How many trips to Menard’s does it take to change four fluorescent bulbs in a kitchen fixture?
If you are me, it takes four.
First, off to Menard’s to buy two bulbs.
While prying the defusing plastic panel out of the fixture, I only broke a little corner off.
I taped it back on.
I couldn’t even see the break line.
Then, I couldn’t get the bulbs out.
There just wasn’t room.
I remembered how easy it was to slide the plastic shield out from the old fixture.
Just flip up the metal sides and slide out the plastic.
That was the one before my handyman and friend Mark Engstrom put up the one with the white cove molding that my wife liked better.
There must be a way to get inside, I thought.
Day 2, Trip 1.
I noticed that the fixture held four bulbs, so the next day I headed back to Menard’s for two more.
On trip this second trip, I asked a kind lady how to change the bulbs. She told me that there might be a screw in one end to release the bottom of the overhead light.
Or something would be on its side to release it so the lights could be taken out and new ones installed.
When I got home I found the screw.
I unscrewed it.
I lowered it.
Then the small latch on the far end came loose.
The plastic fell out and broke into three more pieces.
I heard my son tell his mother after the expletive flew from my mouth.
Funny, I usually don’t start using bad language until we close to Springfield on our annual trips to the Old Capitol Art Fair.
I also discovered that the light bulbs I had purchased were not bulbs. They were fixtures to hold the two bulbs each.
Misleading labeling, I thought. There were pictures of bulbs on the outside of the boxes.
Day 2, Trip 2.
And, to order new plastic shields.
Two of them, just to provide insurance.
A two to three week wait for delivery.
Only about $20 apiece.
But, no delivery charge because they would come right to the store, but please pay in advance and come in and pick them up.
No wonder Mark called me “a handyman’s delight.”
He must be laughing his head off in Heaven.
I know my wife was down here.