Two pronged strategy?

Sunday December’s 17th, twenty seventeen

M, C and H are away to the south so I had a few things I wanted to do. I wanted to find the inflatable Christmas yard units, Santa and a raccoon that pops out of a stump. This season C had decided to do the decorating in Harrison’s Glade. I have been developing a trail through a section of our lot. The bird feeding goes on in there and it is tranquil and calming, periodically shattered by Ozy’s attack of a squirrel or the possibility of a squirrel. She had the lights strung up, down and around. A new inflatable minion has joined the fleet. I placed the two new characters and immediately had a problem.

I was always  the guy who thought about the worst thing that could happen related to any activity or event. Harrison’s Glade has a power shortage. To date I had not buried a cable or energized the parkette , a consideration for this summer’s work. If you have worked with external Christmas illumination you know that the Chinese only put two pronged electrical plugs on all their stuff. I needed to split off a light string, I needed a two prong extension cord ending with a multiple outlet end. A common cheap extension cord. Uncommon here just now. I did find a sacrificial cord and considered cutting the ground prong off.

In my work life I came across cords and tools with the ground prong removed for expediency, a lazy fix jeopardizing safety. Here I was about to do a lazy fix to make these inflatables work for my Grandson’s enjoyment. Out came the snips and quicker than you can say Lorena Bobbitt the offending prong was gone. I immediately felt guilty. The guilt passed quickly as Santa and the irritating raccoon sprang into inflated life.

All night long I worried and fretted about my slipping to the dark side of extension cords. I will cull the offending cord out of the herd and cut the end off it before I head back to Fracas. The cord is outside so not a household safety hazard (until it comes into the house for its next use).

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