One foot outside my comfort zone.

Since the critters on the LLF are in destructo mode, I have been placed outside of my comfort zone more than a few times.  There are many things that I willingly throw myself into, but car repair and anything electronic are two areas I dasn't go.  Until now.  While I do not (and will not) learn to repair my car, I am a hands-down expert at picking up on a worn wheel bearing.  I can tell you through nuanced grindings, about how long you have before you must get thee to the mechanic or else.

As I stared at, then tried to ignore my broken fence charger placed strategically upon the dining room table (where I could not totally ignore it), I toyed with just replacing it with a new one - until I looked up the price.  Then, again, aren't I the one all preachy about fixing rather than throwing out - throwing 'away' to the non-away?  Yes, I am.

Over the weekend, I took a deep breath and decided to fix the charger myself.  Frankly, it took longer to find the right tools than to actually fix it.  After I parted it from its back board, I searched around the perimeter and located four teeny-tiny screws that looked like they needed a hex key the size of a darning needle.  Dang.  I have two sets of hex keys, but none were small enough.  I ignored it again for a day, then rummaged through my junk drawer and came up with a teeny-tiny screw driver.  While I was leery about how useful it would be, I also put on my reading glasses to take a look at the screws.  Hi ho.  There were little screwdriver grooves in it.  Honestly, sometimes I am my own worst enemy.

The cable on the right had been
yoinked out by the bad sheep.

Close up of the circuit board and
white oblong thingy.  I knew you just HAD
to see it.

I got the cover off and carefully put the screws in an empty spice jar, screwing on the lid tightly.  The cats have been particularly horrid lately.  I fed the cable back through the side and located the two connections I thought were right.  But wait.  There was no + or -.  No sign of positive or negative.  Dang squared.  Since one connection was to the circuit board, and one went to an oblong white thingy (technical term), how was one to tell what was positive or negative?  I figured (technically speaking) that the positive should go to the circuit board since that seemed to be the business end of the process and the ground should go to the white thingy.  I connected them, walked it over to my kitchen island, cleared the deck, stood a respectful distance from the charger, plugged it in and ran.  Woot!  It did NOT blow up, it worked!  I gingerly unplugged it and replaced the cover and backboard.  Then I hotfooted it outside and mounted it on the pole and plugged it in (from a respectful distance - I do not trust electronics that I work on).  It still worked!  Yes!

I will move the reprobates to the slope once I have the time to stay and watch them.  I need to nip this destructo stuff in the bud, if at all possible.  In the meantime, I had inherited a battery-run charger that was in need of new connectors and a new battery.  That was pretty straightforward.  I now have a charged Nugget run (wasn't Norman surprised....) and the sheep will be able to 'free' graze soon. 

I have been eyeing the ceiling fan in my bedroom.  It hasn't worked since I moved in.  Hey - how hard can it be?  Snort.