25F and sunny @ 12:00 but sun trying to peek out now. Calling for a high of 28F. Yesterday the LWS said the overnight low was 19.8F, this morning it was 15.8F. NWS issued a gale warning for Lake Erie yesterday, it's still up.
Got all the dahlias and gladiolus brought in yesterday evening, will need to clear off the kitchen table so the grow bags can be emptied out and the roots dug out of the soil to dry out.
Got hopper feeder refilled day before yesterday, also one suet feeder.
More work done on track lighting project day before yesterday:
Got rest of the wall area washed off where I'm working.
Hole for electrical box cut out, wires rerouted, electric box installed.
That ended up being a bit of a PITA, as the primary romex was stapled to a stud, and then stud was drilled diagonally and the romex fed through the stud and the drywall. Had to tear out a section of drywall to be able to gain enough access to pull the staple to reroute the wires.
Got that hole and another one taped up and started mudding.
More to do on that today, including finish prepping another hole and the seam where two sheets of drywall meet that is cracked.
Still trying to unravel the mystery of the wiring: Originally there were two banks of wall-mounted, dimmable fluorescent fixtures, one in the dining room and one in the living room.
Both were removed about 20 years ago and the switch for the living room was removed at that time or some point afterwards. I vaguely recall there being an issue with the switch (like shorting out or something), although I might be confusing that with the switch for the ceiling fan which also died.
Apparently, from what I have read, there were/are a number of different ways these fixtures could be wired, depending on the specific components used.
Both banks of fluorescents had one 14-2 and one 14-3 romex run to them and coming out of the wall.
I suspect that this arrangement was NOT for 3-way switches, but rather for whatever voltages were required to make them dimmable.
The existing dimmer switch for the bank of old fluorescents in the dining room has five wires, in two groups: one group of two wires (a white wire and a red wire with white dashes) and another group of three wires (a black wire, a white wire with a blue stripe, and a red wire)
Since I plan on just adding a single (non-dimmable) on/off switch with an integrated timer for the track lights in the dining room, I (think) should be able to just cap off the wires on the 14-3 romex wires at the new box where the connection to the track is.
The box for the main switches for the dining room lights is a two-gang box containing one (3-way) dimmer switch for the overhead chandelier and one dimmer switch for the lights on the wall (was fluorescent, will be track lights)
There 7 romex cables feeding into that box. Ugh ...
There is also one single gang box on the south outside wall where the dining room and living room meet which contains a simple on/off 3-way switch for the overhead chandelier in the dining room.
Yesterday I was able to determine which breaker controls the power feed for the dining room lighting, it's number 19 in the original 100A panel for the house (which is now a sub-panel off a 200A box) That circuit also feeds (at least) the lighting in the kitchen.
Woman and I ran over to the Depot yesterday evening and picked up the new switch for the track lighting and an 8-pak of suet for the birds. Also stopped by the grocery store while we were out and picked up a few items.
Got the baseboard moulding removed and some more mudding done on the wall, more to do on that today once it's dry.
Got her hibiscus moved into the dining room from the garage and all the dahlias trimmed back.
She made a large pot of vegetable beef barley soup last night, was very tasty. Had a yam with butter and brown sugar for desert.
Today's agenda will probably include the (tedious) task of trying to identify which wires in the 2-gang box for the dining room that holds the switches are the (unneeded) 14-3 romex that comes out of the wall. Fun stuff ... not.
Take a suet cake out and refill the other suet feeder. Probably refill the hopper feeder while I'm at it as it looks to be due.
Dig out tubers for the dahlias so they can start drying.
Plus whatever else comes up.
Hope everyone is having a great Sunday ...
