Finding the Pond Light Bulb - It's the LittleThings

I slept extremely well. In kind, I was up a few minutes early. It was 5:30am on the nose by the time that I made it downstairs with my teeth brushed and my running clothes in hand. I glanced out the deck door to check out the sky. It was another clear morning. I put on my dog walking/exercise shoes and started my routine. I had my exercise regimen completed by 5:40am. This was a non-curl day. I checked the temperature. It was a balmy 41 degrees, and just about on par with every other morning for the last week save for last Friday. We had a nice walk – not too cold. It was 5:50am when I hung up my jacket, glanced at the clock, and treated Ykraps. I had plenty of time to sip coffee and relax in front of my PC. Time passed quickly, however. Soon it was time to wake Mindy and deliver her coffee. She was grateful for the coffee. Not so sure she felt the same about getting up. :) I was smart with the time between then and my run. I left oodles of time for meditation and stretching. I left the house for a run at 6:32am. Once again, a new quarter moon was rising in the southeastern sky, but today it was filtered by a few scant, wispy clouds. Daylight came on fast. It was daylight at about the 2.5 mile marker. Once again, the clear sky made a world of difference. Mindy had a full plate of scrambled eggs ready upon my return. I topped them with some sharp cheddar cheese and hot sauce before partaking. They were delicious. Soon Mindy and the kids were leaving. Landon slept until Mindy fetched him from his bed. He was kind of grumpy, which is very rare. I hung out in the garage until Mindy backed out. I wanted to take the fountain pump and light combo inside to retest and check the bulb type. I retested the light. It still didn’t work. While trying to remove the bulb from what I thought was the socket, I broke the bulb. I put it down in disgust and headed off for my shower. I was back downstairs and ready before 7:50am. Because I didn’t need to see Jacob onto the bus, I still had plenty of time. I started monkeying around with the pond light some more. I pulled up the pump/light manufacturer’s webpage. It was in China. I found the light but the page had no way of ordering a replacement. I was frustrated. I spent several minutes looking for alternatives but found nothing economical. Eventually, I looked on the bulb base for a part number, found it, and Googled it. It was then that I discovered that the bulb and base were one. I found lots of websites selling these bulbs. Most wanted more to ship it than the cost of the bulb. What’s more, some required the purchase of an entire case. I decided to email the part number to myself at work and continue my research from there. Surely somewhere in town carries them. Work was again very manageable. I got involved in a couple interesting issues that kept me focused until 1pm or just after. At 1:15pm I decided to drive over to Home Depot and/or Lowes to see if they might stock this particular bulb. I know from past experience that they each have a shelf with a bunch of different bulbs for landscape lights. Home Depot is closest, so I stopped there first. I found MR11 bulbs right away. However, my pond light is a 5W bulb. All I saw were 20 & 50W versions. Then, off to the side, I found a 10W model for $4. I figured what the hell. While in the bulb aisle, I checked out exterior spots and floods to see if they had them in fluorescents yet. Lo and behold they did, and for about the same price as their incandescent brothers. I was eager to give one a try in one of my uplights out back. Packaging says it’ll last 7 years. However, on closer inspection, that’s when averaging just 3 hours of use each night. But even still, that’s a far cry better than most regular spots/floods. I headed happily back to work. Like often happens, the afternoon got dicey. I was juggling a few hot issues all at once. If nothing else, it helped the afternoon move briskly along. This was soccer practice night for Jacob meaning that Mindy & the kids would be meeting me at the Hilliard soccer fields after work. I worked until 5:40pm since I can get there in ten minutes. Practice didn’t start until 6:30pm. But it would make no sense heading home first. I arrived at 5:55pm. Although not initially tired, I decided to try taking a nap. I put the seat back and closed my eyes. Out I went! I slept good. I woke to the site of Jacob milling around in front of my vehicle. It was 6:25pm. Mindy, of course, had all four kids in tow. She brought a bag of pretzels for all of us to snack on, especially me. I just love ‘em. The partly sunny skies turned all cloudy in a hurry. Plus, as I predicted, the wind kicked up. It was chilly. I heard many others commenting about how much cooler it always is at the soccer fields. I entertained Landon, Rocky, and Bella while Mindy chatted with another kid’s mom. Mindy left about 15 minutes before practice was over. I stayed and waited for Jacob. I waited in the car. Practice ended at 7:30pm sharp. We took Scioto Darby to Walcutt to Trabue and then home. Mindy already had the wee ones in the bath. Jacob walked Ykraps earlier before soccer practice saving me the trouble once again. What a good boy! While Mindy bathed the kids, I tested my new pond light. It worked splendidly. And for that I was most pleased. I put the new fluorescent spot in one of the backyard uplights, too, but it wasn’t fully dark, so seeing its effectiveness wasn’t going to happen for a while yet. I’ve noticed with this and other fluorescent bulbs, they take several seconds to get up to full brightness. I also shoved some cheese down my throat. I was pretty darn hungry. Next, I headed up to give Mindy a hand with the kids. We had the kids tucked into bed by 8:15pm. I’d forgotten that the President was on prompting Americana Idol to move this week’s programming to Wednesday & Thursday evenings. I decided to watch Obama, and he did good. I popped popcorn so I could enjoy it like a movie. Bella snuck down to enjoy some with me. Mindy headed to bed around 9:30pm while I watched a PBS broadcast about the melting of the polar ice caps. Insightful. I headed to bed immediately following the program – 10pm.