Yesterday, on what should have been a glorious Beveraging Monday and Saint Patrick’s Day combined, I was sitting at home when I started to smell something electrical burning.

You know that smell: electically ozone burningess.

I looked all over the house trying to narrow down where it was coming from, and I couldn’t find it. Nothing. After a bit, I just chalked it up to wafting in from somewhere outside.

I got ready to head out to meet the Beveraging Crew, and as I sat in the truck, I saw the electrical service panel box in my rear view mirror.

So I got out of the truck and walked up to the service panel, and I could really smell that smell.

Damn.

I reached for the panel. It didn’t feel hot. So I opened it.

And this is what I see:

Great. The incoming power line to the main breaker was burning!

So I call the Husbear to let him know.

Then I call the electrician service we use. They dispatch an electrician out to take a look. Who then calls the power company to have them come out to shut off the power and cut the power lines to the house.

Great. No power.

And there’s nothing they can really do until the morning.

Lucky for us we purchased a small home generator at the beginning of winter, just in case we had any power outages. Which we didn’t. Until now. So the Husbear fired up the generator and plugged in some essentials: the refrigerator, the entertainment center so he could watch TV, and the fan in the bedroom. He fired up the wood stove to, since it was supposed to be cold through the night.

The electrician arrived at the house this morning around 9 AM, and started tearing the electrical boxes and lines off the side of the house.

And then he put up the new box and starting rerunning the wires.

And as of 3:56 PM today, we have power again!

And a new robot on the side of the house…

And a rather large and unexpected hole in our wallets. *ugh*

With each room renovation we do and replace the existing wiring, I’m actually surprised the house hasn’t burned down in the decade we have owned it. Not because of our new wiring, but because of the old cloth-wrapped 2-wire wires. I guess it could have burned down yesterday had I not been home.

On the bright side, the new electrical panel is one more thing we can cross off the “to do” list.