The outlet on the left is standard while the right is a G.F.I. (ground fault interrupter) because it's near the sink. The G.F.I. has a black and red button. Once in a while the G.F.I. trips off, so you reset it by pushing one of the buttons, can't remember which. We have night lights in both left and right outlets.
A year or so ago we were having trouble with the electrical. We had a digital toaster in the left outlet. Over the course of a couple months it went on and off several times and eventually it crashed. The overhead stove light was doing the same. I was convinced it was a poltergeist. Wanda was sure it was the wiring. Once again my lack of basic mechanical ability and tool knowledge had me swearing, pinching my fingers, and banging my head against the wall.
I made several trips to Home Depot. I replaced the left plug, the garbage disposal plug, and the on-off wall switch. I didn't want to buy a tester for the current (no pun intended) G.F.I. so I couldn't determine if it was bad. But I did buy a new G.F.I. (it was cheaper than a tester) just in case. It's now in the garage collecting dust. I took the stove hood down to clean and look at the wiring.
Something I did, fixed the problem. The toaster over was (no pun intended) toast. But, the plugs worked, the stove light worked, and all was well.
The other day the G.F.I. clicked off. I did my usual button pushing. Black red, black red, black red, nothing reset. Oh great, here we go again. I plugged things in and I plugged things out. Again, nothing reset. I switched the stove light off, both night lights flickered, and came on. I switched the light on, both night lights flicked, and went off. I did this a few more times. Now thoroughly convinced the problem was back.
I went into the garage to check the circuit breakers. I came back into the kitchen talking to myself. This damn house, once we get something taken care of another something breaks. I was about to open the hall closet, grab the baseball bat, and beat the crap out of the kitchen. But, before causing damage and mayhem, I decided to try an easier fix, one more time.
I flipped the stove light on and the night lights went off. I flipped the stove light off and the night lights went on. Just then I realized something; the nights lights had light sensitive sensors. Designed to go on when it's dark and off when it's light. We've had these in the kitchen for a couple years. Turn the stove or overhead lights on and the night light is off. Turn the lights off, the night light is on. How could I forget? Maybe my brain took a short coffee break? Maybe I was dealing with difficult news so I just figured, why not? What's one more thing?
I'll never know why I reacted like I did at the time. It's actually pretty funny. Here I was, trying to understand why this was happening, and how I was going to fix a difficult problem. Wondering how much time and effort and money it was going to take. When all I had to do was give it a moment of clear thought, and flip a switch......pretty easy, don't 'ya think?
Sometimes that's all it takes to get through a tough situation.
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