: "So, no overhead light, right? Just outlets for lamps."

Me: "Right."

Casey: "Are you sure? We could totally get some overhead spotlights, you could put one right up here, it would shine down onto the wall like this, really highlight this thing of beauty," and he gestured mischievously at my horrid, fake-gold, pseudo-Latin King, pegasus clock with its plastic butterfly ticking off every second and its dusty polyester roses. Yikes!

They assembled and installed my...interesting...ceiling fans for me, without comment. Okay, maybe a few comments. But all of them complimentary!

They were my only workmen who always put the toilet seat down when they were done! Ha ha ha, true story!! And it was much appreciated!

(Hey, it's the little things that count!)

I remember one afternoon when we were all out on the porch. The guys were eating lunch, I was finishing my coffee, and Ayize was using his toy hammer all over the porch. I think I was waiting on ABT to arrive that day so I was kinda stuck. I felt bad about hanging around when these guys were trying to have a break but they kindly tolerated our chaotic presence.

Anyhow, the day before, my boxwood trees had been as barren as a Scottish moor. And this morning we had arrived to find them in glorious bloom! I remember feeling really happy that other folks around our house besides me were actually old enough to notice and appreciate the amazing change nature had wrought on this tree overnight, since this astounding event seemed to be lost on my hammer-wielding co-habitator.

The guys always made a point to ask me about any unusual piece of art in the vicinity of their work that I might want saved. I think they probably internally raised their eyebrows when I responded that yes, I would like to save this remnant from the previous owners, and could they mount it back on the wall above the new switch plate cover when they were finished? And they did, and there it remains, much to my dad's chagrin (he hates that thing, but I think it's adorable).

Eniz was re-wiring the above-the-sink lamp in the kitchen one afternoon when he accidentally discovered this old-fashioned delivery window (this used to be an outside wall before a long-ago addition). I was delighted!

'Course, for him to even get to this wiring job, he discovered, and removed for me, a large wooden pseudo-wall -- attractively painted to match the rest of the kitchen with a small square of sponge painting LOL -- that made the kitchen super dark. So in more ways than one -- actually, that makes at least three, and that's not even counting his work on the overhead light -- Eniz brought light to my kitchen!

Casey was my garden's savior. When he had to remove old artwork to make way for the new porch light, he saved one sculpture wind-chime thingy for me, and I hung it here on the garage...

...and he saved this old shoe-cleaner (bristles have long since been cut off) and artfully added it to my garden, ha ha ha! And there it stands today (actually, I think the structural guys killed it with their wheelbarrow, but it's pretty hardy so I'll just "re-plant" it once they're gone).

But Casey really took his "saving" to the next level on this last day. A man came with a ditch-digger so the guys could lay the underground lines that would power my garage. Unfortunately, he started to dig the ditch directly through my newly-revived garden.

I pulled into the driveway just in time to see Casey hailing him and hollering to stop. He re-directed the dude so that the ditch cut a path under the rocky walkway instead, thereby cleverly averting all the growing green things along that general area, and managed to prevent the massive damage, perhaps total devastation, to the entire side garden that would have occurred otherwise.

Then, as a final gift to me, when the guys began to fill in the ditch manually, they filled it only halfway, replaced my beloved garden stones, accommodating for their eventual slight sink, and filled the rest of the dirt back around them.

I will be forever grateful, as will my garden! And so is Ayize, who -- as you can see by the photo above -- was extremely appreciative to have his hoppity path back in one piece!

One night, I entered the house to pick up the mail, throw out the garbage, and close some storm windows before a possible rainfall that night.

I happened to have my camera in my pocket since I'd just come from the park with Ayize and his pals, and I shot this photo of the electricians' equipment in the fading sunlight. They were super clean and always tidied up at the end of each day (not to mention their full sweep/mop/cleaning job of the house on their last visit) and this afternoon was no exception.

I have to say, though, that even if mad chaos greeted me each evening, I would have still been thrilled, because it was wonderful to have daily company, kindness, and backup as I navigated my way through my first shaky days as a new homeowner. And not only were these guys great then, they've continued to be awesome!

Twice, they've had to come by the house because of problems with wiring after the painters removed paneling and unavoidably had to disturb wall sockets in the dining room and then an overhead bathroom fixture. And both times, they arrived promptly, handled the problems efficiently, and then were thanked for their hard work by being harassed by me for further help because I couldn't figure stuff out.

On their first visit, it was the smoke detectors (one just had a low battery) and the backyard motion detector light (Eniz asked me if it was actually dark out when I'd tried to trigger the light and I turned beet red, realizing my stupid mistake).

And at the completion of their second visit last week, I'd found a humidifier in the basement but was a bit afraid to hook it up so I asked for their help (in my defense, I have to say it had the most bizarre instruction booklet I've ever seen).

Poor guys!

So...to Eniz and Casey: thanks for everything, you guys really rock!

Lucky for me, I didn't scare you guys away that first morning with my little onto-the-counter leap to check out the faulty wiring in the overhead cabinet, ha ha ha!